Eggplant & Shrimp in Mustard Sauce

Begun Chingri Shorshe Bata

Begun Chingri Shorshe Bata - Eggplants, shrimp and potatoes cooked in a coarse ground mustard sauce. It generally takes a while to prepare black mustard seeds for this dish. To remove the bitterness from black mustard seeds, they are generally soaked in salt-water overnight and then blended to a smooth paste. To save time, I decided to use Grey Poupon's Harvest Coarse Ground Mustard, which worked quite well.

Ingredients:

4 Oriental eggplant, cut in half lengthwise & sliced

1 russet potato, cubed

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

15-20 medium shrimp, peeled, shelled and deveined

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

½ tsp. nigella seeds (kalo jeera/kalonji)

2 tsp. ginger paste

2 tsp. course-ground Dijon mustard

Salt to taste

2–3 hot green chillies, left whole

Directions:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a pan over medium-high heat, fry shrimp until pink and remove.

2. Add remaining oil to same pan and heat along with nigella seeds.

3. When nigella seeds begin to sputter and sizzle, add first three ingredients, ginger paste and salt.

4. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.

5. Add shrimp, adjust salt to taste and course-ground mustard.

6. Cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are coated with sauce.

7. Garnish with whole chilies and transfer to a serving dish.

Note:

The eggplants can be replaced with several other vegetables, such as green beans, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, ridge gourd (jhinge), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc.