Easy Nihari Masala Recipe that has simple spices that should be available in any Indian kitchen. Also, find easy substitutes for all ingredients.
This post was updated on 4th, December 2021 with a little variation in the recipe after retesting.
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Getting a ready-made nihari masala is super convenient. If you make nihari often or you can't find nihari masala the effort is worth it. And you can easily do it in a coffee grinder.
Now, if you are wondering what is nihari masala? It is a spice mix used to make spicy flour-based meat and curry called Nihari. Nihari is a traditional Pakistani beef stew. Here's you can find the recipe for nihari here.
Making your own masala is easy and gives you complete control over spices. Since homemade means healthy and tastier choice. This masala is flavorful, very close to the store-bought
- aromatic.
- fresh
- no preservative
- no artificial colors
- no MSG.
This is a small-batch recipe. I purposely kept the recipe small-sized so you can try a small batch before doubling or tripling the recipe for a large batch. Although, I feel this recipe is very close to the store-bought product with less red chili.
You can use the spice mix in these recipes.
Ingredients
So here's a visual of spices that can make things easier for you. Since you might be overwhelmed by a long list of spices. But if you at these, you'll feel you have most of them.
- Whole Spices: Cinnamon, clove, bay leaf, and pepper are common whole spices at you probably have them. You substitute each of these whole spice with ½ teaspoon ground spice.
- Cardamom: The top of the photo has whole spices like black and green cardamom. Green cardamom is used in desserts too like vanilla.
- Star anise: It is less and you can skip that. You substitute ½ teaspoon ground spice.
- Long pepper: This is a specific spice that is used in Nihari. If you make nihari often, consider buying it or substituting it with freshly ground pepper.
- Cumin: We are using two cumins in the recipe. You can substitute regular cumin for black cumin. Black cumin is also known as shah zeera or kala zeera in Hindi. It has a stronger aroma compared to regular cumin. I love this spice and you can use it in most traditional Indian nonveg curries, like kunna, aloo gosht, and haleem. You can substitute with ground cumin in the same measure.
- Fennel Seeds: Fennel seeds are particularly necessary for this recipe as they have a prominent aroma in nihari so don't skip it. Not sure what to do with the remaining fennel seeds? You can use them to make mukhwas or fennel tea which has many benefits.
- Coriander seeds: If substituting this with ground coriander then scale the quantity to half.
- Tumeric and red chili are common ground spices. Kashmiri chili adds that vibrant nihari color. You can use paprika or a little red food color.
Homemade vs pre-made spice mix?
I like both and use both homemade and pre-made spices. Pre-made spices are convenient and with extra flavors and seasoning give you the perfect taste without much hassle. Another reason is getting a spice mix is far cheaper than buying all the spices separately.
The ready-made spice mix is spicier and has a flavor enhancer too. If you are hesitant to buy these spices, you can use most spices in Indian cooking and some in Arabic food too. The two less-used spices are long pepper (which you can skip) and fennel.
How to make it?
You can make the Nihari spice mix several days ahead and store it in the fridge in an airtight jar. Doubling or tripling the spice mix recipe for next time is worth it. You can buy store-bought Nihari seasoning from Amazon and skip the below step.
- Take whole spices in a pan and dry roast for a minute on medium heat.
- Add powdered spices, and roast another for 2-3 seconds. Remove from heat and transfer to a food processor.
- Grind into a fine powder. Sieve the spice mix through a fine strainer. (Fennel seeds are difficult to ground smoothly and they will spoil the texture of nihari. So sieving is important.)
- Store spice mix in an airtight jar in the fridge for 1 year.
My other spice mix recipes,
If you try this Nihari masala, I'd LOVE to hear your feedback in the comments. Your 5-ratings motivate me to do my best. Stay connected for more recipes and videos on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.
📖 Recipe
Nihari Masala
Ingredients
Whole spices
- 2 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon black cumin, sub with cumin
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 inch cinnamon stick, broken
- 1 nos black cardamom
- 5 nos green cardamom*
- 5 nos cloves
- 1 bay leaf*
- ½ flower star anise*
- 1 long pepper, (piply) sub with black peppers
Powdered spices
- 2 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder, for color
- 1 tablespoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder*
- 2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Nihari Masala Recipe
- Take whole spices in a pan and dry roast for a minute on medium heat.
- Add powdered spices, and roast another for 2-3 seconds. Remove from heat and transfer to a food processor. Grind into a fine powder.
- Sieve the spice mix through a fine strainer. Discard the remains.
- You'll need 2 tablespoons of this spice mix for 500g chicken nihari. And about 2-3 tablespoon for ½ kg beef Nihari. Add more after the taste test.
Notes
- Look for these spices in Indian stores, where you can find them easily and at reasonable rates.
- I understand finding all spices can be difficult even at an Indian home, particularly long pepper. Just skip if making a small batch.
- I've tried this recipe without bay leaf, star anise, and long pepper, and still tastes good. I've marked anything that is not necessary with star (*).
- Fennel seeds are particularly necessary for this recipe as they have a prominent aroma in nihari so don't skip it.
- Consider doubling the recipe if you make nihari often or for a large family.
- Store spice mix in an airtight jar in the fridge for 1 year.
- Coriander seeds: 1 tablespoon
- Cumin: 2 teaspoon
- Fennel: 1 tablespoon
- Black cumin: 1 teaspoon
- Green cardamom: ½ teaspoon
- Black cardamom:½ teaspoon
- Bay leaf: ½ teaspoon
- Star anise: ½ teaspoon
- Black pepper: ½ teaspoon
- Cinnamon: ½ teaspoon
- Clove: ½ teaspoon
- Long pepper: ¾ teaspoon
Ashiyana says
"You'll need 2 tablespoons of this spice mix for 500 kg chicken nihari." - You might want to change the 500 kg to 500grams. Love the recipe and I have made it dozens of times. Thank you 🙂
Mariam Sodawater says
Thanks for pointing out. 🙂
Dr Fatima Riaz says
Absolutely perfect nihari masala. I followed it to a T....and got amazing reviews from my guests!. Thank you!
Mariam Sodawater says
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your feedback. Thanks for the rating.
Marina says
Hello, how do I make this less spicy? Thank you
Mariam Sodawater says
Hi Marina, just use less red chili. If you want to melow down further switch kashmiri chili with paprika. I hope this helps.
Samra Hassaan says
Cool. I can't figure out which grinder I should use. Moulinex spice mill or a different brand coffee dringer? Just confused with this. Rest of the recipe is amazing I've tried it but my spice didn't turn into total powder as my grinder wasn't really good.
Mariam Sodawater says
Hey Samra, I won't recommend you to get another grinder for spice mixes. You can always use a strainer to remove ungrouded spices. Grind them once more and strain again. ( 2 times grinding.) Then discard the remains. Most machines won't give you powder as you get in readymade packets. So straining is the best way to go. Thanks for the feedback.