Cooking with mustard seeds

[Canice]

Tonight I made a mulligatawny with lentils, and the recipe called for 1/4 cup black mustard seeds. I'd been to three stores, all of which sold brown mustard seeds but not black. Not wanting to make a special trip to the South Asian market (and having consulted The Food Lover's Companion) I decided that the brown seeds would be just fine. But this soup has a strange after-taste! After multiple samplings, I'm 98% sure this after-taste is coming from the brown mustard seeds - kind of sour tasting. Just wondering if anyone has cooked with brown mustard seeds and had this experience, or has bought black mustard seeds and avoided it (my "research" indicates that black mustard seeds are virtually a thing of the past).... ??

[Ohioan]

What are the other ingredients in the mulligatawny? Sourness might also come from coriander, or even too-old lentils.

More clues? (Gee, I love a good mystery!)

Cheers,
Phoebe

[Canice]

Hey Phoebe! There wasn't any coriander in the recipe, so it couldn't be that (it did call for a tsp. of ground cardamom seeds, but I took one whif out of that jar and said No Way). Other ingrediants (before I decided it wasn't worth finishing, and tossed the whole thing) were:
Peanut oil (still good)
Garlic, ginger, onion, vegetable stock
Garam Masala, cayenne, tandoori spice mix and curry powder (from Penzeys and smelled good)
Canned tomatoes (possible culprit?)
But I think it's got to be the mustard seed. I sampled carefully a couple of times after posting and I'm pretty sure they're the culprit. I did have trouble cooking them "til they pop" (I remembered this later) because they were just sort of sticking to the bottom of the pot. Maybe that's the real problem - they were too "raw" tasting!
I think I'll pass on recipes calling for mustard seed for a while.....

[beacooker]

I have a really awesome recipe for Indian fish that calls for mustard seeds, without specifying what color, so I always use yellow. I have never noticed any bitter flavor in that dish. Maybe you could use yellow instead of black? Don't give up on mustard seeds!

[Guest]

Canice,

Looking through Madhur Jaffrey's A Taste Of India tonight I came across her notes on black mustard seeds and remembered your post about the brown ones.

She writes that whole black mustard seesd "... have a duel character. When popped in hot oil, they impart an earthly sweetness. However, when they are ground, they turn nose-tinglingly pungent and slightly bitter." She goes on to say "If you wish to cut down on the bitterness, use only freshly-bought black mustard sees or use yellow mustard seeds."

She suggests using yellow mustard seeds if the black are hard to come by. They are also less bitter and have a milder flavor. No mention of brown ones.

[Canice]

Well, Miranda, in a word -- "a-HA!"
...I guess the brown mustard seed route was the wrong way to go! Definitely bitter-sour-after taste...yuck! Silly I didn't go --- there's an Indian grocery about 9 blocks away: I will definitely check that out next time!