Prawn Paanch Phoren: A Royal Shellfish Dish Packed With Bold Flavour
Seafood was often enjoyed at Royal Mughal banquets and celebrations, and this dish is a favourite from our à la Carte menu. In this article, we explain the spice mix that gives this dish its name: Panch Phoron, and how we use it to flavour King Prawns for one of our most popular dishes.
What Is Prawn Paanch Phoren?
A delicious prawn curry flavoured with paanch phoren. We simmer Freshwater King Prawns in a thick, smoked gravy with butter and tomato, and a traditional blend of five spices.
A Closer Look at the Five Spices in Paanch Phoren
Indian Five Spices
Most Western spice cupboards have a jar of Chinese Five Spice, the ubiquitous blend of spices that lends East Asian food its gentle warmth and light flavours. But do you know of the five whole spice seeds used in North Indian and Bengali cuisine, Paanch Phoron?
Paanch Phoren is a blend of fenugreek seed, nigella seed, cumin seed, black mustard seed & fennel seed, in equal parts. They’re used to temper in hot ghee until they pop and burst, before adding any other ingredients. This infuses the fat with their aromas so they can spread evenly throughout the dish.
Fenugreek / Methi
- Light, floral, slightly bitter.
- High notes
Nigella / Kalonji
- Bitter, peppery flavour, similar to onion and oregano
- Middle notes
Cumin / Jeera
- Warming, nutty, slightly sweet and smoky
- Middle notes
Black Mustard / Sarson
- Mild, nutty, earthy flavour
- Low notes
Fennel / Saunf
- Strong anise flavour, sweet
- High notes
Paanch Phoron balances the high, sweet notes of fennel and fenugreek with the low, nutty notes of black mustard and the middle notes of smoky cumin and peppery nigella to create a rounded, complex, and aromatic flavour profile.
Using Smoked Butter in Indian Cuisine
At Itihaas, our Prawn Paanch Phoron is flavoured with smoked butter, which lends an earthy, rich aroma to the sauce. Smoked ghee is sultry and delicious, complementing the spices to recreate the luxury of a royal banquet, for a modern palate.
Our tandoori cooking method involves a charcoal-fuelled clay oven, which lends a smoky flavour to meats and naans alike. The rich, buttery smoked sauce in our Prawn Paanch Phoron carries this flavour throughout the dish.
At Itihaas, we are always developing our ingredients and techniques to achieve perfectly balanced tastes, aromas and textures. This experimentation is what makes us one of Birmingham’s best Indian Restaurants.
The Itihaas Touch
We use only the freshest King Prawns of the highest quality. The shell stays on to maintain their texture and flavour while they simmer gently in the sauce.
Our Panch Phoron is blended by hand to achieve optimal proportions, always using whole spices for authentic flavour. When the spices are tempered in the hot pan, they brown and burst, releasing aromatic compounds that penetrate every ingredient.
Try it at Itihaas
You can order this historic royal banquet dish from Itihaas’ A La Carte Menu to enjoy in our restaurant or at home. For an experience like no other, visit our Indian restaurant in Birmingham and enjoy Maharajah cuisine from the Mughal empire era, historic recipes cooked for modern palates, and Indo-Chinese fusion dishes, all on a single menu.
