Ideas for making a Indian Masala Dabba box

[Russell Johnson]

Has anyone made a Indian Masala Dabba box? As I understand it there are 7 spice pots needed. I can't really find anything on how to make these. Any suggestions are greatly welcomed. Thank you.

[Prashun Patel]

There's nothing scientific about this kind of box. I've seen a million of them growing up. 'masalla dabba box' means 'spice container box'.

The most common one I've seen is about a 10" round tin that is about 2" high.

http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Masa.../dp/B000T3E96O

Inside, there are room for about 7 smaller tins to hold dry, powdered spices. The 6 were arranged around the perimeter with a 7th in the center. There is also a single tiny spoon which holds about a 'dash'.

There's no reason the container can't be square. The nice thing about circular is that there is a lot of natural space between the containers, so it's easy to lift them in and out.

The individual containers inside (or dabbas) don't need to have indiv lids; in fact, having individual lids makes it hard to use. Instead there's usually a single inside fit lid which acts as a simultaneous lid for all the integral containers; it usually rests on top of all the inside containers. There is an additional top lid for the outer container.

Another option is to make the outer spice box and use stainless steel inside containers like this.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...54&cat=1,43326

[Mark Yundt]

Prashun has covered it well. As a suggestion , should you wish to have small canisters inside, several styles are readily available. I've bought some for my son and wife which range in size from compact size to rather large and the nice feature is that being metal tins, they have clear lids for easy viewing.
I got mine from Lee Valley but I know others stock similar tins. Might be of use to you.
My wife uses them to sort beads she uses in jewelry making , and my son, collects sand from all the beaches he visits from around the world. Now he is placing them in a glass topped coffee table so you can see the vast arrange of sand. Might sound odd, but you'd be surprised at the variety of sand, from pure white to almost black, fine like powder to coarse grit and rocky. A nice momento.

[Russell Johnson]

Prashun and Mark,

Thank you for your suggestions. I was thinking about it tonight and I was thinking of making a larger wood bowl with my router and then a variety of smaller wood bowls inside also with my router. I was thinking of adding a lid. Does this sound reasonable?

[Mark Yundt]

Sure, why not? Anything is possible. You could also make small " pockets" with a larger bowl with a lid if you're limited to just a router. I don't know if there is a particular rule you have to follow to make one of these and someone at sometime came up with an idea probably centuries ago so why not run with your own version? Whatever you come up with can work. Your only goal is to have all the common herbs and spices in one place. In that case even a tupperware with some cups in it could be called a Masala Dabba box. You're just using wood.