We eat food for several reasons. Of course, it goes without saying that intake of food is one of the important criteria for staying alive. But apart from that, there are also other reasons which do have a role in deciding the food that we choose to eat. Some of the reasons like being hungry or craving for food are very basic, while some of the other reasons are very subtle, for example, acquaintance, comfort etc. And likewise, there is another reason that has an important roleplay in our food intake, which is taste.
In fact, taste is an inseparable component of food, as well as an important criterion to decide on food. The requirement of certain taste by taste buds at particular time often decides the menu. And in India since ages, Ayurveda had given importance to the balance of taste in every meal as well as balance of taste in every dish.
One of the tastes Ayurveda recognises along with five other tastes is ‘Pungency’. Associated with strong and sharp flavours, the taste ‘pungency’ is generally derived from foods that are considered hot. E.g. chilli, garlic etc. Because of the inherent heat, food with pungent taste is beneficial for improving blood circulation, encourages sweating and thus cleanses the blood and muscles, and opens the channels. This is the reason why it is recommended to ingest foods that are fiery in taste while experiencing sinus or heavy cold.
And when we talk about pungency, how can one forget ‘mustard’? Known to be world’s oldest and easily available condiment, sauces made with mustard are extremely popular across the world with varieties available for every kind of dishes and for every course of meal. And, for a person like me who has literally grown up with mustard, that also in the purest form (Bengalis do not prefer to adulterate mustard sauce with any other flavour), it is but obvious that dishes containing mustard sauce will cross the world of my imagination more often. That’s what led me to try this ‘Mustard Paste Veggie Sandwich’ the other day.
Pungency at its optimum, a bite of this ‘Mustard Paste Veggie Sandwich’ will definitely open all the clogs in the body and will make you realise for sure that sometimes it is worth compromising comfort for taste.
Here is my step-by-step recipe for ‘Mustard Paste Veggie Sandwich’.
Recipe: Mustard Paste Veggie Sandwich
Preparation Time: Around 2 minutes Manual Grinding of Mustard Paste: Around 10 minutes Making Sandwich: 11 minutes (includes heating tawa, preparing and tasting) Equipment Used: Knife, Sil Batta, Tawa, bowls, spoons, measuring spoon, measuring cup Yield: 1 Sandwich (as per the quantity of ingredients mentioned below)
Ingredients:
- 1 and ½ tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
- ½ tablespoon black mustard seeds
- 1 green chilli
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard oil
- Onion rings
- 2 cabbage leaves
- 2 slices of sandwich bread (white)
- Butter
Method:
- By adding water little by little, grind yellow mustard seeds, black mustard seeds and green chilli to a smooth paste
- Add salt and sugar on the paste. Stir and mix the ingredients with a spoon
- Pour mustard oil on the paste and keep the paste aside
- Now slice an onion and take out few onion rings
- Take out 2 cabbage leaves and clean them
- Heat a tawa
- Simultaneously apply butter on one side of both the slices of bread, followed by mustard paste
- Place the cabbage leaves on each slice covered with mustard paste followed by onion rings
- Put one slice on another
- Place the sandwich on tawa and toast the sandwich from both sides while adding butter little by little
- Take out the sandwich from tawa and cut the sandwich into half diagonally
Grind yellow mustard seeds, black mustard seeds and green chilli to a smooth paste.
Add salt and sugar on the paste.
Pour mustard oil on the paste and keep the paste aside.
lice an onion and take out few onion rings.
Take out 2 cabbage leaves and clean them.
Heat a tawa.
Apply butter on one side of both the slices of bread, followed by mustard paste.
Place the cabbage leaves on each slice covered with mustard paste followed by onion rings.
Put one slice on another.
Toast the sandwich from both sides while adding butter little by little. Cut the sandwich into half diagonally.
Tips:
- You can use lettuce leaves instead of cabbage leaves
- Instead of onion you can also use carrot or cucumber or any other vegetables as per your choice
- Make the toast little crispier so that you can cut the sandwich easily
- Use white bread or sweet bread to balance the pungency of mustard paste
