The raw ingredients are mixed at the mill. The mixture is finely ground into powder form. A single kg of masala takes about 4–5 hours of pounding and grinding to blend the powder effectively.
In the final steps, the bottle is sealed with a cap, tightly wrapped in cloth and tied with a string. East Indian families recall a time not so long ago when they collected empty beer bottles to be repurposed for storing masala. Over time, glass bottles have been phased out and replaced with airtight containers, which can store larger quantities and are easy to stack. Bottles are still used, although sparingly.
In addition to their signature bottle masala, Veera and Natasha Almeida make fish masala, puri masala, and indyal (vindaloo) masala. Though various factory-made spice blends exist in the market, bottle masala remains uniquely East Indian and holds a special place in the East Indian community as a symbol of their culinary tradition and heritage.
The pounding machine has a mechanical sieve attached to it, through which the masala is sieved to remove lumps and impurities. The mills are operated by women, who did the work manually in the past using a mortar and pestle.
Jevayla Ye translates to ‘come eat’ in the East Indian dialect, which is the basic idea behind Veera Almeida’s cooking venture. The spice blends are packed in airtight pouches with illustrated branding, representing the East Indian community and their association with spices.
Veera Almeida runs her business from home, making and sharing her recipes online through social media. The ingredients and preparation style are passed down through generations in the family, from mother to daughter to granddaughter. The skill of mixing spices is learned through years of apprenticeship in the kitchen rather than by relying on a cookbook.
The proportion and variety of spices used in bottle masala are closely guarded secrets passed down within the family. The ingredients range from popular spices like lal mirch (red chilli), tejpatta (bay leaf), dalchini (cinnamon), elaichi (cardamom), and javitri (mace) to rare spices like mugwort, stoneflower, and Nagkesar (cobra saffron). On average, 25–30 spices are used in a masala, but it can range from as few as 20 to as many as 50.
Along with her daughter, Natasha, she runs the popular Instagram page @Jevayla_Ye (89k followers) and ‘The House of Jevayla Ye’ page on Facebook, where the mother-daughter duo shares the preparation processes of dishes from East Indian cuisine. In their own words, ‘The House of Jevayla Ye venture aims to introduce you to our humble authentic East Indian masalas. Sukhala!’ [1]
In the past, in East Indian neighbourhoods like Vasai (Bassein), it was common to find groups of women (called masalewalis) going from house to house to do the roasting and grounding. Manual pounding was a labour-intensive process spread over two or three days. Over the years, the pounding process has become entirely mechanised. Families now send the masala mix to mills, where it is pounded by machines.