How to Make Biryani Masala from Scratch

My good friend Melodie had mentioned that she'd recently made a delicious Biryani dish. Oooh la la! and I wanted some, but I got too impatient to wait for her to email me the recipe, so I googled it and found some recipes. Can you believe it, I had all the spices I needed in my cupboard! (I couldn't!) Making this Masala was quite an adventure. I've never dry roasted spices before, and I've definitely never used so many different flavors and aroma's in one dish. It was trial and error...I couldn't tell which way it would go. Anyway, it was AMAZING!!! I've been thinking of it all night, and even snuck to the kitchen for just another bite. Mmmmmmmm! What follows is my own interpretation and method of what I think makes is an AWESOME Biryani Masala.


Biryani Masala

Ingredients:
10 Cloves
1 Cardamom
1 Cinnamon stick, broken into crumbs
1/2 Star Anise
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
4 Bay Leaves, crushed

1/2 tsp Dried Chilli flakes
6 Black Pepper corns

1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds

1 Chopped Onion
Oil


Add later:

2 tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp grated Nutmeg

Method:
1. Dry-roast these ingredients from larger ones to smaller ones in a frying pan, don't add ground spices yet. (Dry-roasting helps to enhance the flavors).
2. Add some oil and the chopped onion and gently simmer, until the onion browns. Now add the ground spices.
3. Add 2 tsp Vinegar and a bit of water.
4. Pour the contents of the pan into a blender and pulse puree until smooth. Mine made about 200ml.
5. Now you have Biryani Masala ready to be added to the Biryani of your choice.
6. I recommend using about 70ml Biryani to 4 Cups of uncooked rice.

Makes +_ 200ml Biryani Paste