I understand that 'tempering' in indian cooking is cooking whole spices until the spices have released their flavours into the oil. However, I have a recipe that I don't understand the use of the word 'tempering'.

It says '..finish by tempering the mustard seeds and yoghurt'.

Does anyone know what this means?

maybe it means 'tempering with mustard seeds, and yoghurt'.

We seem to drop the punctuation, these days!

What was the dish? If it is a yoghurt dish, like a raita, it is sometimes tempered with mustard seeds. Tempering with yoghurt doesn't make sense. Tell us what the dish was, or perhaps even the recipe, so we can help.

Hi Mamta - here is the recipe.

South Indian flavoured chicken fillets with curry leaves & ginger.

2 breasts of chicken (1 inch diced

1 tsp turmeric

20ml limejuice

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 pinch of hing

1 egg

1 tsp curry leaves

2 tbsp besan

salt to taste

Yoghurt

Mustard seeds

Mix all of the ingredients with the diced chicken except the yoghurt and mustard seeds. Fry until crisp and finish by tempering the mustard seed and yoghurt.

This dish is fantastic. I had this in a restaurant, got chatting to the chef and asked for the recipe. This was a printed version from his notes complete with a picture of the finished dish so nothing has been omitted.

"finish by tempering the mustard seed and yoghurt."

I might be being obtuse here, but I don't understand this sentence either! The cooking instructions are clear, but not this sentence. You can add the yoghurt at the end and temper with the mustard seeds, but above sentence does not make sense!

How about asking the chef to explain and come back and tell us what he means?

looks like a 'Southern fried chicken' recipe to me, which should be deep fried, not an Indian thing, really.

Adding yoghurt to this will make it soggy, so maybe the mustard seed and yoghurt is a 'dip'.

I can understand the yoghurt being tempered with mustard seeds, but not "finish by tempering the mustard seed and yoghurt". How do you temper mustard seeds?

Lapis, it can be Indian fried chicken. Something similar is sold at fast food places and on food carts in northern India, but obviously not with curry leaves/mustard seeds tempering.

I wish I could speak to the chef but I won't see him for another two years as he is travelling around the world.

The recipe was written by Atul Kochar and is one of his current restaurant dishes.

I'll experiment.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

You could send the recipe to Atul Kocher's PA and ask her/him; pa@atulkochhar.com

Sending an email did occur to me but I didn't want to bother anyone.... but you have talked me into it! I've sent an email. I'll let you know the outcome. Thanks Mamta.

Come nack and tell us when you get a reply.

I was watching 'Saturday Kitchen' recently and the chef was stressing the importance of tempering the chicken. I thought he must have a mighty big tarka ladle!

He simply meant to bring the bird up to room temperature....

Had a reply from Atul's PA who said that my email had been forward to Atul and he will respond himself. That was ten days ago :-(

Patience patience - I keep telling myself.

I sent another email but didn't get a response. Perhaps Atul's recipe was not meant to be given away to customers and he is reluctant to respond. I fully understand and will leave it now.

I've had a few experiments with this and think I've found the answer anyway. I tempered some black mustard seeds in a little oil then added the mixture to a little yoghurt then put all the cooked chicken into it so that the mustard seeds ended up sticking to the chicken. Tasted as we remembered it.

I was given a handful of recipes with similar instructions so I can try some of them now.

Atul Kochhar has just answered my email. He confirmed that the recipe meant saute the mustard seeds then tip into the yoghurt .... then add the cooked chicken to the mixture.