Imagine a slice of soppy white bread, layered with sharp Colman’s mustard, and topped with both boiled, shredded rooster or mashed eggs. It’s the mustard that offers it the sting—the sharpness and vinegary tinge elevating the best of sandwiches or dishes to a different degree. I’m an enormous fan of mustard—not the shorshe or sarson utilized in Bengali curries, however the form made right into a sauce, served as an accompaniment to numerous dishes. And one in all my absolute favourites is Bengal’s kasundi.
I’m not being parochial right here—you’d know that from my common disinterest in shorshe maach or shorshe phulkopi. However give me a spoonful of sharp, pungent, well-made kasundi, and I can eat it by itself.
The making of Bengali kasundi is nothing wanting a ceremony. I come from a house the place it by no means performed a starring function on the eating desk. Regardless of having fun with a number of the best Bengali delicacies, kasundi wasn’t one thing we ate or served a lot—and so it was by no means made at residence both. Like sandesh and plenty of Bengali sweets, that are tedious to arrange, kasundi is broadly accessible throughout Bengal, bottled and offered by quite a few small and huge producers.
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So why this sudden ode to kasundi? Due to a meals information that’s been stirring up debate in culinary circles in recent times. TasteAtlas—a comparatively new information from Croatia that launched in 2018—ranks the whole lot from international dishes and eating places to substances. Naturally, these rankings trigger a lot heartburn, notably once they appear misinformed or arbitrary.
Their newest listing, on the world’s finest mustards, included a number of German, French, English and even Chinese language varieties. However not that the majority nuanced of mustards—Bengali, and subsequently Indian, kasundi, which is sharp sufficient to clear your sinuses.
Mustard—sarson, generally rai—is broadly used throughout India, both for tempering or as a paste to flavour dishes. The leaves are cooked into sarson ka saag, or sautéed like spinach in lots of areas. However solely in Bengal is mustard was a sauce that might rival the best mustards on this planet. We eat it with spinach, drizzled on prime, or as a dip for crumb-fried fish or “chops.” It’s sharp, piquant, and completely scrumptious.
Making kasundi, nonetheless, isn’t so simple as mixing mustard seeds with water and salt. And neither is its previous.
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I believe the explanation kasundi was by no means made at house is as a result of we didn’t observe sure archaic or regressive customs—particularly these rooted in caste or gender roles. Historically, kasundi was solely to be ready by Brahmins. I can’t think about my very educated and unbiased great-grandmother following such a rule. Therefore, we caught to bottled kasundi.
TasteAtlas’s listing of the world’s finest mustards included a number of German, French, English and even Chinese language varieties. (Freepik)
Kasundi is historically made on Akshaya Tritiya, within the Bengali month of Baishakh, proper after the mustard harvest. Based on previous customs, solely Brahmin males have been allowed to make kasundi. Even Brahmin girls may solely wash, dry, and pound the mustard seeds—not make the precise paste. I’ve by no means seen this rule adopted, even in essentially the most conventional Bengali houses—however it’s what the previous prescriptions say.
What I’ve witnessed is kasundi being made in a kitchen—and the sheer complexity of the method amazed me. It is a sauce that’s been ready for hundreds of years, with none fancy instruments, utilizing naked palms and conventional information. Over a dozen spices—inexperienced and black cardamom, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, mace, lengthy pepper, chillies, black pepper, and the uniquely Bengali radhuni (wild celery seeds)—are used to create the spice combine that offers kasundi its signature punch.
What units one kasundi other than one other is the precise combine and measure of those spices. As soon as dried, the mustard seeds and spices are pounded and sifted, then blended with water, salt, and vinegar. Earlier than refrigeration, this combination could be saved in earthen pots and sealed for 2 and a half days in a cool, darkish place. A model referred to as phool or aam kasundi is made with turmeric, chillies and inexperienced mango, for an added flavour kick.
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The closest mustard I’ve discovered to kasundi is Colman’s. Particularly the powdered model, when blended with water, it comes shut in sharpness and tang. However right here’s the factor: you by no means prepare dinner with kasundi, opposite to what many trendy recipes counsel. It’s a dipping or flavouring sauce, meant to be eaten as is. It’s additionally a type of uncommon Indian condiments that has no regional variant exterior Bengal.
My recommendation: Eat it the best way it’s meant to be eaten. Be a purist. Don’t slather it in your sandwich; for that, there’s Dijon. As an alternative, have it with barbecue or drizzled over sautéed spinach with steaming sizzling rice. That’s whenever you’ll realise how the best substances can ship essentially the most complicated tastes.
Under is the one kasundi recipe I’ve ever adopted. I made it as soon as, and it’s completely value making an attempt.
Kasundi
1 bay leaf
1 tsp black peppercorns
¼ tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
¼ tsp radhuni/celery seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
2 cloves
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp mustard oil
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 cup yellow mustard seeds
½ cup black mustard seeds
2 dried crimson chilis
2 inexperienced cardamoms
1 tsp salt
Course of
1. In a bowl, combine all of the dry substances, besides turmeric and salt.
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2. Warmth a pan and dry roast the spices over low warmth until they’re aromatic and begin to crackle.
3. Don’t let the combination burn; permit it to chill after which grind to a effective powder.
4. Begin including boiled after which cooled water to this powder slowly, to create the consistency of mustard paste. Now add the turmeric. The consistency ought to be thick.
5. Stir within the salt and white vinegar.
6. Switch the combination to a glass jar, add the mustard oil over the paste. Don’t stir into the paste – that is merely to make sure that the highest layer of the paste is roofed. Preserve the closed jar within the fridge for at the very least per week or 10 days, permitting it to ferment earlier than you dig in.
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