Indian cooking
Indian cooking / Spice mixtures / Dhania-Jeera (Thali)

Dhania-Jeera (Thali)

Coriander & Cumin Powder
VegetarianMakes about 50 g (2 oz)

A dry-roasted Indian spice blend of coriander, cumin, mild red chilli and bay leaf, ground to a powder. It tastes warm, earthy and gently pungent, with a soft chilli heat.

Dhania-jeera masala

47 gDry-roasted together and ground (steps 2–4)
01
31 g6 tablespoons
spice
02
13 g2 tablespoons
spice
03
3 g2 chillies
spice
04
1 g2 leaves
spice
Grind the cooled spices with the bay leaf to a fine powder.

Method

  1. Set a dry frying pan over low heat.
  2. Add 30.6 g coriander seeds, 12.6 g cumin seed and 5 g kashmiri chilli to the pan to make the dhania-jeera masala; dry-roast for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until toasted and fragrant, without letting them burn.
  3. Turn off the heat and leave the dhania-jeera masala to cool in the pan.
  4. Grind the cooled dhania-jeera masala with 1 g bay leaf to a fine powder.
  5. Store the powder in a clean, airtight jar.

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Coriander seeds
  • Ground coriander

    Use 75% of the weight; stir in along with wet masala or tomato purée rather than frying in hot oil, as the fine powder burns instantly.

  • Cumin seed

    Use 50% of the weight for tempering in hot oil. Lacks the floral, sweet citrus flavour of coriander, introducing warm, pungent earthiness instead.

  • Fennel seed

    Use 50% of the weight in tempering; provides pleasant aromatic sweetness, though noticeably aniseedy rather than citrusy.

Cumin seed
  • Ground cumin

    Use 70% of the weight; add with ground spices or sauce bases rather than hot oil tempering, where it scorches quickly and turns bitter.

  • Black cumin seeds

    Use equal weight for oil tempering. Delivers an earthy profile with an additional musky, smoky, and slightly bitter edge.

  • Fennel seed

    Use 60% of the weight for tempering; offers comparable warm aroma, but leans sweet and liquorice-like rather than savoury and earthy.

Kashmiri red chilli
  • Dried kashmiri chilli

    Use the same weight; soak in hot water and grind if a paste is needed. Same mild heat and deep colour.

  • Mild dried red chilli

    Use the same weight but deseed; taste first as heat varies. May be hotter and less fruity.

  • Kashmiri red chilli powder

    Use half the weight, e.g. 1 g powder for 2 g whole; add with liquid. Good colour, less whole-chilli texture.

Bay leaf
  • Cinnamon stick

    Use a 2 cm piece (about 1 g) for every 1 to 2 bay leaves. Fry in whole-spice temperings; provides the cassia-like warmth typical of Indian tejpatta.

  • Ground cinnamon (cassia)

    Use 0.5 g per leaf. Stir into the sauce during simmering; gives the same warm woodiness but darkens the colour slightly.

Similar spice mixtures

Moongphali Masala
Spicy Peanut Masala
Moongphali Masala tastes nutty, savoury and fiery with a crunchy texture, while this dish is warm, earthy and only mildly hot.
  • Same: Moongphali Masala shares cumin and coriander seeds with this dish and is also a dry spice mixture.
  • Different: Moongphali Masala is built on roasted peanuts with garlic, oil and 20 g dried red chilli, while this dish is mostly coriander and cumin with Kashmiri chilli and bay leaf.
Goda Masala
Goda Masala tastes darker, nuttier and slightly sweet from coconut and sesame, with mild heat, while this dish tastes warmer, earthier and gently pungent with soft chilli heat.
  • Same: Goda Masala shares coriander seeds, cumin seed, bay leaf and dried red chilli with this dish, and both are ground Indian spice blends.
  • Different: Goda Masala adds desiccated coconut, sesame seed, vegetable oil, cassia bark, clove, caraway seeds, asafoetida and turmeric, while this dish is a simpler dry-roasted blend without coconut, sesame or oil.
Garam Masala (I)
Garam Masala (I) tastes more sharply aromatic and peppery, with strong cardamom and ginger notes, while this dish is more coriander-forward, earthy and mildly chilli-warm.
  • Same: Garam Masala (I) shares cumin and coriander with this dish and is also a dry, ground spice blend.
  • Different: Garam Masala (I) uses far more cumin than coriander and adds black cardamom, green cardamom, black peppercorn and ground ginger; it lacks this dish's Kashmiri chilli and bay leaf.
Karepaku Karam
Spicy Ground Flavouring
Karepaku Karam tastes more pungent, savoury and earthy from curry leaves, urad dal, asafoetida, garlic and pepper, with salt and a sharper chilli heat than this dish’s warm, earthy, gently pungent flavour.
  • Same: Karepaku Karam shares with this dish coriander seeds, cumin seed and dried red chilli, and both are roasted and ground into spice powders.
  • Different: Karepaku Karam adds vegetable oil, urad dal, curry leaves, garlic powder, asafoetida, black pepper and salt, while this dish is a dry-roasted blend of only coriander, cumin, Kashmiri chilli and bay leaf.