Greek character taking a run, alas returning some spice (5,6)
I believe the answer is:
garam masala
'returning some spice' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'greek character taking a run alas' is the wordplay.
'greek character' becomes 'gramma' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'taking' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'run' indicates an anagram (I've seen this in other clues).
'gramma' placed around 'a' is 'garamma'.
'alas' with letters rearranged gives 'sala'.
'garamma'+'sala'='GARAM MASALA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for garam masala that I've seen before include "Spice used in Indian cookery" , "Mixture of spices used in curries -- am a gas alarm (anag)" , "Indian spice mixture - am a gas alarm (anag)" .)