Panch Phoron or the Bengali Five Spice is a blend of aromatic seeds – fennel, mustard, nigella, fenugreek and cumin seeds.
I am sharing lots of Bengali recipes these days so thought let me share a very common spice mix recipe. A distinct spice blend that is common in any Bengali household is the panch phoron. This Bengali Five spice mix or ‘panch phoron‘, as we call it is used for tempering and mostly used for the vegetarian dishes – yes we eat a lot of vegetables too.
What is the meaning of Panch Phoron?
Quite literally it means Five Tempering Spice. Panch = Five, Phoron = Tempering Spice
This spice mix is aromatic and colorful. We use the panch phoron as whole spice for tempering the oil. So if you are wondering how the classic bengali recipes of shukto, chochchori, kancha amer chutney have a distinct taste to them – they all come from this fragrant panch phoron.
How to use Panch Phoron or Bengali Five Spice Mix?
Like I said earlier, we use this as whole spices rather than a powdered form. Panch phoron is usually fried in oil or ghee, as tempering. And we add vegetables to this tempered oil. When you add these seeds in hot oil you can be sure of the amazing sputtering and popping sound of the seeds. This is how the aroma of the seeds gets released in the oil and makes it so flavoursome.
You can use this spice mix as tempering for vegetables, fish, lentils, chutneys and many more.
How to make panch phoron?
In Kolkata, you will find the humble panch phoron in every grocery shop. The problem arises when you step out of Kolkata or Bengal and are residing in . different city / country. There are chances many haven’t even heard of panch phoron. I had a hard timing explaining my local grocery shop what i meant by panch phoron. I was so tired of searching for it that I decided to make it myself.
Now, however, there are many speciality stores in Bangalore that sell regional foods and groceries and you will find panch phoron in those stores. But then, when you can make a batch yourself, why bother searching for it!
You can make a batch of this spice mix and store it in food containers. You can use it for 6 months easily. I like to store them in glass jars. I try and avoid plastic in my kitchen. You should do that too. Some of the best food storage containers for your kitchen are these glass jars, mason jars or stainless steel containers.
This spice mix has a colorful blend of green fennel seeds, black mustard and nigella seeds, yellow fenugreek and brown cumin seeds. You can make some variations here by adding yellow or white mustard instead of black mustard seeds.
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Sometimes a bleand of few spices makes s dish flavorful and brings out the authenticity. I can understand your challenge while explaining about Panch Phoron yo the shopkeeper. In Maharashtra, We have a blend of spice (we call it Goda Masala) and since I grew up in Kanpur, I have seen my mom explaining the shopkeeper about all the spices that goes in the masala.
I love roasting and grinding all the spices to retain that strong flavour for my dishes and I have used it earlier for my dishes.
I can virtually smell this <3 it smells so rich and kind of fills the entire kitchen with its beautiful aromas! Thank you for the recipe, i had once got a little from a freind, now i can make my own 🙂
These five spices sound really good. I love making spices. I will give this a try. My grandma would love this for sure.
I’ve never tried any Bengali cooking at home, but I guess this is the secret to the flavourful Bengali dishes. I will definitely try this at home.
This is a very good recipe for a diy paanchphoron.Loved it.Its a great spice combo
I really love this spice ..my mom also used to make and store …love you shared the recipe
It took living in Kolkata for a year and a half and eating canteen food to grow a taste for Panch Phoron. I do think it adds a nice flavour to simple every day veggies and makes for a nice change for my promarily punjabi pallet.
I meant palate! Grr auto correct 🙁
I remember eating yummy sabzi my Bengali classmate use to bring. Now I know the reason, The yummy 5 spice mix. This sounds easy, would try myself.
I love Bengali cuisine and I love the spices and oil that is used as the base for cooking. thanks for the recipe
Thanks for sharing this Tina, I love the aroma and flavor of these magical five spices. We use it only in aloo ki sabji, but now that I know the recipe will make it a point to keep it handy.
Wow that’s awesome one, I am surely going to make this soon and share with you.
Panchphootan is a must have in our Odia kitchen too. The taste of curries gets an uplift every time we use it in parjhana.
I was just reminded of my BTA classes oh my Hotel Management course.
What an aromatic and delicious mix of spices.
I am going to prepare the mix and keep it handy for my next meal.
I like experimenting with spices. Will try making it and using it in some veggies
Hey, I also make this at home usually. Here I call it Panch Ratna and is available with the same name in the market. It surely adds a different spice to any dish.
Wow, Tina. I can imagine what twist the combo of these few but strong spices can render to some simple dishes too.
I guess, these will go really well with non vegetarian dishes as well.
And making the panch phoron looks so effortless too.
Wow thank you so much for sharing this secret Bengali spices recipes that’s why they are so unique in flavours
Being a Bengali I always have phach phoron in my kitchen… Glad to see it recognised by others too… Its a must try for all
This is such a simple spice mix to make but tastes heavenly. Everyday kitchen ingredients when come together can create such a magic!
Its good to know you use mustard seeds. I use the quintessational love radhuni or wild celery instead of that. Will try with mustard next time.
I expereinced the taste of Paanch Phoren when I was visiting a Bong friend. The Pumpkin, brinjal, etc she made with this was just superb in taste and I was hooked. She very kindly handed me a jar of it and I have used it to saute veggies in mustard oil and prepare that for myself- its simply a very beautiful pice mix!
Love the pics you have put up here – as usual your graphic work is just amazing.
Honestly, I am not a good cook and panch phoron is something that works for me always. We bengali always use this in our daily dishes. Even for a particular dish, if you dont know what spice you have to add, then you can use panch phoron also.
I love experimenting with spices , I have never tried this mix before will surely try and share my feedback .
Pancha Phutana is commonly used in eastern India and even in Bangladesh & Nepal. We commonly use it in Odia dishes.
I love the aroma. I love using it with dried red chillies & bay leaf/curry leaf.