Indian cooking - making garam masala

My question is about the cardomom pods. Many years ago a lady from the north of India said that it is okay to grind the pods along with the seeds. I did this and it worked out well, but somewhere along the line I ended up buying the ready made garam masala. Well, today I decided to make my own again. The recipes I read mention the cardomom seeds and nothing about grinding the pods. One recipe I have here says 1/4 cup green cardomom pods, crushed (about 2 tablespoons cardamom seeds). So does this mean grind the 1/4 cup of pods and seeds, or open the pods to get out 2 tablespoons of seeds. I took out the seeds today and it took forever and I only got less than a tablespoon. Would love to hear from someone that knows. Making your own is supposed to be much better.