Dhansak masala. A blend of aromatic spices creating a unique yet authentic mix to flavor your favorite dhansak. A couple of teaspoons of this spice mix will enhance the flavor of the curry making it more aromatic and delicious.

Parsi food, with its origins in the Persian cuisine, undeniably, brings so many wonderful dishes to the Indian culinary scene. And one among them is the spicy dhansak. A delectable curry made with the authentic addition of classic Parsi style spice mix.

This spice mix also called dhansak masala is the core element that imparts the beautifully aromatic flavors to a good dhansak curry. Let’s learn to make this restaurant favorite at home with a few dried spices that you commonly use to make great Indian dishes.

How To Make Dhansak Masala

This masala recipe is actually influenced by two classic spice powders - garam masala and sambar powder. You’ll need about 15 spices to make this mix, however, you can whip it up in a few minutes and store in an airtight container. Ok, here’s how to make this parsi style masala.

As we are making this masala from scratch, all the ingredients used are the dried versions of the spices except ground turmeric. Here’s the list of dried spices you will need to make this mix:

Coriander seeds
Cinnamon
Bay leaves
Cumin seeds
Kashmiri red chilies or regular dried red chilies
Cloves
Black peppercorns
Poppy seeds
Mustard seeds
Nutmeg
Fenugreek seeds
Cardamom pods - black and green
Mace

All you need to do is dry roast all the spices. Once you have assembled all the ingredients, get a heavy bottomed skillet or pan and place it over low heat. I always prefer to use a heavy bottomed pan to roast spices as you don’t need to worry about overheating the pan and burning the spices. Again, make sure you roast the spices over low heat. The spices need to be roasted low and slow to release the flavors.

When the base of the pan is slightly hot, you can add in all the dried spices. Now, here’s the most important step - stir continuously. The whole process of roasting the spices will take about 4-5 minutes. When the dried spices are roasted, turns light brown and you get a nice aroma, add the ground turmeric and stir fry for a few seconds.

Next, cool the spices completely. And grind into a fine powder. Store this authentic dhansak masala in an airtight container. Use this aromatic spice mix to flavor your favorite vegetable, meat or chicken dhansak curry.