Spice tempering is a technique used in South Asian cooking in which whole spices are briefly cooked in hot oil before being poured, along with the oil, over a finished dish. The quick heating in oil releases aromatic and flavorful compounds from the spices. The technique has many names, including tadka, tarla, chaunk, chhonk, thaalippu, phanna, baghar, vaghar, phoron, and oggarane.
See also chocolate tempering, an unrelated technique for making chocolate confections.