SHORSHE SHUTKI

সর্ষে বাটা (as in mustard paste in English) is often used in Bangladeshi cuisine. সর্ষে ইলিশ (hilsha with mustard) is one of the most exquisite dishes in our cuisine and there is no Bangladeshi who would say no to this. But there is one other dish my mom used to make, সজনে ডাটা (I think it's called drumstick vegetable pods in English) with potato and shrimps seasoned with mustard paste, such a delicacy! It has been and will always be my favorite. So recently, I was experimenting with my blender to see if I can get mustard paste out of it and ended up making a generous amount. Soon after, I started craving dishes seasoned with mustard. But unfortunately I didn't have any of the ingredients for known dishes with me. Instead I decided to try something I couldn't even find in YouTube. It can be so nerve wrecking when you can't find the appropriate recipe for what you want to make. Anyway I took a leap of faith and started my excavation!

First off, I instructed my hubby to prepare the shutki (dried fish) while I started chopping onions. Shutki bhaji or bhorta is very alluring but the amount of onions you need to chop is the hurdle you don't want to overcome too often, may be one of the biggest reason why we don't have it too often. Once done, I started sautéing the onions in a pan smeared with oil, along with some bottle gourd skin. While these were cooking, I prepared my mustard mixture. To the mixture, I added mustard paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and salt. When my onions started caramelizing, I added in the star element, chopped up shutki as well as the mustard mixture. I did add a little too much mustard but I like the flavor a lot so it didn't bother me but feel free to reduce that to your liking. As everything started coming together, I added in some roasted and chopped up garlic and dried red chili for an extra kick of flavors. At first, I wanted a curry like consistency and really enjoyed that for our first meal but for our second meal, I fried the curry till the onions were on the crispier end. It definitely tasted good but I think further frying it did take the mustardy flavor away and didn't taste much different from how it usually tastes. Initially I was really worried that it wouldn't turn out good since I didn't have any reference, although my mom was pretty excited when I mentioned it to her which always gives a boost. Taste wise, it tasted different and definitely worth a trial.

Ingredients:

2 pcs shutki

2 cups chopped onions

0.5 cup bottle gourd skin

1.5 tbsp mustard paste

0.5 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp salt

4-5 pcs garlic cloves

2 pcs medium sized dried red chili

1 tbsp oil