In Bangladesh, we use Pach Phoron a lot to our veggie dishes and daal. Without Pach Phoron, our pickles are incomplete. Pach Phoron is full of flavor and works like magic adding to a dish. But question is what is that?
Pach means five and phoron is a verb, which means to sizzle something in oil. So pach phoron could mean five things to sizzle in oil. But what are those five things?
Five things are five different seeds – with English common name and Bengali Names in Bracket with Scientific name in Italic.
- Fennel (Mouri- মৌরি) Foeniculum vulgare
- Black cumin / nigella seed (Kalijira- কালিজিরা) Nigella sativa
- Fenugreek (Methi-মেথি ) Trigonella foenum-graecum
- White and/or red mustard (Sada Sorisha /lal sorisha – সাদা / লাল সরিষা) Brassica juncea / Brassica Alba
- Wild celery (Radhuni-রাঁধুনি) Trachyspermum roxburgianum *
*However wild celery seeds are not that available, so instead we use coriander seed or cumin seeds. Wild celery or Radhuni is often mistaken as Ajwan (Carom Seed) which is very common to Indian cooking, but Ajwan is different than wild celery. There’s a very good video on youtube to learn the difference between Celery seed, wild celery seed and Carom seed, you can click and see – video
In the same way, if two kinds of mustard seed are not available, then we use only white mustard seed.
Where and when do we use pach phoron?
We use pach phoron to mostly in veggie dishes, whether it is curry or stir fry. We also cook lentil with it, especially red lentils (moshur daal).
What’s the taste of pach phoron?
The combination of this spice seed mix give a unique aroma and flavor to any cooking. In different times for different occasions, the veggies dish are often avoided of onion and garlic, so this pach phoron gives the kick and flavor to veggie dishes.
Vegan Bangla 