Mustard Oil is known to have ancient origins. In fact, it is one of the oldest recorded spices in the history of humankind. Historical records contain a multitude of references to Mustard Oil, not just for cooking but also for healing. For instance, back in 530 BCE the famous Greek philosopher Pythagoras mentioned Mustard Oil as an effective remedy for scorpion bites!
Some food anthropologists believe that the ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia used crushed mustard seeds for various preparations in circa 2000 BCE. There is also archaeological evidence to indicate that Mustard Oil was used as part of funerary offerings during the entombment rituals of the pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty (1550 to 1292 BCE) in Egypt.
The Roman civilisation was founded in 753 BCE – and the Romans really, really loved mustard. They even used it for making booze! To unfermented grape juice (called “Mustum”) the added mustard seeds to create a hot, burning flavour (called “Ardens”). They called this fiery pungent wine Mustum Ardens – from where the English name “Mustard” is derived. The word “Mustard” also has its roots in the Anglo-Norman word “mustarde” and the French word “mostarde”.
There are food historians who believe – erroneously, we may add – that mustard seeds and Mustard Oil reached India via the Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama. This is completely wrong. References to mustard and Mustard Oil can be found in Sanskrit treatises that go as far back as 3300 BCE. These ancient records mention both the culinary as well as medicinal uses of Mustard Oil.
Moreover, there are ancient Ayurveda texts that date back to circa 800 BCE that describe multifaceted medicinal and curative uses of cold-pressed Mustard Oil (known as “Sharshap Taila” in Sanskrit).
So let’s set aside Sumerian, Egyptian, Roman, Portuguese and other claims to Mustard Oil. It is India’s Oil. It was cultivated in the foothills of the Himalayas more than 5000 years ago – and continues to be used and revered for its amazing flavour, versatility and health benefits.
The festive season is upon us and this time around it’s going to be different… because after more than two long arduous years, people are eagerly looking forward to celebrating this festival with wholehearted joy and elation.
One of the favourite snack foods that are prepared in large quantities during these celebrations is the Pakora – traditional Indian fritters that come in a wide range of variants and flavours. The Pakora has been around since ancient times. In fact, the word “Pakora” has Sanskrit roots; it is derived from the Sanskrit word “Pakvavata”. “Pakva” means cooked and “Vata” comes from “Vataka” which refers to a deep-fried cake made from pulses. Ancient Indian treatises and cookbooks like the Lokopakara (dating back to 1025 CE) and Manasollasa (from 1130 CE) mention Pakoras prepared by deep-frying gram flour preparations in Mustard Oil.
In today’s post we will explore a Pakora that is hugely popular all across north India: the famous Chicken Pakora. This variant is a later development. Well-known food writer Vir Sanghvi states that the Chicken Pakora was created in Peshawar sometime in the 1930s by a chef and restaurateur named Kundan Lal Gujral.
Kundan Lal creatively combined Indian batter-coated deep-frying with North West Frontier cuisine style marinating and Tandoor grilling to create his signature Chicken Pakora. In today’s post we will be preparing a homemade version of this mouth-watering north Indian delicacy.
Here are the ingredients that you will require.
Ingredients:
Chicken (boneless): 500 grams
Gram Flour (Besan): 100 grams
Rice Flour: 2 tablespoons
Ginger-Garlic Paste: 2 teaspoons
Lemon Juice: 2 tablespoons
Mustard Oil: 100 millilitres
Cumin (Jeera) Seeds: Half a teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder: 2 teaspoons
Garam Masala: Half a teaspoon
Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta): 2 tablespoons
Coriander (Dhania) Leaves: 2 tablespoons
Salt: to taste
The quantities mentioned above are for preparing four servings. Adjust the quantities proportionately to suit the number of servings that you require.
Preparation:
Cut the boneless chicken into pieces that are around an inch in length. Wash the pieces and let them dry a little. Sometimes just patting them dry is enough.
Coarsely chop the curry leaves.
Finely chop the coriander leaves.
In a mixing bowl add the gram flour, rice flour, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, cumin seeds, red chilli powder, garam masala, curry leaves and coriander leaves along with salt to taste. Also add one tablespoon of Mustard Oil and four tablespoons of water. Then add the chicken pieces and mix well. Put the mixing bowl in your refrigerator for at least two hours.
Method:
Heat the remaining Mustard Oil in a pan on a High flame. When the oil reaches its smoking point wisps of white smoke will rise from the surface of the hot oil. Reduce the flame to Medium. The oil is now ready for you to begin the deep-frying process.
Place the batter-coated chicken pieces in the hot oil and deep-fry. To get the texture of the Pakoras crisp and crunchy, it is best to fry the chicken pieces in batches.
When you put the chicken pieces in the hot oil for the first time, let them sit for around two minutes or so. Then start flipping them over to ensure even frying on all sides. Keep flipping them over in the oil till the pieces become crisp and take on a golden brown colour.
A normal practice after deep-frying is to place the Pakoras on paper towels to drain the excess oil. However, you don’t really need to do that when your deep-frying medium is cold-pressed Mustard Oil. That’s because not only is Mustard Oil a healthy cooking medium packed with a wide range of health benefits, it is also proven to be absorbed into food in very low amounts during deep-frying.
Your traditional north Indian Chicken Pakora is now ready. Serve it hot with a condiment of your choice. Let the festive celebrations begin!
Let’s head for another destination that is known for its varied and magnificent culinary oeuvre spanning thousands of years. We are going to visit Bihar where the traditional cuisine has a rich history and is a melting pot of diverse culinary influences across thousands of years.
In ancient times, the tribal people of the Chhotanagpur region used locally available spices and other ingredients to create exciting flavours that are still around, even after the passage of many millennia. Later, Bihar became a part of the powerful kingdom of Magadha and as the kingdom flourished, the culinary arts were elevated to new heights. In the centuries that followed, the advent of Awadhi and Mughal influences introduced an extended range of fascinating variations in the recipes.
Rice was the staple food of this region and the quality of the rice produced here was legendary. In his writings, Hiuen Tsang mentions a variety of rice that he was served when he visited Nalanda. It was called Mahasali and each grain of this aromatic rice was the size of a bean! Abul Fazal, the official chronicler of Emperor Akbar’s reign, wrote in Akbarnama that the Bihar region had such a dazzling variety of rice that if a single grain of each variety were collected, they could fill a large vase.
So today let’s make a dish from this sparkling culinary rainbow of Bihar. This is a Bihari Egg Curry made with Mustard Oil, mustard seeds and a simple set of spices that have been used in the region for thousands of years.
Here are the ingredients that you will require.
Ingredients:
Eggs: 2
Onion: 1, medium-sized
Tomato: 1, medium-sized
Garlic (Lasun): 4 cloves
Red Chillies: 4
Mustard Oil: 2 tablespoons
Mustard Seeds (Rai): 1 teaspoon
Cumin (Jeera) Seeds: Half a teaspoon
Coriander (Dhania) Seeds: 1 teaspoon
Salt: to taste
The quantities mentioned above are for a single serving. Adjust the quantities proportionately to suit the number of servings that you require.
Preparation:
Peel, wash and cut the onion into small pieces.
Coarsely chop the tomato.
Peel and wash the garlic.
Place the onion, tomato and garlic in a blender. Add the red chillies, mustard seeds and coriander seeds. Add a little water as required and blend the ingredients into a smooth paste. Keep aside.
Boil the eggs, peel them and keep aside.
Method:
Heat the Mustard Oil in a pan on a High flame. When the oil reaches its smoking point, wisps of aromatic white smoke will rise from the surface of the oil. When this happens, reduce the flame to Low.
Add the cumin seeds to the hot oil. When the seeds begin to splutter, add the spice paste and cook on a Low flame for around three minutes.
Add enough water to make gravy of the desired consistency. Typically, the traditional version of this dish (the way it is made in Bihar homes) has gravy that is rich and thick. Now add salt to taste, increase the flame to Medium and bring the mixture to a boil.
Slice each boiled egg lengthwise into two halves and add them to the pan.
Continue to cook for another two minutes or so and then turn the flame off.
Your traditional Bihari Egg Curry is now ready in all its deliciously spicy glory. Serve it hot. As mentioned earlier, this dish is traditionally eaten with steaming hot rice. And as you enjoy the tantalizing, tingling effect of this Egg Curry on your taste buds, do remember – you are savouring the very same flavours that have enchanted the kings of Magadha and the kingdom’s common people for thousands of years!
One of the most popular items among Indian teatime snacks and street foods is the Samosa. There are subtle regional variations in the recipe all across India depending on tastes, preferences and the seasonality of key ingredients. In most parts of North India, the Samosa is usually a hot, spicy snack while in Bengal it could even turn out to be sweet! Yes, Bengalis actually have a sweet Samosa which they call KheererSingara (a Samosa stuffed with Kheer, as the name implies).
Here’s a surprising fact: in spite of being a popular Indian snack for thousands of years, the Samosa did not originate in India. Food historians have traced the origins of this food to ancient Persia where it was called Sanbusak. Even today, in the Middle East you can find a similar triangular fried snack called Samsa which is very similar to our Samosa.
Interestingly, the Persian version of the Samosa was non-vegetarian – it used meat fillings. In fact, certain parts of India like the South Indian states and Bengal have similar non-vegetarian versions using minced meat (Keema) as the main filling.
So how did this Persian snack reach India? Around the 13th Century, chefs from Persia began visiting the courts of the Delhi Sultanate to share their culinary secrets with royal patrons in India. In his writings, the well-known poet and scholar Amir Khusro mentions the meat-filled version of the Samosa as a favourite among the nobles. Later, in the 14th Century, the famous traveller and writer Ibn Batuta provides an accurate description of how the Samosa was served in the court of Mohammed bin Tughlaq. It was an appetizer served immediately after the Sherbet and before the main course.
Again in the 16th Century, Abul Fazal, the court historian of Emperor Akbar describes the Samosa in Ain-i-Akbari, a detailed chronicle of life during the Mughal era. His writings tell us that in Akbar’s time, the Samosa was no longer a delicacy restricted to the royal kitchens and was enjoyed by people all over India.
So that’s the Samosa Story – from an ancient Persian delicacy to a regal snack in the Mughal courts and finally, spreading far and wide to become a popular teatime snack and an eagerly sought after street food all over India.
Today’s post is about the traditional Indian version of the Samosa that has been one of our favourite snacks across generations. The recipe that we will explore looks at the North Indian style of making Samosas embellished with rich spices and fried in cold-pressed Mustard Oil.
Let begin by gathering the ingredients that you will require.
Ingredients:
Potatoes: 500 grams
Peas: 50 grams
All-purpose Flour (Maida): 250 grams
Mustard Oil: 200 millilitres
Carom (Ajwain) Seeds: 1 teaspoon
Ginger (Adrak) Paste: 1 tablespoon
Green Chillies: 2
Asafoetida (Heeng): Just a pinch
Lemon Juice: 1 tablespoon
Coriander (Dhania) Leaves: 4 tablespoons
Cumin (Jeera) Seeds: 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala: 1 teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder: 1 teaspoon
Fennel (Saunf) Powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt: to taste
The quantities mentioned above are for making 10 Samosas (five plates in street food parlance). Adjust the quantities proportionately to suit the number of Samosas you require.
Preparation:
Peel, wash and boil the potatoes till they are done – use a fork to check. Ensure that they don’t become pulpy or too soft. When your potatoes are done, crumble them (don’t mash them). Keep aside.
Finely chop the green chillies.
Finely chop the coriander leaves.
Prepare the dough for your Samosas: in a mixing bowl, take the flour, carom seeds, salt (a teaspoon should be enough) and 60 millilitres of Mustard Oil. Mix the flour well to ensure that the oil gets evenly blended with the flour. As a test, take a handful of the flour and compress it with your fingers. When you release your grip, the flour should not crumble and fall apart. If it does, add a little more oil and mix again. When the flour is ready, add water – a little at a time – and mix to form hard, stiff dough. Cover the dough with a damp towel and keep aside for around 30 minutes.
Next, let’s make the potato filling for the Samosas: heat two tablespoons of Mustard Oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, add the ginger and sauté for a couple of minutes. Next add the asafoetida, garam masala, red chilli powder and fennel powder and continue to sauté. After around 30 seconds, add the potatoes along with the peas, coriander leaves and salt to taste. Stir to mix well and sauté for around 3 minutes. Then turn the flame off and let the contents cool down to room temperature. Add the lemon juice and mix well. Keep aside.
Method:
Knead the dough and divide it into five equal portions. Use your hands to roll each portion into a palm-sized ball.
Coat the rolling pin and the rolling board with a little oil. Place a ball of dough on the rolling board and drizzle a bit of oil on it. Then roll it into an oval shape that’s around 9 inches long and 7 inches wide. Don’t roll it too thin – but not too thick either. Next use a kitchen knife to cut the oval piece laterally into two equal parts. Each part will be used for making one Samosa. Once you are done, you should have 10 semi-oval pieces of rolled dough.
The straight edge of each piece should be thin. If it is thick, apply the rolling pin once again to make it thin.
Now use your fingers to apply water on the straight edges of the dough pieces. Carefully fold the dough to form a cone shape, bringing the straight edges together in a straight line. Press the edges from the outside and the inside so that they are firmly stuck and do not come apart.
Fill the cone-shaped dough with the potato filling. Then apply water to the edges (on the open side of the cone) and press them to form a pleat. Pull the pleat over and seal it firmly by pinching it.
Repeat this process for the remaining nine pieces of dough.
Heat the remaining Mustard Oil in another pan on Medium heat. When the oil reaches its smoking point and emits puffs of aromatic (and pungent) white smoke, turn the flame down to Low.
Deep-fry the Samosas in batches. Take your time. There is no need to rush this part of the process. It will take around 10 minutes for the crust to become firm. When this happens, increase the flame to Medium and keep frying. Turn the Samosas over to ensure even frying on all sides.
When the Samosas become crisp and take on a golden yellow colour, remove them from the pan and place them on paper towels to drain the excess oil.
Your Samosas are now ready! Serve them hot with tomato ketchup, tamarind chutney or any other condiment of your choice. Your homemade Samosas are healthier than their street food counterparts because they are prepared hygienically in your kitchen and they are made with cold-pressed Mustard Oil which is one of the healthiest cooking oils for deep-frying.
The word “Pickle” is of fairly recent origins – it comes from the Dutch word “pekel” which means brine. Brine is water impregnated with salt, and was used as a preservative across much of Europe. But ancient India had a far more effective – and healthier – preservative: cold-pressed Mustard Oil. It is 100 per cent natural, and has powerful antifungal, antimicrobial and antibacterial properties that prevent moulds and pathogens from spoiling the fruits and vegetables being pickled.
Sadly, we have no written record of what the ancient Indians called their pickles. We know that these pickles made their way to Persia and the Persians called it “Achaar”, which means fruits, vegetables or meats preserved using salt, vinegar, honey or mustard oil. Did they adopt the word from India? We may never know.
The earliest written reference to Achaar can be found in a Kannada treatise called “The Lingapurana of Gurulinga Desika”. It dates back to 1594 CE and contains descriptions of more than fifty different types of pickles. Another book dating back to the 17th Century is an encyclopaedia called Sivatattvaratnakara. It mentions various pickles that were popular during the reign of the King of Keladi, Basavaraja.
The dazzling, mind-boggling array of pickles that one can find across India stems from the regional variations in recipes across different parts of the country. As a fertile tropical nation, India has a wide array of fruits, vegetables and nuts that can be pickled, and hence the extremely wide variety of recipes and practices. Usha Prabhakaran, a researcher based in Chennai, set out with an ambitious objective of documenting as many Indian Achaar recipes as she could find. She ended up compiling more than a thousand such recipes!
So that’s the good news, pickle lovers – you’ll never run out of recipes. One lifetime seems really too short for exploring the fascinating world of Indian pickles.
This blog post contains an interesting flashback – taking you back in time to more than five thousand years ago when mustard grew wild in the foothills of the Himalayas. Food historians tell us that around 3000 BCE, ancient Indian farmers began cultivating mustard. And archaeological evidence indicates that mustard and mustard oil was used in the cities of the Indus Valley Civilization: Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Dholavira.
In addition to widespread culinary uses, mustard was also used extensively in the ancient Indian healing science of Ayurveda. There are numerous formulations that use mustard, mustard leaves and mustard oil. The ancient Indian doctors (known as Vaids) knew all about the anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal and antibacterial properties of mustard oil – in particular, its heating action which opened up the pores of the skin and allowed the active ingredients to pervade and work at deeper levels.
Across the millennia, mustard and mustard oil spread across the world travelling along the Spice Route and other trade routes to reach Rome, Gaul and Greece. Interestingly, in addition to its culinary attractions, the ancients also discovered its medicinal uses. Believe it or not, the Hippocratic Corpus – an ancient collection of Greek medical writings – talks about mustard and its curative properties!
These ancient Greek writings contain numerous formulations for making a mustard paste that could be used for relieving muscular pain and for curing toothaches. Even in ancient far-flung countries Indian mustard was revered for its healing touch.
The mighty Himalayas have bestowed many valuable gifts upon India… medicinal herbs, exotic fruits and lots more. Mustard too originated in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. Food historians have found evidence of mustard being cultivated in ancient India as far back as 3000 BCE!
Excavations at numerous sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation indicate that the ancient inhabitants farmed and used mustard in various ways.
From India, this healthy marvel of Nature spread to other parts of the world. Mustard seeds have been discovered in the homes excavated at Stone Age settlements. Early Sumerian and Chinese texts also have references to mustard. Mustard seeds were also found in Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb when it was opened.
While Mustard and Mustard Oil are truly Indian in their origins, the term “Mustard” is of foreign origin. In India, it is – as we all know – called Sarson with various dialectical variations across the country. The roots of the word lie in the Anglo-Norman ‘Mustarde’ and the Old French ‘Mostarde’.
However, even the Anglo-Norman and Old French terms are derived from an earlier Roman connotation. The hard-drinking Romans mixed grape juice with ground mustard seeds to create a pungent wine. They called it mustum ardens which means “burning wine”. The term Mustard is, therefore, derived from mustum ardens.
Today, ardent mustard lovers can be found all over the world and Indians should be proud that this is where it all began. Indeed, the Romans may have named it and the ancients may have relished it – but mustard and mustard oil is innately Indian…
Yes, Mustard Oil is India’s Oil in the true sense of the term!
The Mustard Specialist 