When the book was COTM, I knew I’d be cooking from it a lot, so I made several of the spice mixtures and the onion, garlic and ginger pastes right away. The pastes freeze very well and I have found lots of other uses for them in other cuisines and my own improvised sauces, etc. I’ve also found other uses for the spice blends and have no trouble using them up before they lose their potency, although I still do keep a good commercial garam masala on hand in case I want to make something on a whim and am too lazy to make the spice blend called for in the book.
ETA: I was just looking at the Chowhound thread and I remembered that the Maharashtrian garam masala was one of my favorites - peanuts, coconut and chiles. Well worth making from scratch. The chicken recipe on 159 is a great use for it.
