Masala Madness and Triple Chocolate Chai Bundt Cake
Hey everyone!
This week was Elara’s birthday week which led me to be a soppy mom all week. I just can’t believe she’s 8! We got 10 years left before ’s off causing chaos in the world!
What you missed this week!
I shared a long-form video of Elara and me making ramen at home! This ramen turned out surprisingly rich, and the broth had so much depth in flavor! I rarely just throw stuff into a pot and hope for the best—mostly because my brain struggles with making recipes on the fly—so this was a nice change of pace for me. You can find the recipe in the caption on my post!
I also shared some of my favorite grocery store samosa spots in the Bay Area with KQED! Honestly the best samosas I’ve ever had have always been at Indian grocery stores! With a cold can of Thums up- I’m here for the grocery store samosa supremacy! Every store’s is different and that’s what makes it so fun!
Toxic Spices: MDH, Everest and Shan Masala Bans
If you’ve been on Desi IG or TikTok lately, you’ll see tons of people creating clickbait content calling out, “MDH/Shan/Everest Masala cause cancer.” Granted, this is a super extreme headline, but there is some merit to it.
Various masala mixes from these brands have been banned in the past year. The quality of spices coming into the US from South Asia has been questioned and researched for a while. A 2010 research study concluded that even spices that were banned by the FDA for high lead content were available for purchase online and in stores.
In its April 5 statement, the Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety (CFS) said that the samples of several kinds of pre-packaged spice-mix products of two Indian brands were found to contain a pesticide, ethylene oxide. These products are MDH's Madras Curry Powder (Spice blend for Madras Curry), Everest Fish Curry Masala, MDH Sambhar Masala Mixed Masala Powder, MDH Curry Powder Mixed Masala Powder.
Source: Business Outlook India
Shan, specifically, was called out on X/Twitter as being banned in Germany due to ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic fumigant found in pharmaceuticals, spices, makeup, and more. It’s often used as a pesticide in spices and is considered safe if it’s under 7 ppm. It’s important to point out that high levels of this compound were found in several specific masala mixes, not all the products. However, I’m unsure how many of their masalas were tested. Germany, however, did not ban the products but placed a recall on them.
Ultimately, the safety and testing of these spice brands are not up to par, which can seriously risk people’s health (especially children!). My family always has packs of MDH/Everest/Shan masalas in our fridge and cabinets due to their ease of use. Now, I’m not so sure the risk is worth it. Until these brands take the quality and safety of their spices more seriously, I don’t think I’ll be buying masalas from them moving forward.
Instead, I’d rather support small spice companies, like Spicewalla, Diaspora Co and Burlap and Barrel, who are transparent with the sourcing of their spices.
Triple Chocolate Chai Bundt Cake
I love the combo of chai and chocolate- I’ve probably overdone this combo, but honestly, I don’t care. This marble bundt cake is made with a chai cake batter and then swirled with two different types of cocoa powder: unsweetened black cocoa powder and natural unsweetened cocoa powder. Black cocoa powder is what Oreos is made of! It’s a type of cocoa powder that has been processed (also called Dutch processed) with an alkalizing agent to reduce its acidity. This gives it a very dark color and a deep, intense flavor and color!
On the other hand, natural cocoa powder is not treated with alkali during processing. It retains its natural acidity, giving it a more tangy and slightly bitter flavor than Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
Both of these cocoa powders have unique and distinct flavors that are complimented by black tea/chai!
For the third chocolate, I glazed the bundt cake with a white chocolate chai and bittersweet chocolate ganache glaze!
You can use a 10 or 12 cup bundt cake pan for this recipe! I like to double grease my pan to make sure it comes out in one piece! I don’t have any egg substitution for this recipe as the eggs are important in the texture and leavening of the recipe!
Video and recipe are below:
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