Jio Institute’s Post

#MumbaiArchiveProject The bottle masala is quintessential to the aroma and taste of the cuisine of the East Indian community in Mumbai and is prepared from a variety of spices. In addition to their Portuguese origins, East Indian cuisine has, over time, adapted itself to reflect a mixture of British and Maharashtrian culinary influences. Bottle Masala, interestingly, derives its name from the empty beer bottles in which the masala was packed and stored to keep them airtight and fresh. The first step in the preparation of the masala is drying. The spices are laid out on the street or on rooftops, exposed to sunlight for two to three days. Once dried, they are roasted whole. In the past, groups of women known as ‘masalewalis’ would go from house to house to roast the spices and pound them with a mortar and pestle. Nowadays, pounding is done in mills which have specialized machines to do the task much faster. In the final stage, the powder is sieved to remove lumps and pounded again to ensure a smooth blend and fine grains. The masala is then packed in airtight containers, which have largely replaced bottles. Explore the photo essay by Lavanya Ullas: bit.ly/BottleMasala #BottleMasala #EastIndianCommunity #Mumbai #EastIndian #Portuguese #Spices #EastIndianCuisine #SpecialCollections #JioInstitute

Rushikesh Rane

Center for Heritage Management | Art, Culture & Ancient Board Games Researcher

6mo

Loved this 💯

Like
Reply

To view or add a comment, sign in

Explore topics