Cuisine: Mizoram
Category: Snack
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 5 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy
🌿 Vegetarian
Roasted mustard seeds pounded with dried chilli, garlic and lemon — a pungent Mizo condiment that accompanies boiled meats and rice.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp mustard seeds — dry-roasted until popping
- 3 to 4 dried red chillies — dry-roasted 2 minutes
- 3 garlic cloves — roasted briefly
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp water if needed
- 2 tbsp spring onion — finely sliced
Method
- Dry-roast mustard seeds in a small pan on medium heat, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes until they pop and smell nutty. Transfer to a plate.
- In the same pan dry-roast dried red chillies for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Roast garlic cloves until golden spots appear. Cool everything.
- Grind roasted mustard seeds, chillies and garlic in a mortar or blender to a coarse paste.
- The mustard seeds release their oil and the paste becomes pungent and aromatic.
- Add salt and lemon juice. Mix. Add water 1 tbsp at a time only if needed to get a paste consistency.
- Taste — it should be sharp, pungent from mustard, spicy from chilli and tangy from lemon.
- Stir in sliced spring onion. Serve as a table condiment alongside boiled pork, chicken or rice.