Fish steaks cooked in a pungent yellow mustard sauce with nigella seeds and green chilli. Sharp, hot in the sinuses rather than the mouth, and done in 25 minutes.
Prep
20 mins
Cook
18 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£2.38
Difficulty
medium
This is not a subtle dish. Ground mustard seeds and raw mustard oil hit the back of your nose in a way nothing else in Indian cooking does. The key technical point is not to overcook the mustard paste, which makes it bitter, so it goes in late and simmers only briefly.
Rub the fish with 0.5 tsp of the turmeric and 0.5 tsp of the salt and set aside for 15 minutes.
Soak both types of mustard seed in 100ml warm water with a pinch of salt for 15 minutes, then blend with 2 of the slit green chillies to a smooth paste. Push it through a fine sieve, discarding the husks.
Sieving is not optional. The husks are what make a mustard sauce bitter, and no amount of blending will break them down.
Heat 3 tbsp of the mustard oil in a wide pan until it just smokes, then turn off the heat for a minute to take the raw edge off it.
Return to a medium-high heat and fry the fish for 90 seconds per side, just to firm the surface, not to cook it through. Lift onto a plate.
Lower the heat, add the nigella seeds and the remaining slit chilli to the same oil and let them sizzle for 20 seconds.
Add the sieved mustard paste, the remaining turmeric, the sugar, the remaining salt and 200ml water. Bring to a bare simmer and cook for 4 minutes only.
Never let a mustard sauce boil hard or cook for long. Both turn it acrid.
Return the fish to the pan with the two whole green chillies, spoon the sauce over, cover and cook gently for 5 to 6 minutes until just cooked through.
Take off the heat and drizzle over the last tablespoon of raw mustard oil. Rest for 5 minutes, scatter with coriander if using, and serve with plain rice.