FORTUNE MUSTARD OIL 1L

Description

Mustard oil is the cooking fat of eastern and northern India in the way that coconut oil is of Kerala, and it is not interchangeable with anything else. Kachi ghani is the method rather than a grade: the seed is crushed cold in a ghani press instead of being heated and solvent extracted, which is why the oil comes out dark amber and smelling aggressively of mustard.

Almost every recipe that uses it starts by heating it until it just smokes, then letting it cool a little before anything goes in. That step is not optional and it is not about temperature: raw kachi ghani oil is harsh, and smoking it knocks the edge off so the food tastes of mustard rather than of raw seed. After that it does everything, tadka, fish curry, sarson da saag, and the achaar that no other oil gets right.

Why do recipes say to heat it until it smokes? To take the raw edge off. Cold pressed mustard oil is harsh straight from the bottle, and smoking it once mellows the pungency into flavour. Let it cool slightly before you add anything.

How is kachi ghani different from refined mustard oil? Kachi ghani is cold pressed, so it keeps its colour and its pungency. Refined mustard oil has been heated and filtered, which makes it milder and paler and much less useful for pickling.

If you use it only for the occasional tadka, the 500 gram bottle is the size to take, and the rest of the shelf holds the ghee, sunflower and groundnut oils. Vegetarian. Keep the bottle capped in a cool, dark cupboard, because light and heat are what turn a cooking oil stale. Order online at Panjab Supermarket for same-day delivery across Nieuwegein, Utrecht, Leidsche Rijn, Vleuten, Maarssen, Zeist, Bunnik, IJsselstein, Vianen, and Culemborg. Free delivery on orders over 49 euros.