Kumror bhorta...

The recipes I share mostly come from seeing my grandmother, mother, and aunts cooking while growing up. Knowingly or unknowingly we absorb the techniques and processes of preparing everyday food watching our elders and with time recreate the familiar taste that we had grown up with. This process of learning never ends. We learn as an adult too. After my marriage I learnt a lot from my mother-in-law, who's an excellent cook. Then there are friends and neighbors, with whom we share food and recipes. Along with cookery shows, magazines, luring us with tempting food photos and recipes. And not to forget about the vast ocean of information available to us now-a-days , the internet. Where we can learn almost anything, if interested and willing to, be it cooking or film making. Being foodies we simply soak up everything about good food. 

Uchche chochori...

It feels great to come back and write a new post. I've promised myself to post at least once a week, though not sure whether I'll be able to keep that promise to myself.. The reason behind the hiatus is my health, I was not well. Since the year 2018 started I was visiting the doctors and hospitals, went through an operation. Right now I'm feeling much better but still under regular check ups. I think not posting or not clicking and taking this long break is not solely because of my health. It's more of a mental state that put a barricade around me. I was so dispirited and needed time to look inside myself to understand what I want. The most important thing I realized during this time, we all get only a single chance to enjoy this beautiful life and we must not give up on things that we like to do and love to do. One must keep doing it, without any expectation or reward. I took up the camera and started clicking again and felt free. My blog has been always my creative outlet for me, so I will continue to do that. Thanks to all my readers and followers who encouraged and supported throughout.

Chapor ghonto...

Few days back I saw a meme that stated 'Vegetarian Bengali is a Myth'. My reaction was "are you kidding me!!!!". Really.. have you ever heard about aloo posto (Potato cooked with poppy seed), sukto (a bitter sweet vegetable stew), ghonto (vegetable mishmash), chochori (stir fried vegetables), the list is endless.
Unfortunately, Bengalis are universally labeled with mach-bhat (fish and rice) along with few cliche sweets like rosogolla and misti doi. Ask any celebrity outside Bengal they will try to say 'ami misti doi khete bhalobasi' (I love having sweet yogurt) in an obnoxious accent. I can ignore these useless attempt to win hearts by saying something that's written  either by their PR agencies or else said to increase their fan following. But when one call himself a 'Bong' and states that there is no such Bengali who follows vegetarian diet makes me think how much knowledge this new generation have about our rich food culture, and what makes them so irresponsible to make a comment in public forum and which gives a complete wrong conception about Bengali food.

Chochori~Vegetable Mishmash

Amaranth leaves

Being a Bengali I love to eat leafy greens(saag). In West Bengal people eat different types of leafy greens, Palang saag(spinach), Kolmi saag(water spinach), Lau saag(leaves of bottle gourd), Kumro Saag(leaves of pumpkin) and many more. Be it sweet, or neutral or some being terribley bitter in taste saag is a common regular part in Bengali food platter. Either as simple fried(bhaja) form or mixed in the mishmash(chochori). Mostly the leaves are chopped and fried, the saag bhaja, and the stem part(daNta) is added to the mishmash, the chochori.

Mostly 5 or 7 different vegetables are used to make chochori.And the vegetables are cut into large cubes. For chochori you can use any vegetables, but potato, pumpkin, radish and egg plant are must, along with that you can use ridge gourd(jhinge), pointed gourd(potol), taro roots(kochu) and stems(danta) of leafy greens. Some also uses lentil dumplings(bori) to chochori.

It is a very healthy dish, as it has loads of veggies and requires very less spices and you can cook it in very less oil. I made mine with some amaranth stems and other veggies. I also used jackfruit seeds to my chochori.

Things you need to make chochori(mixed vegetable):

• Potato :1cup
• Pumpkin :1cup
• Radish :1cup
• Eggplant : 1/2cup
• Ridge gourd(Jhinge) :1/2cup
• Taro roots(Kochu) :1cup
• Amaranth stem(Katoyar danta) :1cup
• Jackfruit seeds(Kanthal beej): 1/4cup
• Paanch foron(five spice mix): 1tsp
• Green chilies:6-7
• Turmeric powder:1/2tsp
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil:2tbsp

How to make chochori:

1.Peel and cut the vegetables into large cubes. String the amaranth stems cut into fingure size (3inch) pieces. I steamed the jack fruit seeds separately, as it takes a lot of time to cook. Marinate the egg plant pieces with little salt and turmeric for 15min.

2.In a kadai add mustard oil, when the oil is hot add potatoes cook them in high heat for 4-5min and keep them aside. Do the same for pumpkins. Also fry the egg plant cubes in medium heat. The egg plant pieces will be fully cooked, and you only need them at the end of your cooking. The potatoes and pumpkin will be half done.

3.Now add paanch foron and green chilies to the oil. Paanch foron is mix of five spices, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, mustard, kalonji. Sometimes 'Randhuni' (very close to celery seeds) is also found in paanch foron. Take care not to burn the spices, that will give a bitter taste to your dish.

4. When the spices will spatter add radish and taro roots. Add little salt cover and cook in medium heat. Cook for 7-8min. These two vegetables take longer time to cook so I added them early. Next add the ridge gourd, cook for 2-3min. Add the potato and the danta. Cook for 3-4min. Add pumpkins and steamed jackfruit seeds. Add salt and turmeric powder. Cover and cook till the vegetables are almost done.

5. Uncover and cook in high medium flame. Chochori is a very dish. The vegetables will be cooked in its own moisture. You do not need to add water. Add sugar and mix well. Take care so the vegetables should not mashed with each other. It will be a nice mix of the veggies but again one should recognise the vegetables individually. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. If you like your dish to be hot then add more slitted green chilies.

Kanthal beej aar Danta diye Chochori (Vegetbale mish mash with green sticks and jackfrui seeds)

Serve hot with steaming hot rice and a bowl a dal(lentil soup).

Til-kumro

Pumpkin with sesame seeds

Kumro (pumpkin) is a very common vegetable in Bengali kitchen. No we don’t carve them to a jack-o-lantern, but eat them. Even the flowers of pumpkin (kumro phool) and the soft young leaves (kumro saag) are also eaten with great pleasure. Pumpkin can be cooked in various ways; be it simple batter fried (bason diye bhaja), or some mixed vegetable mish-mash (chochhori), or a non-veg dish (with hilsha fish head). Here in  the US,  we get pumpkin regularly in the market, but unfortunately miss the kumro-phool bhaja (pumpkin flower) and kumro saag (leafy part of pumpkin). In Kolkata, my home town the ripe pumpkins are sweet and red-orange in color, here I need to add sugar to my pumpkin preparations.

Today I have made some simple fried pumpkin with sesame seeds, flavored with curry leaves and hing (asafoetida). It is a very easy, quick and tasty side dish to go with rice and dal (lentils).

Ingredients

• Pumpkin: (Cut in cubes): 2 cups
• Curry leaves: 10-12
• Mustard seeds (Rai Sorse): ½ tsp
• White sesame seeds (Sada til): 1tsp
• Grated ginger:1/2tsp
• Red chili: 3-4
• Asafoetida (hing): a pinch
• Salt
• Turmeric powder
• Sugar
• Oil

Procedure:

1.Wash and peel the pumpkin and cut into cubes.

2.Add oil in a pan. I used canola oil. You can use any other oil, like mustard or oilve or any vegetable oil.

3.As the oil is hot reduce the heat and add curry leaves, black mustard seeds, red chili and a pinch of hing.

4.As the mustard seeds spatter add the pumpkins. Add salt and turmeric powder. Add grated ginger. Mix well.

5.Cook till the pumpkins are cooked, but take care the pumpkins should not become mushy. Add sugar. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.

6. Add the sesame seeds. Cook for 1-2 min in high flame.

Serve it with some steaming hot rice and a bowl of musur/masoor dal(red lentils).