Untying The

Potli Masala

Pouch And Everything You Need To Know About It

Quick Summary

Potli masala, just like the  French bouquet garni, is added to specific dishes during the simmering stage to infuse them with a delightful flavour and fragrance. While both are similar in function, they are quite different when it comes to what they are made of. The Indian one is a masala potli, where whole spices, dried roots and petals are tied in a muslin pouch and dropped into slow-cooked food to perfume it, then lifted out before serving. This article covers everything about it, from where the very idea came from, what a typical blend holds, how it mirrors the bouquet garni, and how to tie one at home. 

Deep Dive

As artsy and aesthetically pleasing as the French bouquet garni looks, like a miniature bouquet of herbs, the potli, which means pouch, is not far behind. Spices can’t be tied with a string, like herbs in French cooking, unless something stick-like, say cinnamon, is involved. So an assortment of spices is secured in a pouch, which releases the flavours of the spices into the dish that is cooking. Slow-cooked dishes are where this masala potli is usually dispatched, as the slow cooking process gives enough time for the spices to release their aroma into the dish, especially gravy dishes. The bundle is taken out after the simmering stage, so the dish carries fragrance without the annoying spice bits, like finding elaichi or cardamom in biryani.

Where Did Potli Masala Come From?

The origin of potli masala is contested, and some point to the royal kitchens of Awadh, where a similar pouch called Lazzat-e-Taam flavoured kebabs and kormas, with scents of rose, vetiver and kewra. Another account places the masala pouch within Nawabi cuisine at large, whether from Lucknow's Awadhi kitchens or Hyderabad's Nizami ones.

Some might associate this spice pouch with Hyderabad, because it was in this city that the pouch became a signature. The Mughals took over the city in the 1630s, the Nizams ruled it afterwards, and Mughlai cooking habits merged with local ones to form Hyderabadi cuisine. The cuisine carries influences from Iran, Turkey and the Mughals. Unlike its northern cousin, the Hyderabadi version took in local earthy ingredients such as betel root, vetiver, stone flower and sandalwood powder, and it is said that this special blend is not found anywhere else. That is why Hyderabadi potli masala is a regional speciality, and why the exact recipe is rarely disclosed.

A Look At Potli Masala Ingredients

No two households agree on the blend. Traditional cooks describe as many as 30 to 32 ingredients, while other sources put the count at around 20 or 15 to 20 whole spices and herbs. The potli masala ingredients that turn up most often fall into a few groups:

• Warm and sweet: cinnamon sticks, cloves, green and black cardamom, star anise, mace and nutmeg.

• Seeds: coriander, cumin, shahjeera (caraway), fennel and poppy seeds.

• Pungent: black peppercorns, kababchini (cubeb) and dried ginger.

• Earthy and woody: pathar ka phool (stone flower), paan ki jad (betel root), khas ki jad (vetiver root) and sandalwood powder.

• Floral and herbal: dried rose petals, bay leaf and jarakush (dried lemongrass).

Stone flower is a lichen, and some versions of the masala pouch also add kapoor kachli and kasuri methi. Several of these are aromatics, which is why the pouch tends to add fragrance and flavour that is layered and not what the typical chilli powder does. Some ingredients appear elsewhere in ground form: dagad phool (stone flower) goes into Maharashtra's goda masala, Malvani masala and Parsi dhansak masala. What sets potli masala apart is that the spices are never ground but tied into a pouch, added to dishes, and later removed.

What Does A Masala Potli Actually Do?

The point is fragrance, not heat. The pouch is most closely tied to Hyderabadi nihari, paya and haleem. In traditional home dum biryani, it is dropped into the stock before the rice is layered. It also goes into korma. Some cooks boil the masala potli in water first, then use that water to cook the rice, which carries the aroma into the biryani. What it does in the pot:

• Infuses long-cooked meat and gravies with a layered aroma.

• Keep the gravy smooth, since the whole spices leave with the pouch.

• Stretches across cooks: one recipe uses half the batch for a pot of about 12 lamb trotters, so a single batch serves two cooks.

Potli Masala vs French Bouquet Garni

The closest Western parallel is the bouquet garni. A bouquet garni is made of parsley, thyme and bay leaf, and can be bound in leek leaves. Potli masala sits nearer to the sachet d'épices, a small cheesecloth bag of peppercorns, other spices and herbs that acts like a tea bag in soup, stock or stew.

The function is the same for both, and their differences are in the scale; both are removed at the end, leaving no solid bits behind, just their fragrance. Chinese cooks make the same comparison, calling their braising packet a bouquet garni with a more robust flavour profile.

Potli Masala Counterparts And Variations

Across cuisine there are different kinds of pouches that add more depth of flavour to dishes. For example, the Chinese lu liao bao seasoning packets have cassia, liquorice root, ginger, star anise, cloves, cardamom, Sichuan peppercorns, dried tangerine peel and more in a teabag-like sachet, and some store-bought ones hold 20 or even 30 spices. Taiwan's lu wei braising also relies on similar dried-herb pouches. For Vietnamese pho, the spices are roasted first, then packaged and placed in the broth.

Within India, variation follows the region. Hyderabad leans on betel root, vetiver, stone flower and sandalwood, while the Awadhi cousin is described through rose, vetiver and kewra. Home cooks trim the list. One home-cook formula keeps it to bay leaf, coriander, vetiver, sandalwood, dried rose petals, black cardamom, kababchini, cinnamon, stone flower, galangal and star anise, plus kapoor kachli and kasuri methi. Ready-made potli ka masala packs are sold in Indian and Pakistani grocery stores.

How To Build A Masala Potli At Home

A homemade version of Hyderabadi potli masala does not need 30 ingredients, unless you like complications in your life and want to build a really complex flavour profile for a slow-cooked dish. Treat the groups above as a guide and aim for balance.

1. Take one or two items each from the warm, seed, pungent, earthy and floral groups. Eight to 12 whole spices is a decent and workable number.

2. Some recipes for this masala pouch use a formula of 50 g of coriander and 25 g of every other item.

3. Some recipes roast the spices, cool them, store them airtight, and skip grinding.

4. Use a small square and kitchen twine to tie the pouch, and leave the string long and tie it to the pot handle, a tip from the sachet d'épices method that makes retrieval easy.

5. Drop the masala potli in with the stock at the start of the cook, then lift it out before serving.

6. It is hard to find every ingredient in one place. If vetiver or stone flower are unavailable, buy the rest from a reliable spice seller. The pouch still works, and a ready-made pack for potli ka masala fills the gaps.