Begun Shorshe Or Eggplants In Mustard Sauce

Hello Readers! Hope you and your loved ones are safe and are confined to home. This is my second recipe post lockdown, and hence, this recipe – Begun Shorshe or Eggplants in Mustard Sauce has also come alive, using minimal ingredients.

Since the initiation of lockdown, our grocery and food items shopping have become completely unplanned. And like anyone of you, I am also trying my best to take out optimum yield from the limited available resources at home.

So, I had some eggplants in the refrigerator, and although at this time condiments are luxury, but being Bengali, the chances of having mustard seeds at home is almost equivalent to chances of  James Bond keeping his gun along-with him, or Lord Krishna having his Sudarshan Chakra, which at the time of emergency like this, suddenly pops up from nowhere and thus, bringing the oddest situation under control😀. Taking these two ingredients as the base, and of-course supported by the then regular but now luckily available ingredients of potatoes, mustard oil, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, ginger and coriander leaves, I cooked my Begun Shorshe or Eggplants in Mustard Sauce, which is a welcome companion of the humble Dal Chawal, and even goes well with piping hot steamed rice or flat breads (chapattis).

At the time when basic regular necessities and the mundane activities that we had taken for granted  forever become luxury, these are simple pleasures which provide relief and allow us to engulf ourselves with the feeling of hope and positivity, and at the same-time make us understand to cherish the small things in life.

So, embrace your blessings and get ready to give a twist to your regular vegetables, with the everyday and now luckily available ingredients.

Click here and try more side dishes with the simple ingredients available at home.

Recipe: Begun Shorshe Or Eggplants In Mustard Sauce

Preparation Time: Around 10 minutes Cooking Time: 45 minutes (approx.) Equipment used: Peeler, knife, vessel to wash vegetables, grinder, a pan and a turner Yield: Around 6 people

Ingredients:

• 5 eggplants (I have used the smaller baby eggplants)
• 1 – 2 potatoes
• 1 tablespoon yellow/white mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
• 1 green chilli
• 1inch X 1inch ginger
• 4 tablespoons mustard oil
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• Quarter teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup coriander leaves chopped

Method:

• Wash the vegetables properly
• Peel the potatoes and cut the vegetables (both eggplants and potatoes) into strips (around 8 pieces of each vegetable), and keep them soaked in clean water
• Grind the mustard seeds with green chilli
• Heat a pan and add 4 tablespoons mustard oil
• Once the oil is hot, add the cut eggplant pieces and potato pieces into the pan, followed by ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon sugar
• Cover the pan and let the vegetables cook on sim for 5 minutes, post stirring and mixing them well
• Uncover the pan and add the mustard paste, and mix the paste with the vegetables
• Cover the pan again and let the dish cook on sim while stirring in between
• Add ½ cup water into the pan if the liquid completely evaporates before the vegetables are tender
• Add crushed ginger and ½ teaspoon salt, when the vegetable pieces acquire the desired tenderness
• Remove from heat and garnish the dish with chopped coriander leaves
• For added pungent flavour, add little bit mustard oil just before serving

Wash the eggplants and potatoes properly.

Peel the potatoes and cut the vegetables into strips, and keep them soaked in clean water.

Grind the black and yellow mustard seeds with green chilli.

Heat 4 tablespoons mustard oil.

Add the cut eggplant pieces and potato pieces, followed by ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon sugar.

Cover the pan and let the vegetables cook on sim for 5 minutes.

Add the mustard paste after 5 minutes, and mix the paste with the vegetables

Cover the pan again and let the dish cook on sim while stirring in between.

Add ½ cup water if the liquid completely evaporates before the vegetables are tender.

Add crushed ginger and ½ teaspoon salt before removing the dish from heat.

Garnish the dish with chopped coriander leaves.

Tips:

• Before chopping the coriander leaves, keep them soaked in water for a while to get rid of dust and sand particles
• Grind mustard seeds with green chilli to avoid bitterness
• Grind the mustard seeds dry for the first round and then add water and grind them to paste
• Add water little by little while grinding, to acquire the desired consistency of mustard paste 
• Reduce the quantity if you are replacing yellow mustard seeds with black mustard seeds and vice versa as black mustard seeds are more pungent in nature