Does it makes sense if a recipes asks for garam masala (including cumin) and cumin at the same time?

There are many chicken tikka recipes out there that say add garam masala to both the sauce and marinade, but it also requires you to add spices that garam masala already contains: cumin, corainder, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom. Does it make sense?

forpasstryer
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3 Comments

C S.
C S. July 26, 2019
I am no expert in Indian cooking but most recipes I have followed have you add the individual spices (often after toasting) as you are cooking the food and then the garam masala is sprinkled over the dish at the end of the cooking time. You might try following the recipe as written first and see if it is too strong, or if you don't already have all the spices use just the garam masala and see if it tastes good to you.
 
forpasstryer
forpasstryer July 26, 2019
The recipes adds all the individual spices and the garam masala to the marinade and to the pan after the onion, ginger and garlic are cooked.
Here is this recipe
https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/24/how-to-cook-perfect-chicken-tikka-masala
For the sauce, among others, it adds cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, and other recipes also add cumin and coriander. And on top of those, they add garam masala. I find it strange because garam masala is basically nothing but cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom. Why are you required to add a spice mixture that contains spices you already added to the dish?
 
C S.
C S. July 29, 2019
My not very kind response is you are not required to add either the spice mixture or the spices. That's what the author of the recipe seems to do but you can always use your own judgment.
 
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