Want to give your presents a personal touch by making them yourself? Here are 11 ideas for homemade festive offerings
I recently made a recipe for Somali chicken stew from In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen. It included a spice mix called xawaash, AKA “the garam masala of Somalia”. I plan to make more xawaash and give it to people with an accompanying print-out of a recipe to use it. To make it, you smash a cinnamon stick (in a bag) and heat it in a saucepan with cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cardamom pods and whole cloves. After a few minutes, leave to cool, then grind to a fine powder before adding turmeric and stirring well. I was apprehensive about the “half a teaspoon” of cloves on the ingredients list, so I just added three. Next time, I’ll be a bit more adventurous. Belinda Cash, librarian, New York