Tempering is a cooking technique used inIndia,Bangladesh,Nepal,Pakistan, andSri Lanka in which wholespices (and sometimes also other ingredients such as dried chillies, mincedginger root or sugar) are cooked briefly in oil orghee 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 acurry or similar dish, or it may be done at the end for adding to a dish just before serving (as with adal,sambar orstew).[2]
Ingredients typically used in tempering includecumin seeds,black mustardseeds,fennel seeds,kalonji (nigella seeds), fresh greenchilis, dried red chilis,fenugreek seeds,asafoetida,cassia,cloves,urad dal,curry leaves, choppedonion,garlic, ortejpat 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. InOriya cuisine andBengali cuisine, mixtures of whole spices calledpancha phutaṇa orpanch phoron, respectively, are used for this purpose.[3][page needed]
SomeIndo-Aryan andDravidian languages use a form inherited from the Sanskrit rootvyághāra- "sprinkling over", as inbaghār (बघार[4]) inHindi. Some Indo-Aryan languages use a form inherited from the Sanskrit rootsphōṭana- "crackling, cracking", as inphoran (फोरन)[5] inBhojpuri. Some Indo-Aryan languages use a form inherited from the Sanskrit roottraṭatkāra- "crackles, splits, fizzes", as intaṛkā (तड़का)[6] inHindi ortuṛkā (तुड़का)[7] inGarhwali. Another root beginning with an aspirated affricate isčhaunk (छौंक) inHindi.
In parts of theArab world, similar tempering techniques includeadha orqadha (Levantine Arabic:قدحة,romanized: qadḥah,lit. 'pouring') in the Levant, andtasha (Arabic:طشة) ortaqliya (Arabic:تقلية,lit. 'to fry') inEgypt, which involve frying garlic and sometimes spices (typically coriander) insamneh or olive oil before being added to dishes, most often stews likemulukhiyah.[8][9][10][11][12][13]
Indian music bandBloodywood's 2025 singleTadka directly referencestadka; the band described the single as a tribute to Indian food.[14]
