Shorshe Mushroom Jhal ( Button Mushrooms cooked in a mustard-green chilli stir fried gravy)

Jhal is one of the taste component Bong cooks stive to achieve in the kitchen. Jhal basically means Hot/Spicy but it's the green chillies that often add the spice factor to plenty of Bong dishes. Bongs tend to love food on the hotter side, our taste buds have been trained like Shaolin Monks from a young age to develop decent hot tolerance. We have a lot of Jhal dishes, mostly with fish as fish and mustard-green chilli paste is a match made in heaven.

However we also have offbeat Jhal dishes, like this one. This dish is my ma's recipe, which was often made when I caught cold. The mustard acts as a Otrivin, it's pungency opening up a blocked nose and stimulating taste in an otherwise bland, sick tongue. Though Button Mushrooms still remain a luxury in Mafashal Bengal, my ma made this with Durga Chatu( Chanterelle Mushrooms), in mustard-green chilli paste in a dry gravy. The gravy should be dry enough to coat the mushrooms, but not a spoon more.

I have had many people ask me, why their Mushroom Jhal doesn't taste similar to mine. A simple answer is, when using Mustard paste, one must always sieve it,to attain a smoother paste. No black mustard flakes should be there.

Secondly, there's no substitute to freshly made ground mustard from mustard seeds. Sure the packet stuff is fancy, but it lacks the punch of fresh mustard paste, the dish ends up tasting bland.

And thirdly, Koshano( stir frying the paste) is a crucial step. Sure it takes time but good food is supposed to take time. It's not instant pizza. Hence, take time with stir frying the mustard paste. The more you stir fry the paste, the more the flavor profile builds up resulting in a delicious jhal.

Bon Appêtìt!

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