I guess most of you are already familiar with this spice mix, but for those who are not then you should try to get some or better still make some up.  Its main purpose in life is for vegetable cooking, but it is also used in some pickles.  It is fairly common for BIRs (especially ethnic and up-market) to use this mix for precooking vegetables, and sometimes adding it the the finished dish.

It has a smoky flavour (and smell) which comes from the Kalonji (onion seed).  It is great for Potato dishes, e.g. Bombay Potato, Aloo Ghobi.  Use it sparingly until you get used to it.  Normally you would add it at the beginning of cooking, i.e. fry with the initial Onions, Garlic etc.  The recipe if you want to make it is below.

1 tbsp    cumin seeds
1 tbsp    fennel seeds
1 tbsp    fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp    Nigella seeds (Kalonji, Onion Seeds)
1 tbsp    black mustard seeds

Bon Adventure!

CP

Some variations include wild onion instead of cumin, while others also include radhuni seed in addition. However, panch phoron is a slight misnomer when applied to blends that include radhuni (Trachyspermum roxburghianum syn. Carum roxburghianum), since in Oriya or Bengali panch phoran literally means "five spices".

In the tradition of Oriya and Bengali cuisine, one usually first fries the panch phoron in cooking oil or ghee, which causes them to start popping immediately. At this point, one adds vegetables (especially potatoes), lentils, or fish to the cooking vessel to coat with the spice mixture.

In Bengal, the cradle of this mixture, a spice called radhuni is used, not mustard seed. A better replacement for radhuni, hardly available outside of Bengal, would be celery seed.

Panch phoron is usually not used to season any meats other than fish.