What to use instead of garam masala
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Warm aromatic added near the end of cooking
The blend is built on volatile spices, cardamom, clove, cinnamon and black pepper, all of which are destroyed by a long simmer. Stirring it in during the last few minutes is what puts the perfume back on a dish that has been cooking for an hour.
Home blendRan out
2 tsp ground cumin + 2 tsp ground coriander + 1 tsp ground cardamom + 1 tsp ground black pepper + 1 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/2 tsp ground clove + 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, makes about 3 tbsp
Fresher and considerably louder than a jar six months open. Regional blends vary enormously, so treat this as a starting point rather than the definition.
Ras el hanoutRan out
1:1
Rose, and often ginger and lavender, arrive with it. The dish tilts North African and gets sweeter.
BaharatRan out
1:1
Very close in structure, with more paprika and less cardamom. The nearest thing to garam masala on a Western spice rack.
Chaat masalaRan out
use 2/3 as much and cut the salt in the dish
Sour and salty from amchur and black salt, with a sulphurous note behind it. It finishes a dish well without being a warm blend at all.
What doesn't work: Curry powder stirred in at the end. It is built on turmeric and fenugreek, which are base spices meant to cook out in fat at the start, so added late it tastes raw and dusty and turns the whole dish yellow on the way.
Warm-spice weight in a marinade or dry rub
Here the blend is not perfuming a finished dish. It sits on meat with yogurt or oil and goes into direct heat, so the cinnamon and clove need to be present from the beginning and to survive the grill.
Tandoori masalaRan out
1:1
Adds paprika or colouring and usually salt, so the meat goes red and you should cut the salt. Otherwise very close.
Home blend, ground from whole spicesRan out
the same 3 tbsp blend as above
A rub is where the gap between freshly ground and long-ground shows most, so this is the job worth the grinder.
Allspice, cinnamon and black pepperRan out
1 tsp allspice + 1/2 tsp cinnamon + 1/2 tsp black pepper per 2 tsp garam masala
Rough but workable, and it misses cardamom entirely, which is the note most people actually identify as garam masala.
What doesn't work: Chinese five spice. It looks like the same category of thing on the shelf and star anise is nothing like cardamom; chicken tikka rubbed with it tastes of char siu, and the yogurt in the marinade makes that stranger rather than better.