No store-bought ground pilau masala can beat freshly made aromatic delightful Pilau Masala spice blend, ground at home.

The good news is that even without a grinder, you can grind your pilau masala spices very easily at home with your mortar and pestle to form an even spice blend.

Pilau Masala for Pilau Recipe

I have made pilau on several occasions with either of the two, that is, store-bought pilau masala powder and freshly ground pilau masala powder at home. I have done this several times to note the difference.

Pilau with home-ground pilau masala is unbeatable. Homemade pilau masala spice is simply the best.

You hence want to arm yourself with a recipe as well as the very simple procedure of doing so.

Pilau Masala Ingredients

We’re working with whole spices for best results. The pilau masala spice blend I’m making will use cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns and cinnamon. Even without individual whole spices, you can still buy store or supermarket-bought whole pilau masala mix, then you can grind it at home yourself. It also tastes much richer than if you bought the one already ground.

Pilau Masala Measurements

If you want to buy the spices separately, I find that the ratios I’ve given in the recipe below work best for me. I trust you too will love the pilau masala you make with these ratios.

Let’s have a look at each of the pilau masala spices to see how they look like.

Cumin Seeds

Cumin seeds are small seeds that are oblong in shape with a yellow-brownish color. See cumin seeds below.

Black Peppercorns

Black peppercorns are small and round dry berries. They’ve been dried and ground to produce black pepper, a common spice with a strong, pungent flavor and aroma. See peppercorns below.

Whole Cardamom

Whole cardamom is a spice made from the dried seed pods of the Elettaria cardamomum plant. The pods contain small black seeds as shown below. Cardamom has a delightful spicy flavor with a strong aroma. I’ve already shelled the cardamom. The picture below shows what’s inside the pods. The picture below this one shows the cardamom shells from which I extracted the seeds.

Cardamom Shells

The picture below shows the cardamom shells. Don’t get rid of them yet. I’ve explained in the tutorial what you can do with them.

Cloves

Cloves are the dried flower buds of the Syzygium aromaticum tree. Whole cloves are small, dark brown with a very strong, spicy aroma.

Cinnamon Stick

Cinnamon is a spice made from the inner bark of the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree. The whole cinnamon is usually rolled into sticks. It has a strong, sweet, and slightly spicy flavor. See Cinnamon below.

Let’s now get into our easy step-by-step guide to make your own delightful pilau masala spice blend at home.

How to Make your Own Pilau Masala Spice at Home Without a Grinder| Best Pilau Masala Recipe

Here is an easy homemade pilau masala spice recipe without a grinder. This pilau masala powder recipe has all the ingredients you need to make a delightful masala spice blend that you will enjoy in your recipes.

Find an easy-to-follow video guide showing you how to make this pilau masala at home at the end of this post.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Cuisine African, Indian, kenyan

Equipment

1 Mortar and Pestle
1 suitable pan (for lightly roasting the spices)
1 Wooden Spoon

Ingredients

2& ½ tbsps whole cumin seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1& ½ tbsps whole cardamom pods
1 tsp whole cloves
1 whole cinnamon stick (About 5 inches)

Instructions

Begin by shelling the cardamom. I usually take a piece at a time and split it apart using my fingers. I'll then get the inside part out. We will use that part to make our pilau masala spice.
*I don't discard the outer shells of my cardamom. I like to add them to my milk tea. I often do this just before the tea gets ready. I'll then stir them in and when the tea is ready, I'll let it simmer for a few more minutes for the tea to absorb the aromatic taste of cardamom that's still in the pods. I'll then sieve them out. The aromatic taste of cardamom makes the tea delightful.
Next, Cut the cinnamon sticks into small pieces. Cutting them into small pieces works much better especially when grinding them in your mortar and pestle as we will do.
Heat the pan you will use to slightly roast the spices. It should be a fairly heavy pan.
Once the pan is hot, add all the ingredients (spices) to the pan.
*If you’re working with the store-bought whole pilau masala mix, it's already been mixed for you. add to the pan the amount you will need.
Stir them continuously until all the spices get hot. They'll not only crush more readily, but they'll also begin to release the aromatic aroma that's typical of pilau masala spice blend.
Roast them for about 3 minutes on fairly high heat. Do not let them burn.
Now transfer the hot pilau mix spices to your mortar.
Begin crushing the hot spices with your pestle. Keep at this until the spices are finely ground.
Your ground pilau masala spice powder is ready.
You’ll have the best results with recipes when you work with freshly ground pilau masala. The spicy fragrance of the combined spices is strongest when the pilau masala is fresh.
If some of the pilau masala spice is left over, store in an airtight suitable jar or container for future use.
One of the delightful recipes where you use your homemade pilau masala spice blend is No-meat Pilau. If you'd like to know how to make no-meat pilau with homemade pilau masala spice, you can find our popular affordable No-meat Pilau recipe here.
Enhance your hospitality for the glory of God.

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Pilau Masala Spice at Home Without a Grinder: Best Pilau Masala Recipe