How to cook with mustard oil (and why you heat it first)

Cold-pressed mustard oil arrives with its full pungency intact, that is the point of pressing it gently. Used straight from the bottle in a cold dish it can taste sharp, which is why generations of Indian cooks heat it first.

Heat it to smoking, then ease off

Warm the oil in a pan until it just begins to smoke and the sharp edge softens, then bring the heat down before you add anything. This short step mellows the raw bite and leaves the warm, nutty character you actually want to cook in.

Then build your tadka

Once the oil is ready, drop in mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves and let them crackle. That sizzle is the base of dal, sabzi and chutney across the country, and the oil carries every one of those flavours.

• Heat to smoking point, then lower the flame before adding aromatics.
• Use it for tempering, sautéing, shallow-frying and pickling.
• A clean golden oil with real pungency does more work than a neutral, refined one.

The smell that fills the kitchen when the oil hits the pan is half the cooking.

Treat the oil as an ingredient, not just a medium, and a plain weeknight sabzi starts tasting like something made with intent.