Hello, me a wonderful Indian cookery book and lots of spices to start me of, But I have two im not sure what they are, PANCH PHORAN and ASAFOETIDA can anyone help? Thanks Lisa

Missed the first line sorry , My friend bought me .........................

Hi Lisa, the panch phoran is a Bengali five spice powder made from the seeds of: cumin; fennel; fenugreek; black mustard; onion. Used mainly with lentil and vegetable dishes. Asafoetida is used in small quantities (a pinch) to help the digestive system deal with lentils, thats the nicest way I can describe.

Terry

Hi Lisa didn't think about this when I first replied but the other names for the seeds that you might see them labelled as in indian food shop could be:

cumin = jeera;
fennel = soonf;
fenugreek = methi;
mustard = rai;
onion = kalonji.

The spellings will not always be as above.

hi terry, excellent!!! u so informative! x

hi can any one please tell me were inwest lothian scotland i would be able to find methi leaves can get powder and seeds but no leaves

Hi Doffery, now that one has got me stuck.

Do you have any Indian restaurants or takeaways near you? If you have it might be worth asking someone in there about the nearest asian grocers.

I don't know how close you are to Edinburgh, there is bound to be some there.

Terry

Another thought is to order online from somewhere such as www.spice-master.com

They have 25 g of methi leaves for ?0.64 ?0.99 p&p for up to 200 g.

There are other online spice sellers just do a google.

Terry

Hi Doffery,

Alison St, in central Glasgow has a lot of Indian shops, you'll be able to buy it there.
My Hubby from Glasgow and when we're up visiting the in-laws that where I shop if cooking a curry.

Reshma