Mustard oil. This is a major component of Bengali cookery. One of the defining flavours of Bengali cuisine has traditionally been mustard oil. Siddharth Dasgupta provides fascinating information. The pungency of mustard oil is from a compound called allyl-iso-thio-cyanate. This is attractive to Bengalis but others may find it too pronounced. Unfortunately mustard oil also contains erucic acid, which is a low grade neurotoxin. It turns out that long term heavy use of mustard oil is injurious. All mustard oils imported to the US from India or Bangladesh) have to be labelled "For external use only". For many years Australia tried to grow a low erucic acid variant, but this was not successful.
A dish of vegetables served for lunch, with rice. It may contain aubergine (US: eggplant), mooli radish, plantain, green papaya and defintiely karela. This bitter dish is flavoured with ginger and poppy seed paste and panch phoron.
Custard apple or sitaphal. A fruit with a knobbly green and black skin and creamy white flesh inside. It has large black seeds. More commonly wheat flour.
Sapodilla. A fruit which can be round or oval. Its thin skin is slightly rough and the flesh is dull, beige to terra cotta in colour and slightly granular with flat black seeds. Peel the skin away to reveal the apricot-coloured, honey-flavoured flesh. If it is eaten slightly under-ripe it may leave a residue of gum in the mouth. This can be dispelled by eating something fatty or wiping the lips with butter. One variety provides the gum for chewing gum.
Sapodilla. A fruit which can be round or oval. Its thin skin is slightly rough and the flesh is dull, beige to terra cotta in colour and slightly granular with flat black seeds. Peel the skin away to reveal the apricot-coloured, honey-flavoured flesh. If it is eaten slightly under-ripe it may leave a residue of gum in the mouth. This can be dispelled by eating something fatty or wiping the lips with butter. One variety provides the gum for chewing gum.
