A question about a recipe: Tandoori Chicken Sausage

I have a question about step 1 on the recipe "Tandoori Chicken Sausage" from VivekS. It says:

"First, you have to cook the masala. Heat some canola oil in a pot over medium heat and add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, and cloves. Allow the aromas to fill your kitchen and for the spices to toast a little. Add the grated onion and tomatoes. Season with salt and cook until nicely brown and caramelized, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the turmeric and cayenne pepper and cook for another minute. Add the yogurt, garlic, ginger, serrano chiles, lime juice and garam masala. Cook the masala until it is completely dry and there is no visible moisture. This is key to ensuring your sausage becomes the correct texture. The finished masala should look like a seasoning paste."
It seems like a step is missing. Shouldn't the spices be ground at some point? I can't imagine stuffing a sausage and having the cinnamon stick still be whole?

UrbanHomemade
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Tandoori Chicken Sausage
Recipe question for: Tandoori Chicken Sausage

1 Comment

The S.
The S. December 30, 2011
Actually it is quite typical to leave the spices whole in Indian cooking. In the west the instructions might typically include a comment about removing anything inedible, like cloves, cardamom pods and the cinnamon stick, but Indian recipes rarely do and I just instruct my family to be aware of them. Whole and ground spice add different flavor profiles, and usually an Indian recipe is specifically looking for the one or the other. In this case, the whole spices will infuse the cooking oil. If they really bother you, remove them before stuffing and maybe sprinkle a little more garam masala into the mixture (make sure it is a good garam masala, with cloves, cinnamo, cardamom, not just just totally bulked out by cumin and coriander as tasty as they are!).
 
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