Kasundi

Kasundi
Fish cutlet and kasundi
Alternative names Kashundi
Type Condiment
Course Sauce/Dip
Place of origin Bengal
Main ingredients Mustard
Ingredients generally used Spices, fruits, salt
Variations Aubergine Kasundi, Tomato Kasundi
Similar dishes Wasabi

Kasundi is the Asian or Bengali variety of mustard sauce. It is a pungent paste of fermented mustard seeds, spices and sometimes dried mangoes, dried Indian plum and olives, popular as a dipping sauce in Bengali cuisine.

Description

Kasundi and tuna carpaccio

Kasundi is a mustard sauce made by fermenting mustard seeds, and is much stronger and sharper than other kinds of mustard sauce.[1][2] It is highly pungent, and is capable of exciting the nasal passage and bringing tear to eyes like wasabi.[3][4] The description of variously by famous chefs outside Bengal as the “answer to the ketchup”, “ketchup with a lot more going on”, or “a rich, unctuous tomato sauce of Indian origin” are based on, according to food writer Pritha Sen, mistaken notions.[1]

In modern times, Kasundi is popularly served with Bengali snacks like cutlets and chops, and deep-fried spicy treats, as it brings tartness and pungency to the flavours. It also can be served as a dip with other snacks, as well as sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, omelettes, salads and other food.[3] But, traditionally it was served neither with these treats nor in such quantities at home. In the past, it was stored with care, served sparingly and in small quantities, and paired with hot stir-fried greens, never fish or meat.[3][4] The practice of pairing kasundi with non-vegetarian dishes evolved in the commercial eateries, beginning with batter-fried fish.[3][4]

Kasundi has always been a revered fixture of Bengali households, its making used to be almost a religious rite, with many restriction and rituals.[5][4] With modern household appliances becoming commonplace, its making no more remains a complex ritual.[1] It also is now industrially produced, and widely available in eateries as a sauce and supermarkets as a bottled condiment.[3][4][5] Among the bottled kasundis, those following the recipe of Bikrampur, in undivided Bengal is reported to be the best.[1][4] Kasundi has spread outside Bengal, across India and into the Pacific Ocean countries like Australia (popular as eggplant kasundi) and New Zealand (popular as tomato kasundi). In Australia and New Zealand, kasundi is part of the Christmas gift hamper.[3][4]

Origin

Kasundi was originally used as a type of achar (literally "ritual", meaning chutney/pickle), thogh it was not necessarily the sauce that we know it today. Kasundi was the queen of pickles in Bengal, which, as it remained edible for up to 20 years if stored in right conditions.[1] In the past, Bengali pickle making season began in the month of Magh (January–February), which also is the mustard harvesting time. Jujube (kul) were the first pickles to be made, followed by tamarind, and then mustard. Mustard was pickled before the monsoon arrived with various indigenous fruits and greens such as coriander, pudina or amrul. The pickling of mustard followed, in preparation for the monsoons. Any pickling that was done with dry, ground mustard, with or without using mustard oil, called a kasundi.[1]

Traditions

Originally kasundi-making was the prerogative the Brahmin caste and relished by the elites. Later respected families were allowed to make kasundi following auspicious rituals while maintaining a high level or hygiene and purity. It was mostly made by women who were appropriate, as widows, spinsters and menstruating women were barred from taking any part.[1][3][6][4] Those who cleaned, husked and prepared the kasundi were not allowed to any bitter or sour food.[7]

Families were forbidden to make kasundi in the month of a birth or the year of a death in the family, or if some tragedy occurred to them in the past while making kasundi. For families who were not forbidden, failing to make kasundi a particular year meant they would be forbidden to make any in the next 12 years. The way to avoid that was to give away mustard seeds to a Brahmin.[4][1]

Renuka Devi Chaudhurani, doyenne of Bengali cuisine,[8] wrote in her book Stree Achaar ("women's rituals") that it was mandatory that a Brahmin makes it, not the women of the household. The women were allowed only to wash, dry and pound the mustard seeds, which were then given to the Brahmins. For families that had women making it, the role of the Brahmin was still important in setting the time of kasundi making, lighting the fire to boil water for kasundi and putting the water-filler earthen pot on the stove.[4]

Process and rituals

The long and tedious ritualistic kasundi making process used to begin on the day of Akshaya Tritiya (the day of prosperity and worship of goddess Laxmi in late April-early May). That season, post the mustard harvesting and drying season in winter, was considered optimal weather for fermentation — not too cold to delay the process, nor too hot or humid to spoil the kasundi.[4][3][7] It took more than a week to make kasundi.[1]

Black and yellow mustard seeds were first thoroughly washed and drained.[3][4] The washing of mustard seeds was endowed with ceremonial importance in many parts of Bengal, where all the mustard seeds to be consumed by the family during the coming year was washed at one go on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. Mustard processing was ceremonially prohibited after that day.[6] Washing the mustard had its own set of rituals — groups of married women bathed in odd numbers, then washed mustard seeds facing east wearing still wet sarees. They sang and chanted for wealth, health and well-being while washing. Mustard was washed in a pond or a river, though washing it under a tap is an acceptable alternative in the modern days. For washing and straining a man’s dhoti was used, not a woman’s saree.[4]

After sunning, it was sifted.[6] The mustard was then brought back into the house with ululations after they are presented to the gods, ghee-lamps were lit. Five kinds of fruits, two unripe mangoes on the same stem, betel leaf, betel nut, dhoob and paddy were also offered to gods along with the mustard.[4] Next the mustard was grounded, often with spices, into a fine pulp.[6] Moderation were needed when adding spice, as over-spicing spoiled the kasundi.[4] The pounded seeds for two to three days to take away the bitterness and introduce the pungency (jhaanjh).[1] Meanwhile, water from the same pond or river it washed in was boiled for a pretty long time in a new earthen pot.[6] A little hot water and salt was added to make a paste,[3] sometimes with one or two green mangoes dropped into the preparation, and paste was put in a new earthen pot in the main house of the family by a woman of the family who had a living husband. One could touch the earthen pots only after bathing and putting on fresh clothes.[6][4]

Mustard in the sealed pot was then left to ferment for about two days in a cool place.[4] This is the time when the flavours developed - the distinctive pungency, the subtle tang and the spicy notes of an ideal preparation.[3] Once it had slightly fermented, the pots were opened and offered to pregnant women, who were in their third trimester, as shaadh. The ritual also involved giving the pregnant women their favourite foods, along with their elders' blessing.[4] After that it was bottled and sunned for a few more days. If made under the right conditions, kasundi remained edible for years.[1]

Three or four days later, on an auspicious day of the week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday), a part of the prepared kasundi was put into a small, new earthen pot with a spirit a religious rite. Then the pot was covered and sanctimoniously put in a safe place in the house to be opened on the first day of the month of Asharh (June–July). On the first day of the month of Asadh, fish was prohibited for all the members of the family. On that day Goddess Parvati is worshipped as Nistarini (lit. "one who delivers from difficulties") by women of high caste Hindu families of some districts of Bengal.[6]

Types of kasundi

Tomato kasundi

Some families prepared kasundi with just salt, ground mustard, dry chillies, turmeric and mustard oil. Others used combinations of different dry and ground spices like black caraway (kalonji), fennel, wild celery (radhuni shaak) seed, ajwain, long pepper (pippali), chilli, black pepper, fenugreek (methi), clove, green and black cardamom, cumin (jeera), coriander, nutmeg (jaiphal), mace (javitri), Java pepper (kabab chini), dried mango, dried kul etc.[1][3]

The base kasundi is used to make tomato-kasundi, unripe mango-kasundi and other variations.[9][10]

Tomato kasundi

Tomato kasundi or Tamtar kasundi is typically a spicy and savory tomato and mustard chutney. It is used as a condiment and dipping sauce for foods and dishes such as paratha and naan and fried foods such as samosas and pakoras. It is also used as a spread on sandwiches and grilled meats.[11]

Phool kasundi

On the next day the residual part of the mustard pulp was finely ground again and mixed with the whole lot. This was also regarded as a part of the rite.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pritha Sen, For the love of food: A grave danger stalks the Kasundi, Indian Express
  2. ↑ Dueep Jyot Singh and John Davidson, The Magic of Mustard, pages 24-25, Mendon Cottage Books, 2016, ISBN 1311475745
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Plavaneeta Borah, Durga Puja 2017 Special: Kasundi, Bengali Cuisine's Favourite Mustard Sauce, September 25, 2017
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Tanushree Bhowmick, The rediscovery of kasundi, Live Mint, Mar 05 2017
  5. 1 2 Swapna Pradhan, Retailing Management, page 294, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, ISBN 007015256X
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rebati Mohan Sarkar, Through the Vistas of Life and Lore, page 558, Punthi Pustak, 2000, ISBN 8186791221
  7. 1 2 Utsa Ray, Culinary Culture in Colonial India, page 135, Cambridge University Press, 2015, ISBN 110704281X
  8. ↑ The road from game pies to gujiyas, Mumbai Mirror, Aug 13, 2017
  9. ↑ Aliza Green, The Magic of Spice Blends, page 105, Quarry Books, 2015, ISBN 163159074X
  10. ↑ Satarupa Banerjee, 101 Ways to Prepare Kababs, pages 33-34, Pustak Mahal, 2001, ISBN 8122306977
  11. ↑ Green, A. (2015). The Magic of Spice Blends: A Guide to the Art, Science, and Lore of Combining Flavors. Quarry Books. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-63159-074-0. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
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