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For thousands of years, Mustard Oil has played a key role in India’s culinary history, and chefs coming from faraway Persia and Samarqand have discovered the delights of this versatile oil. In the past decade, the fame – and flavour – of Mustard Oil has also spread to distant lands. This blog has covered a number of international chefs talking about their love for Mustard Oil. The latest to join the “Mustard Fan Club” is Melbourne-based restaurateur, Chef Gary Mehigan.
Chef Mehigan shot to fame and popularity when he hosted the globally acclaimed reality show, MasterChef Australia. He also had his own television show called Far Flung with Gary Mehigan; it was this show that brought him to India.
In a recent media interview, Chef Mehigan was asked to name a home-cooked dish that he enjoyed the most. He mentioned a fusion recipe of Tandoori Broccoli (Gobi) with Yogurt (Dahi) and Mustard Oil. He believes that the exceptional flavour of Mustard Oil adds a unique dimension to any recipe.
Chef Mehigan discovered the delights of Mustard Oil while travelling through various parts of India. He says it completely altered his approach to adding and balancing flavours in a recipe. He says: “I now use lots of mustard oil in my cooking – and it’s something that I have probably never done before.”
Matt Preston, who was one of the judges on Master Chef Australia alongside Gary Mehigan, was asked in an interview with Vogue magazine: If you had to make a mystery box with only ingredients found in an Indian kitchen, what would you include? And the first item on Preston’s list was… Mustard Oil!
From being a humble, everyday ingredient in Indian kitchens, Mustard Oil has come a long way. When international chefs talk about food and the culinary arts, Mustard Oil is invariably a part of these global conversations.