Mustard oil dilemmas

Soon after I posted my Bengali Dal on Cooking Boulder, I was quickly taken to task for posting a Bengali dish that was not made with mustard oil. My pleas of but that's how I make it and have been making it for what seems like forever did not impress until I remembered why I don't have mustard oil as an essential pantry item. The FDA disapproves. Bottles of mustard oil have warnings that range from "Not for human consumption" to "For external use only" to "For massage only."

In the past, I have tried using mustard-flavored oil, a blend of regular cooking oil and mustard oil. No wonder my mutschgand did not taste anything like hers. I think I poured most of that oil into my used oil container, and it was eventually recycled.

Pure mustard oil can be found on the shelves of Indian grocery stores, rubbing shoulders with peanut oil, coconut oil and cooking oil. But, according to the FDA, you are not supposed to cook with it. Bengalis, however, have been cooking with it for centuries and are still some of the nicest people I know. So it's not doing anything to their charming disposition, nor is it affecting their intelligence or creativity in any way.

Should you use it? That's an educated decision you will have to make for yourself.

American chefs have recently discovered mustard oil, and instead of mellowing it by first taking it to smoking point, they drizzle the raw oil over salads as a finishing touch. I'm sure it brings tears to the eyes of the unprepared.

In deference to the mustard oil brigade, I made my Bengali dal with mustard oil and I don't think I can go back to using regular cooking oil for that recipe. I did want to try it with meat and my cravings led me to my favorite protein—lamb. When I found some local lamb, raised naturally and without antibiotics and hormones, and some not-so-local turnips, I knew I had to make Subz Gosht.

I adapted this recipe from J. Inder Singh Kalra's Prashad, Cooking with Masters. The original recipe uses spinach but since I was looking for a variety of flavors, and my Indian grocer had luscious fenugreek leaves after a long time, I used those instead.

Subz Gosht is a great way to get veggies into your meal without having to cook a separate vegetarian entrée. This dish is simple, flavorful and both, the turnips and fenugreek leaves, worked very well together with the lamb.

Subz Gosht

• 1.5 lb boneless lamb, diced
• 1/3 cup mustard oil
• 1 tamalpatra or tejpatta
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp grated garlic
• 1 tsp red chile powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 cups diced turnips
• 2 cups fresh fenugreek leaves, chopped
• 1 cup water + 1/2 cup water
• 2/3 cup diced tomatoes
• 2 cups diced bell peppers (red, orange, yellow)
• 1/4 tsp powdered cloves
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/4 tsp powdered mace

Fenugreek or methi leaves and turnips

1. Heat mustard oil to smoking point, then reduce heat to medium.
2. Add tamalpatra or tejpatta and let it change color in the hot oil.
3. Add onions and sauté until pale brown in color
4. Add ginger and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes.
5. Add red chile powder and turmeric powder.
6. Add turnips and fenugreek leaves and mix well.
7. Add lamb, followed by one cup of water.
8. Add salt and mix well.
9. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer until meat is 3/4th cooked, about 10 minutes.
10. Pre-heat oven to 300F.
11. To the pot, add tomatoes, bell peppers and about half cup of water. Cover and cook until lamb is almost done. Another 5-10 minutes.
12. Mix the powdered cloves, cardamom and mace in a small bowl.
13. Transfer the cooked lamb and veggies to an oven-proof pan, if necessary, and sprinkle with powdered spices. Cover and seal the lid with foil to prevent steam from escaping.
14. Heat the sealed pan in the oven for 15 minutes.
15. Serve hot with rotis or over steamed white rice.

Subz Gosht, lamb with vegetables

Notes:

• Use a pan that can go from stovetop to oven.
• If you would rather not use mustard oil, you can substitute with any neutral cooking oil. If you do, don't bring it to smoking point. Instead, just heat it until it shimmers and add the onions.
• Apart from spinach which I substituted with methi, the original recipe uses 1/2 cup of fresh dill leaves but I didn't want anything to clash with the earthy, slightly bitter flavor of methi and therefore did not use any dill.
• For a variation on Subz Gosht, try Kulsum's Chukhandar Gosht which is a brilliant dark pink from beets.