Vegan MoFo: Garam Masala

I wish your screen could be scratch-and-sniff. This is a close up of garlic and garam masala sauteeing for the Dill Basmati Rice with Chard and Chickpeas from VCon: I know I've posted lots of recipes from that book and will be branching out in the coming days, but it's just such a great book that it's the one I would take to the desert island. Veganomicon and the His Dark Materials trilogy, that's all you need.

This was the first time I opened the bottlejar of garam masala we bought at Fairway. The smell of it in the pan is totally intoxicating, like, Annick Goutal intoxicating, almost floral, in fact almost the glycerine floral of a Gewurtzraminer! It's been a source of wonder to me how much cooking is about smell as much as taste. Obviously everyone knows this intellectually, but when I'm experiencing it first hand it thrills me as much as playing music, the way the coriander and the cumin and the cardamom make a sort of chord, which is obviously (duh!) why perfumers talk about "notes." The garam masala's perfume gave me an amazing inspiration for something to try that could be genius or could be a train wreck but I'm going to try it Sunday and post it Monday.

I wanted to use coconut oil for this but I couldn't get the jar open and was feeling lazy so I used canola. I love love coconut oil for how it lets flavors shine through when you cook with ginger or cook greens. I need to try harder to open the jar this weekend.