Roses to indian culture and cuisine..

The rose in all its glory, is incorporated in various forms in indian culture, be it GULAB ATTAR adorning the wrists of the nawabs or the mughals, or the GULAB JAL or rose water used in beauty regimes when mixed with chandan for face packs. Not forgetting rajesh khanna singing to nanda..”gulabi ankhen jo teri dekhi” gulabi ankhen??? 🙂 nonetheless a lovely song…

. A few drops of rose essence added to any mithai or dessert makes a whole lot of difference.Think of the divine gulab jamuns actually named after this wonderful flower. Rose petals are great as a garnish in sweets like saturfeni and phirni. And of course not forgetting GULKHAND which is used in various preparations such as paan and icecreams.

But the one use of dried rose petals I learnt from my mother was to use it in the making of garam masala…for years my garam masala has been made by my mom. Using dried rose buds in garam masala balances out the heat of the spices used like cinnamon cloves cardamom nutmeg etc…some years ago , on a visit to Dubai, wandering around the spice souk I came across mounds of different colour dried rose petals which were a treat to the eye. I believe dried rose petals are used in middle eastern spice mixes..

The aroma of freshly ground garam masala with dried rose bud petals literally fills the kitchen with a divine fragrance..using just a teaspoon in any gravy is enough to infuse it with a wonderful taste and aroma…today i share with you this wonderful garam masala recipe…

GARAM MASALA ALA MUMMY
250 gms cummin seeds..(jeera)..washed and dried in the sun
100 gms each
poppy seeds..(khus khus)..
caraway seeds (shah jeera)
cinnamon ( dalchini) .. break into small pcs to make grinding easy
cloves(laung)
nutmeg (jaiphal)..tip..grate the nutmeg to make grinding easy
mace (javitri)
cardamom (choti elaichi)..i use whole elaichi
black cardamom ..seeds only..( badi elaichi)
bay leaves (kamal pat)..throw away the stems
baby rose buds..preferably pink rose..( pink gulab ki kali)

corriander seeds ( dhania)

METHOD..

pick and clean all the dry spices.. and grind them well… store in jar in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator..Use as required