How homemade spice mixtures have held their own against branded masalas

The past few weeks have been worrisome for home cooks and caterers alike with at least 11 Indian companies getting pulled up by health regulators for selling spices contaminated with the carcinogenic pesticide, ethylene oxide. Earlier in July, over 50 pani puri stalls in Chennai were raided following an alert raised by Food Safety Department officials in Karnataka, over the presence of cancer-causing chemicals in the street food’s ingredients.

Lovers of ready-mixes and spice blends have had to recalibrate their affections and remember the days when dishes and seasoning did not come out of a jar or packet.

“If you do not know how to cook, you will not understand the role played by spices. That is why cooking is a useful skill, for tasty food and a healthy life,” says Raji Ramprasad, 63, who runs a home-based business in food mixes and spices in Chennai.

Heirloom recipes

“I learned how to cook from my mother and grandmother. Having meals together was a common practice in our joint family. I remember being assigned the ‘dosa duty’ often at breakfast, and though I used to make 40 to 45 dosas for the family, it never felt like a chore,” she recalls.

Grinding spices and making pickles in bulk was a regular practice in many homes.

“As our families shrank, homemakers continued to prepare spice mixes, but in smaller quantities. The spice mill in the neighbourhood would grind our sun-dried chillies, or dry-roasted masalas as per our requirement. My mother would store them in large steel containers, and keep airing them periodically to ensure that they were free of mites, because they didn’t contain preservatives,” says Raji.

Over time, Raji adapted and developed some of the heirloom spice recipes for her own use. When the devastating floods of 2015 sunk her garments exports business in Chennai, she chose to strike out with Spiceroot India, an online venture selling customised orders for traditional condiments such as pulikachal, vathal kozhambu podi, and mango pickle.

The response was overwhelming, especially from non-resident Indian customers.

She also learned how to cook with millets and has trained aspiring women entrepreneurs in commercial baked goods with the ingredient.

Of late, with increasing responsibilities at home, Raji has scaled down her operations. “I do not want to outsource my orders to third party vendors, because the quality may suffer. So I only accept those requests that I can personally put together,” she says. Her social media handle features her vibrant collection of recipes.

Culinary blend

K Sarala Sharma, 55, is originally from Rajasthan, but having been born and brought up in Chennai, the homemaker is better known among her family and friends from North India for her idli podi and kaara podi.

“My grandfather and my mother were good cooks, and my role models. I got interested in the spice blends used by our Tamil neighbours, specially those made for specific dishes such as sambar, and started making them at home. My in-laws travel all over India, and so when our relatives come visiting from Karnataka or Maharashtra, I make their favourite dishes, by adjusting the spices according to their taste,” she says.

Sarala also prepares two to five kilograms of the spice blends for visiting cousins to take back with them.

“South Indian spice mixes contain grams and lentils like chana and urad, while in the north, cloves, and other whole ‘warmer’ spices, are commonly used. Maharasthrians like to use kaala masala in every dish, which is an aromatic blend of dry-roasted star anise, black pepper, cinnamon and bay leaves, among other spices,” she says. “In south India, we tend to use garam masala only for certain dishes like korma or biryani.”

Commenting on the recent health scare, Sarala advises home chefs to try making their own spice mixes at home. “It is quite easy to grind small quantities at home, and since they are fresh, they enhance the taste of the dishes as well. What really makes a dish worth eating, is the effort and care you put into creating it, rather than the spice mix,” she says.

Making from scratch

Homemade spices have been a way of life for Geetha Sridhar, an urban farmer and environmentalist based in Coimbatore.

“There’s a big visual difference between homemade and store-bought spices, especially in powdered chilli and turmeric. The fiery red and bright yellow of commercially sold varieties seems to indicate the presence of colouring agents,” she says.

Geetha sources her basic ingredients from organic farmers in and around her native place Erode, and prepares the mixes from scratch for her family use.

“Some steps, such as cleaning, boiling and sun-drying the turmeric bulbs, for instance, can be time-consuming, but the end-result can be highly satisfying. A small family of four can get by with around one or one and a half kilogram of chilli powder or turmeric in a year. Since they do not have the anti-caking agents or artificial colours of branded masalas, they will have a shorter shelf life,” she says.