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Spice Blends and Ratios

What is actually in the jar

Garam Masala

What garam means
Warming in the Ayurvedic sense, not chile hot
Role
A finishing aroma over a base that is already built
Timing
The last three to five minutes
Dose
1/2 tsp for a pot of four, 1 tsp per pound in a marinade

Curry Powder

What it is
A Western commercial blend, not a regional recipe
Color from
Turmeric
The smell
Fenugreek, through a compound called sotolon
Four styles
Standard British, Madras, Jamaican, Japanese

Za'atar

What it is
A Levantine blend of dried herb, sumac, sesame and salt
Also a plant
Several species, most often Origanum syriacum
What sumac does
Dry, lingering tartness, and most of the red
How hot it is
Not at all, since it contains no chile

Ras El Hanout

What the name means
Head of the shop, in Arabic
Where it is from
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia
Typical spice count
Over a dozen, sometimes thirty or more
Usually absent
Garlic, saffron and nuts

Start here

Three guides that set up the rest of the section.

  1. 1What's Garam Masala? The Warm Spice Blend, Not a Hot One
  2. 2What's Curry Powder, and Which Style Is in Your Jar?
  3. 3What's in Za'atar, and Why Does Every Jar Differ?

Quick answers

From the guides in this section.

Is garam masala the same as chai masala?

No, though they overlap. Chai masala is built for sweetened milk tea and leans hard on ginger, cardamom and often black pepper, with none of the cumin and coriander that give garam masala its savory body. Using one for…

Read the guide
Does curry powder contain salt?

Most jars do not, which sets it apart from blends like adobo or taco seasoning that are largely salt. That means a dish seasoned with curry powder still needs salting on its own, and it is also why curry powder can be…

Read the guide
Is za'atar the same thing as sumac?

No. Sumac is a single ground berry that supplies the tartness, and za'atar is a blend that contains it alongside dried herb, sesame and salt. A recipe asking for sumac wants the sour note on its own, without the herb…

Read the guide
Is five spice the same as allspice?

No, and the names cause most of the confusion. Allspice is a single dried berry that happens to taste of several spices at once, while five spice is a ground mixture built around star anise. Neither substitutes for the…

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Is shichimi the same as togarashi?

Togarashi just means chilli pepper in Japanese, so it is the broader word rather than a product. A recipe asking for togarashi almost always means shichimi togarashi, since that is what sits on the table in a Japanese…

Read the guide

Out of a spice?

211 tested swaps, each with the amount.

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About this section

Twenty-four blends, grouped by the cooking that produced them. Some are ancient household mixtures with no fixed formula, some are commercial products younger than the dishes they season, and several are names covering two or three unrelated things. Each page gives what belongs in the jar, the proportions worth mixing at home, and the point at which a blend stops being worth using.