Roasted at the back, milled in front
Everything is roasted at the back of the shop in a flat-bottomed karahi, a few kilograms at a time, because a bigger batch cooks unevenly and you can taste exactly where it went wrong. The mill is a 1974 Bühler my father bought second-hand off a coffee roaster in Verulam. It runs slow and it runs cool, which matters more than anything else in this trade — a fast mill heats the seed and burns off the oil you are paying for. Roasted spice then stands open in trays for two days before it goes near a bag, so the steam is out of it and the blend does not sweat in the packet on your shelf. Masala is mixed by hand with a scoop, weighed on the counter, and closed the same afternoon.
