[Spoiler] A rather technical and intricate story is generically spiced (masala) up with typical thrill-tropes to make it appealing to the masses: military attack on aliens (wise aliens only send video-conference units to the earth in Chiang's story), an international affairs angle, melodrama of General Shang, etc.

I was using it in a sense similar to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_film

I can try to shine a light on this idiom.

Masala is a popular indian dish here in the US... so popular in fact that it is expected at any indian restaurant. Because of this, the term can be synonomous with 'run of the mill', 'standard', or even 'safe'.

>Masala is a popular indian dish here in the US...

Huh? Masala just means the dish uses a bunch of spices (ie masala chai is just tea with cardamom, maybe pepper and cinnamon and other things depending on whose making).

I'm pretty sure regarding film its used to say a "standard movie" or even "boring", thats been "spiced" to taste better, with spices being a set of tropes that most people like.

Haha, such an appropriate comment thread in a post about linguistics!

I prefer Alien Tikka Masala myself, with a side of xenophobiNaan.

Masala is a mixture of spices, or the liquid portion of the stew a dish is cooked in.

In this context, it would mean spiced up, or exaggerated for entertainment reasons.

masala = spicy