Panch Phoran

The CC has posted about this classical Bengali five-spice mixture before but the sheer beauty of the spices compelled him to post it again.

It composes of equal parts of cumin, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella, and radhuni.

The CC is aware that most online sources suggest mustard seeds but this is wrong. The spices may be fried in mustard oil but you need to have radhuni which are arguably closer in flavor to celery seeds than anything else.

Bengali Cookbook Authenticity Gauge-Meter

There's a shockingly simple way to gauge it.

Just peruse through and check their ingredients for panch phoran (five spices.)

If it features radhuni, it is authentic. If it features mustard seeds, it is not.

For the record, panch phoran consists of radhuni, cumin, fenugreek, fennel and kalonji.

Life can be so simple sometimes.