Alternatives to mustard oil?

Question

Is there an accessible, legal product in the USA that will impart the sinus-tingling sensation of mustard when preparing spice blends for Indian cooking?

No sooner did I discover the sinus-heating magic of cold-pressed mustard oil than I learned that it is illegal for consumption in the United States. (The matter is controversial, but banned is banned.)

There is one FDA-approved mustard oil, made from a specially bred varietal: Yandilla. The cost of such an oil would add up quite quickly, and it is often out of stock in most of the few places that carry it.

The FDA also acknowledges another mustard-extracted product: steam-extracted mustard essential oil, also known as volatile oil of mustard. Since I mostly just want a bit of mustard "oomph" for my tadkas, this seemed like the right thing.

It's not clear that this is a real, viable product, however. While there are a few ancient articles about it, every bottle of "mustard essential oil" that I can find for sale in the United States says that it's cold-pressed, meaning it's actually virgin oil. Even outside the US, mustard essential oil seems incredibly obscure. After a good amount of searching, I eventually found one vendor in India, and they still market it as intended for external use.

Prepared mustard is a totally different animal. Mustard powder tastes totally different from the oil, and can easily be turned bitter (and not spicy) during cooking. Which leaves me with the (expensive, low-inventory) Yandilla. Or does it? Is there another way to obtain this flavor profile?

Answer 1

I would start by first identifying what exact flavor of the mustard oil I am trying to reproduce. It can broadly be divided in two:

1. the sharp bite of the mustard oil that is raw or just warmed up (for example, in Bengali smashed veggies called "Vorta")
2. The warm and slightly bitter background notes of a curry that started on Mustard oil, and cooked for a long time.

If you are after the first, may I suggest a good quality Wasabi oil? (basically refined oil plus horseradish) you should get a similar, but not exactly same, punch and sinus clearing. (horseradish is used in many Bengali packaged foods that want to mimic the mustard punch)

If you are after the second, I usually use a heavily fruity/bitter extra virgin olive oil. Gives a similar effect.

Answer 2

I haven't tried it, but you can make your own (See https://www.instructables.com/Homemade-Mustard-Oil). Personally, I would stick with yellow mustard seeds, anything else would probably be very harsh.

Answer 3

I have found a good quality cold pressed rapeseed oil (aka canola oil) is somewhat similar in flavour - slightly nutty and mustard-like. I often use it when cooking curries.

When frying your spices you could also add some black mustard seed to help ramp up the flavour. These are often used in Indian cuisine. You don't need a lot, perhaps half a teaspoon. Also note that unlike mustard oil, cold pressed rapeseed/canola oil doesn't need to be heated up to its smoking point before use. In any case you probably want to avoid the risk of burning it anyway. You can even use it raw in salad dressings.

Rapeseed/canola is basically a variety of brassica, from the same family as mustard. Note that the highly refined rapeseed oils you can find in supermarkets which are typically used for deep fat frying are more or less flavourless in comparison to a cold pressed oil.