Edward Hammond: Hello I am Edward Hammond and we are here at Sur La Table Cooking School in Arlington, Virginia. Today, we are making Palak Paneer, fresh Indian cheese and spinach. Right now, we are making our garam masala spice blend. Garam masala is a highly aromatic spice blend classic to North India. It consists of several and roasted and ground spices. Garam means warm or hot, and masala simply means spice or blend of spices.

The spices you will need are one quarter cup whole coriander seeds, one quarter cup whole cumin seeds, one heaping tablespoon whole green cardamon pods, 2, 2inch cinnamon sticks broken into small pieces, one tablespoon whole black peppercorns, one and a half teaspoons whole cloves. Begin by heating a heavy cast iron skillet over medium low heat for a few minutes. When the skillet is hot add all of the spices and slowly dry roast stirring occasionally, until very aromatic and darkened a few shades.

Transfer them to a plate to cool completely, when the spices have cooled completely, transfer them to a clean coffee grinder that you keep just for spices and grind to a fine powder. You can do this in batches if you need to. Here is our finished garam masala spice blend. You can store this in an airtight container for up to three months. For our next clip, we are going to make paneer, fresh Indian cheese.