Tempering (spices)

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Olive oil, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and slivered dried red chili peppers being prepared in a saucepan Chaunkphoto.jpg
Olive oil, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and slivered dried red chili peppers being prepared in a saucepan

Tempering is a cooking technique used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in which whole spices (and sometimes also other ingredients such as dried chillies, minced ginger root or sugar) are cooked briefly in oil or ghee to liberate essential oils from cells and thus enhance their flavours, before being poured, together with the oil, into a dish. [1] Tempering is also practiced by dry-roasting whole spices in a pan before grinding the spices. Tempering is typically done at the beginning of cooking, before adding the other ingredients for a curry or similar dish, or it may be done at the end for adding to a dish just before serving (as with a dal, sambar or stew). [2]

Contents

Ingredients

A tadka dal, which includes chaunk Tadka Dal.jpg
A tadka dal, which includes chaunk

Ingredients typically used in tempering include cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, fennel seeds, kalonji (nigella seeds), fresh green chilis, dried red chilis, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, cassia, cloves, urad dal, curry leaves, chopped onion, garlic, or tejpat leaves. When using multiple ingredients in tempering, they are often added in succession, with those requiring longer cooking added earlier, and those requiring less cooking added later. In Oriya cuisine and Bengali cuisine, mixtures of whole spices called pancha phutaṇa or panch phoron, respectively, are used for this purpose. [3] [ page needed ]

Terminology

Some Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages use a form inherited from the Sanskrit root vyághāra- "sprinkling over", as in baghār (बघार [4] ) in Hindi. Some Indo-Aryan languages use a form inherited from the Sanskrit root sphōṭana- "crackling, cracking", as in phoran (फोरन) [5] in Bhojpuri. Some Indo-Aryan languages use a form inherited from the Sanskrit root traṭatkāra- "crackles, splits, fizzes", as in taṛkā ( तड़का ) [6] in Hindi or tuṛkā (तुड़का) [7] in Garhwali. Another root beginning with an aspirated affricate is čhaunk ( छौंक ) in Hindi.

Similar techniques

In parts of the Arab world, similar tempering techniques include adha or qadha (Levantine Arabic : قدحة, romanized: qadḥah, lit.  'pouring') in the Levant, and tasha (Arabic : طشة) or taqliya (Arabic : تقلية, lit.  'to fry') in Egypt, which involve frying garlic and sometimes spices (typically coriander) in samneh or olive oil before being added to a dish. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Crackling Spices Of Indian Tempering". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-04-16.
  2. ↑ "How To Temper Spices | Rasam Indian Restaurant". www.rasam.ie. Retrieved 2017-04-16.
  3. ↑ Jaffrey, Madhur. Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. Ebury Press, 2003. ISBN   0-09-187415-7
  4. ↑ Kapoor, Badrinath (2006-09-01). Brihat Pramanik Hindi Kosh (in Hindi). Lokbharti Prakashan. ISBN   978-81-8031-057-7.
  5. ↑ Tiwari, Udai Narain (1954). Bhojapurī bhāshā aura sāhitya (in Hindi).
  6. ↑ Bahri; Hardev, Dr. Rajpal Pocket Hindi Shabdkosh (in Hindi). Rajpal & Sons. ISBN   978-81-7028-327-0.
  7. ↑ वर्मा, जयलाल (1992). गढ़वाल़ी-भाषा का शब्द-कोष (in Hindi). कंवरसिंह नेगी "कर्मठ".
  8. ↑ Tamimi, Sami (17 August 2020). "When Garlic's the Garnish: A Guide to Making Adha". Epicurious . Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  9. ↑ "This Easy Egyptian Soup Is a Tradition Passed Down Through Generations". Serious Eats. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  10. ↑ Tamimi, Sami; Wigley, Tara; Ottolenghi, Yotam; Zarins, Jenny (2020). Falastin: a cookbook (First US ed.). California: Ten Speed Press. ISBN   9780399581731.
  11. ↑ "أكلات ما ينفعش تتاكل إلا بطشة الثوم.. مش الملوخية بس" [Foods that can only be eaten with garlic tasha... not just molokhia.]. Youm7 (in Arabic). 7 December 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  12. ↑ El-Haddad, Laila M.; Schmitt, Maggie (2016). The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. Just World Books. ISBN   978-1-68257-008-1 . Retrieved 15 January 2026.
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