Panch phoron
When cooking ‘Indian’ you need to narrow it down to a specific region for it to make sense. Panch phoron means “five spices” and is typical for the kitchen of Northeastern India, Eastern India and Bangladesh. You can easily make panch phoron at home by mixing the following five whole spices in equal parts:
Fenugreek seed, nigella seed, cumin seed, black mustard seed and fennel seed.
Sometimes the black mustard seeds are replaced by radhuni.
When cooking with panch phoron you’d typically add a tea spoon of the mixture to hot oil before adding the other ingredients. This is called tadka. Below some sample recipes.
Aloo ki Sabji
Boil 500 gram somewhat floury potatoes (“iets kruimig”) in the skin. Cool down and peal the potatoes. Roughly mash the potatoes coarsely with your fingers.
Heat 3 tablespoons mustard oil. Lower the heat and add a pinch of hing and 1 - 2 teaspoons panch phoron, a few fresh green chilis, half a teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder. Tomatoes at this stage are optional. Mix and add the mashed potatoes.
Mix and fry on low heat for 1 minute. Add 300 ml water. Add salt to taste and kasuri methi. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
Add 1 teaspoon chaat masala (or just amchoor powder) and half a teaspoon garam masala. Finish with chopped koriander leaves.
Panch phoran masoor dal
To make this red lentil dal the first step of aloo ki sabji is almost identical. Heat 4 tbsp mustard oil in the pan. When hot add 1 tsp panch phoron, bay leaf and dried chili. Add some hing (asafoetida) and shallot. When the onion is translucent add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric.
Add precooked masoor dal (100 gram with 500 gram water would be a good amount, cook in pressure cooker until the first whistle). Mix well, add salt and cook for 6 minutes on medium heat.