My ancestors were East Indians from old Bombay, a small Catholic community whose cultural and culinary traditions were an eclectic blend of Goan, Portuguese, Indian and British influences.  

The East Indians were famous for hand making bottle masala, a rich and complex blend of 20 to 30 spices ranging from red chillies to cumin and coriander seeds, turmeric, pepper, sesame, shah jeera, poppy, mustard, saffron, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves.  

Bottle masala was made by the women of the community over the Indian summer, when spices could be dried, hand roasted on clay pots over a wood fire, pounded and then stored in recycled glass beer bottles for use during the year.  Each family had its own special blend of bottle masala, and it was a closely guarded secret passed down from mothers to daughters.  

Over the last 50 years, it has been a traditional practice for Indians living abroad to 'smuggle' bottle masala home with them so they could cook their traditional curries all over the world.  When my Nana visited us in Australia while we were growing up, we always crossed our fingers that she would get our annual supply through customs, where she frequently had it confiscated.  

When my Nana died in 2013, she left me all of her hand written cookbooks and those of her mother, Olive Fernandez, and amongst these I found the recipe they based their bottle masala on, a phenomenal, rich and earthy mix of spices that gave a special flavour to their cooking.

We are not commercially producing this bottle masala at the moment, and we know that many of our loyal friends and customers are missing it!

As we don’t recommend the use of most store-bought curry powders, we suggest that you substitute 2 heaped teaspoons (10 grams) of bottle masala (as per most recipes on this site based on using 500 grams of meat or vegetables) to feed approximately four people.  This recipe contains all of the ingredients in bottle masala, and will produce a curry full of natural spices and anti-inflammatory goodness. 

BOTTLE MASALA SUBSTITUTION (WILL MAKE 40 GRAMS OF SPICE, ENOUGH FOR 4 X CURRIES USING 500 GRAMS OF MEAT OR VEGETABLES)

Roast, cool and grind the following in a small coffee grinder:

1 inch stick of cinnamon

1 star anise

1 bay leaf

2 cardamom pods

3 cloves

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of chana dal

½ teaspoon of mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon of black poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorns

Pinch of saffron

When ground, add the following and mix well:

2 teaspoons of hot chilli powder

1 teaspoon hot paprika or Kashmiri chilli powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Pinch of allspice

Pinch of nutmeg