Maharashtrian Goda Masala

Goda Masala is an aromatic and flavorful spice blend from the Maharashtrian Cuisine. Unique ingredients like cinnamon, cassia buds, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, stone flower, mace, sesame seeds, coconut flakes, poppy seeds, star anise, peppercorns, etc are roasted in little oil and blended into a spice powder which has a distinct aroma and subtle sweet taste. Goda masala lends a lip-smacking taste to the traditional Maharashtrian dishes like Bharli Vangi, Masale Bhaat, Matar Usal, Bhogi chi bhaji, Missal pav etc. If you have all the ingredients ready at hand, making this goda masala is very easy and it has a good shelf life as well. Believe me, if you make this goda masala once at home, you will never think of getting store-bought ones and thank me for the wonderful aroma that fills your house while you make this masala and use it in your dishes.

What is Goda Masala?

Goda in the Marathi language means sweet and masala is a spice mix, so basically, goda masala is a unique spice blend from the Maharashtrian Cuisine with a subtly sweet taste and distinct aroma. Goda masala is a blend of whole spices but is different from the garam masala in both taste, aroma and texture. The reason behind is that goda masala has unique ingredients like cassia buds (Nag Kesar), Black stone flower a Lichen (Dagad Phool) and mace (Javitri). Goda Masala gives a rich creamy texture to the curries because apart from spices, it has oil seeds and nuts like sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and coconut flakes. To make goda masala, all the ingredients are divided into 3 groups, as some ingredients like whole red chilies, coconut flakes or desiccated coconut, sesame seeds and poppy seeds need to be dry roasted, while whole spices like cinnamon, mace, star anise, bay leaf, cloves, cassia buds, stone flower, caraway seeds, cumin seeds black pepper, etc are roasted in little oil. Roasting the spices helps to liberate the essential oils in them. Turmeric powder and asafoetida are added to the ground spice mix at the end and do not require any roasting.

Is Goda Masala and Kala Masala the same?

There is one more spice blend from Maharashtrian cuisine known as kala masala. Kala masala is not same as goda masala. Kala masala has the ingredients similar to goda masala but the spices are roasted more which gives a black color to the spice blend, hence the name as the word kala in the Marathi language means black. One more difference between goda masala and kala masala is that in kala masala fried sliced white onions (Karpi) are also added which gives a distinct burnt flavor and oily texture to the kala masala. Kala masala is mostly used in non-vegetarian gravies whereas goda masala can be used in satvik curries also as it does not have fried onions in it.

Related Event:

Preethi Prasad who blogs at PreethisCuisine suggested that we share different homemade spice blend recipes this week on our gourmet group, Foodie Monday Blog hop. So #Masala Dabba is the theme for our 242nd week. I am super excited to see what my fellow bloggers have shared as there is no match to fresh homemade spice blends and masalas. I am very lucky to get my share of homemade red chili powder, garam masala, and turmeric powder to date from my mumma and aai (mother-in-law). This is the first time I made goda masala at home as i wanted to share this recipe with my readers. I had many requests for goda masala recipe and so, this time when i visited my parent's house in Pune during Diwali, i made sure i get the ingredients and spices required to make this goda masala at home. Meanwhile, do check out the various podis and masala powders, Preethi di has shared on her blog. I have bookmarked the Kundapur Masala Powder from the Mangalorean Cuisine and the Vegetable Masala Powder.

                                                         

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 1 cup tightly packed goda masala

Ingredients: Measurements used 1 cup = 240 ml

Ingredients to be dry roasted

• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut/ sukha nariyal
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds/ Til
• 2 tablespoon poppy seeds/khus khus
• 3-4 dry red chilies 

Ingredients to be roasted in  2 teaspoon oil

• 1/2 cup coriander seeds/dhaniya
• 10 grams black stone flower/ dagad phool
• 10 grams mace/javitri
• 10 grams bay leaf/ tamal patra/tej patta
• 10 grams clove/ laung
• 10 grams black pepper/ kali miri
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds/shah jeera
• 2 black cardamom/ kali elaichi
• 4-5 green cardamom/ hari elaichi
• 3-4 star anise/chakri phool
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds/ saunf
• 2 tablespoon cumin seeds/jeera
• 2 sticks of cinnamon/dalchini

Ingredients to be added directly

• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi
• 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida/hing

Method:

1. At first heat a pan and dry roast the dry red chilies, sesame seeds, desiccated coconut, and poppy seeds separately on low heat. Keep stirring to ensure the ingredients do not burn. Remove each ingredient after dry roasting and keep in a plate to cool down.

2. Next, add 1 teaspoon oil and roast coriander seeds until they become fragrant and become golden brown in color. Remove the coriander seeds in a plate to cool down and add cumin seeds to the pan and roast them also until they slightly change their color and you hear a crackling sound. Remove the cumin seeds and allow them to cool down.

3. Lastly, add the remaining one teaspoon oil to the pan. Add all the remaining whole spices ( bay leaf, cloves, black peppercorn, caraway seeds, cinnamon, black cardamom, green cardamom, mace, fennel seeds, cassia pods, black stone flower, star anise) one by one. Make sure you roast the spices on low heat and keep stirring to ensure they do not burn. Put off the flame and remove the roasted spices on a plate and allow them to cool down completely.

4. Once all the ingredients cool down completely at room temperature, transfer them to a grinder jar and grind to a lump-free powder. Scrap the sides and pulse the spices again to get a uniform powder. Lastly, add turmeric powder and asafoetida and pulse again. Our aromatic and flavorful Maharashtrian goda masala is ready to use. Store it in a clean and dry air-tight container and use it as per need. 

                       

Recipe Notes:

• Make sure you cool down all the roasted ingredients completely before grinding them to avoid lump formation.
• Store the goda masala in a clean, dry airtight container and use a dry spoon to remove the masala. 
• If handled properly, this Maharashtrian goda masala stays good up to a year at room temperature.
• The recipe can be doubled or halved as per need.
• I have used desiccated coconut here, You can grate a dried coconut or use dry coconut flakes instead.
• You may use red chili powder instead of whole dry chilies in this recipe. For that add 2 teaspoons red chili powder at the end to the ground spice mix along with turmeric powder and asafoetida.
• Goda masala is usually used in small quantities along with red chili powder to curries, gravies, and stir-fries.

I hope a few of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

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