I am truly enjoying how much I’m learning from this endeavor of digitizing recipes. My goal was to just learn how to cook and earn some money. I did not imagine I would be learning new words, so much history, small kitchen rules (like not frying onions with fresh veggies because veggies fry quicker), location of bazaars, name of ingredients, types of new ingredients and so so much more. 

I thought Shorshe (Mustard) was native to the Indian subcontinent. Because I grew up watching this ingredient so frequently. There’s a plate of mustard seed drying on my balcony as I am writing this. Now the exact origin of mustard is not clear. Doing a cursory search I found some sources saying earliest records of mustard were found throughout ancient Egypt, India, and China. Some sources specifically mention ancient Egypt. So if you are curious on the matter, I recommend doing a thorough search yourself. 

But the most surprising thing I found were mentions of mustard being the first recorded spice in Sanskrit. It is also thought to be one of the first crops to be domesticated. I am no fan of mustard but these are respectable accolades that I never knew of. And originally it was used for medical purposes, I don’t know exactly how. But it has come a long way since. Now it’s used as oil, sauce, as spice, as condiment and many more ways.

Now after talking so much about how exposed I have been to mustard all my life, saying that I am not a fan might seem kinda blasphemous. Because it is a great spice, use it in the right way and it’ll make your food ten times more delicious. But there’s just something about mustard that does not click with me. And if I had to point a finger, I would point it towards Kashundi. 

As my memory serves, my earliest and most exposure to Mustard has been through two items: Kashundi and Sorshe Ilish. There is another significant item derived from mustard, mustard oil. But growing up I never gave two thoughts about it, so Kashundi and Sorshe ilish were the main flag bearers of mustard for me. And to me these two dishes are in the polar opposite of eachother.  

Shorshe Ilish is an absolute blessing from heaven. God created humans so they could know the taste of Shorshe Ilish. If you, dear reader, have never tried Sorshe ilish I highly recommend you stop reading this right now, go look up a recipe for it and get cooking. Nothing comes close to this delicacy. I won’t insult it by trying to describe the taste using words. 

Then on the other hand, the devil himself made Kashundi to hurt you. Kashunsi is a kind of sauce made from mustard seeds. And it has a very strong flavor. Now as a young adult I have kind of learnt to enjoy the pain of Kashundi, the kick it provides goes really well with snacks, veggies, and some other dishes. But as a child I hated it. Why would food hurt me so much I thought. And since Kashundi is more directly associated with Mustard, I never grew up to like the spice. 

Just to clarify, Kashundi is nothing like the bottled mustard sauce you’d find. It’s way stronger and depending on the quality might make you cry. 

Enough about Sorshe and my love-hate relationship with mustard related dishes. If you google right now, you will see that there is another Shorshe Murgi on our website. But I am talking about it here again because this version is the Moni Dadi special. 

The key difference between the two Shorshe Murgi in terms of ingredients is coconut milk. The other dish will have a lingering taste of coconut milk, and if that is something you like you should try out that recipe. But this one, like all Moni Dadi specials, is a much more simplified version of the dish. It requires only the basic ingredients and the taste will be more true to the name.