Masala

Three syllables to describe what would otherwise take sentences. Masala is a broad category that refers to spices in general. It also refers to a single spice, or to several spices whole or ground that go into a specific dish. Masalas can be pounded dry or ground wet into a paste. In the ideal Parsi house, masala pastes are ground on a stone slab with a stone roller every morning for the day’s use. From time to time, an itinerant craftswoman called a tankiwali will come to the door and painstakingly hammer new depressions into both slab and roller so that they keep their grip. In the pragmatic Parsi house of today, our handsome masala stones have become objects of contemplation, and what we use for powdering and grinding masalas is the indispensable wet-dry grinder.