Puli Pithey...a Sankranti Speciality!

Coconut-Jaggery filled Rice flour-Sweet Potato Dumplings in Thickened milk sweetened with Date Palm Jaggery

Making Puli Pithey has been on my agenda since I began making Paatishapta. But recalling Ma's elaborate preparation of this particular Sankranti speciality, I've always developed cold feet.

However, this time, after making Patishapta I had a substantial quantity of excess Patishaapta's coconut filling and so decided to proceed towards the much loved yet much dreaded preparation of Puli Pithey.

This is the recipe of Puli Pithey  I have grown up eating, savouring and later craving for. And so is precious to me....

Ingredients
Rice flour (of preferably Gobindobhog rice) : Sweet Potato = 1:1  (I used 1/2 kg of each)
Milk : Full cream 2 litres
Sugar : 1/2 of my Daal ladle
Gur : enough to sweeten the milk and mix with the coconut
Coconut : 1 medium sized
Hot / warm water
Salt : a pinch

In case of my Ma's authentic recipe of Puli Pithey the cocunut filling is to be mixed & cooked with sugar without any khowa (milk solids). But since I used leftover from my Paatishaapta filling, my filling had coconut (1/2 medium sized) + date palm jaggery (75 gm) + khowa (from approx 750ml milk).

Procedure :
I) Coconut filling : See recipe at 'B' of Procedure in this post.
    If desired, the khowa may be eliminated from this recipe and the coconut proportionately increased to 1 medium sized coconut, grated

II) The Milk base
Bring 2 litres of milk to a boil and add 1/2 a (Daal) ladle of sugar. Keep aside

III) The Dough
a) Pressure cook 1/2 kg sweet potato and mash them into a pulp. Keep aside.

b) The Rice Dough :
     1) Wash, Dry and grind the Gobindobhog Rice in fine flour. Keep aside a small bowl full of powdered rice aside for later use.
     2) In a Kadai, take 2 teacups of  water. Add a pinch of salt. And bring to a boil.
     3) Pour the rice flour into the boiling water and stir to make the dough. Add more hot water if needed to moisten the whole flour and make into a smooth dough. Cover and keep aside for ten minutes.

c) Rice + Sweet Potato Dough :
Now knead the boiled and mashed sweet potato and the Rice Flour Dough together into a smooth dough. If too moist, sprinkle some rice flour or Atta to reduce the moisture.

After keeping aside a ball * (approx 2" in dia) of this dough, use the rest for making the Puli


III) The Puli or the Dumplings :

- Pinch off balls of the size you would while making luchi/puri.
- Make a depression at the centre and mould them as a bowl.
- Fill it in with adequate amount of coconut-jaggery filling...not too much
- Now fold into half moon shaped dumpling and seal the edges by pressing together.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough & coconut filling

IV) * The 'Chooshi' or dough filaments :

I dont know the English word for Chooshi. Will just explain the making of it.
Smear your palms with a little of the rice flour+sweet potato dough ball kept aside. And also pat the smeared palms with dry rice flour. Now slowly rub your palms together...the approx 1" length snake like filaments falling of your rubbing dough smeared palms is Chooshi.
Repeat with the rest of the 2" dough and rice flour.

IV) The final assembly
- While the dumplings were being made, bring the boiled milk to a boil again and after the dumplings are made, slowly slide them into the boiling milk one after another.
- Simultaneously, mash the jaggery into paste and add it slowly into the milk, and keep stirring gently to mix.
- Finally add the Chooshi and stir gently.
- If you have some coconut filling in excess after making the Pulis, add them to the boiling milk and give a gentle stir...
- Once the whole assembly of Puli - Chooshi - milk have come to a boil and has boiled vigorously  for a few minutes, switch off the gas.

Serve hot or chilled. Both have their distinctly delicious flavours !

I found some of the other variations of Puli Pithey in Sharmila's & Indrani's kitchens.

Patishapta, Kite flying and relaxation on Sankranti!

(A sweetened pancake with coconut-jaggery-milk solids filling)

A Bong's Poush Sankranti celebrations amidst Hyderabadi Sankranti's Kite flying fervour!

Well it was fusion all the way.....Holiday, Pithey preparations, Kite Flying, my 7yr old decorating the main entrance with chalk powder muggu.....we did it all!!

I am surprised at how I've missed blogging here about the annual tradition of Pithey Paarbon and the famous Bengali Pitheys...though I have shared the recipe of Paatishapta in my now abandoned personal blog 'Whims and Wishes' (here & here)!

Well Paatishaapta being the easiest (in my opinion) of the Pitheys and the most oft prepared one by me, I'll post the recipe of it today. And will share the recipe of the more elaborate Puli Pithey later.....

Ingredients for Paatishapta which yielded approximately 30 pieces:

* 2 medium sized Coconut - freshly grated

* Patali Gur (DatePalm Jaggery) - 450 gm approximately

* Sugar- 1 Cup

* Flour (Maida)- 2 Cups

* Suji or Semolina - 1 Cup

* Rice Flour- 1 Cup


* Milk - 1.75 - 2 litres

*Khoa (dried or thickened milk) from 3 litres milk - yielded approximately 500 gm of which about 450-470gm was used

* Ghee - 2tbsp

Procedure : Instructions are given in the sequence I prepared


A) PATISHAPTA BATTER -Part 1:
I mixed the Suji and Rice Flour. Then soaked the mixture in adequate milk. Left it aside and got on to work on the Filling.

B) PUR /FILLING :
Took the freshly grated coconut in a wok (Kadai) and added the sugar and approx 300 gms of jaggery. Stirred it around well. (Sugar provides the binding)
After mixing it considerably well, put the wok containing the mixture on fire and continued stirring.
Added the khoa after the coconut-jaggery-sugar mix had turned a lovely golden brown. All the while I was vigorously stirring the mix which is the most important aspect of making the 'Pur' or filling.
I continued the stirring process for about 30 minutes, till the coconut turned a rich brown and became sticky in texture.

C) PATISHAPTA BATTER (Continued):Part 2
I added 2 tbsp of ghee to the Maida and mixed evenly. 

Added this to the already milk-soaked mixture of Suji-Rice Flour. Had to mix it well as to ensure no lumps are formed. Added more milk to make the batter of medium consistency so that it spreads evenly on the tawa.

To sweeten the batter, add some broken pieces of jaggery (approx 150gm). The batter should be of mild sweetness.

D) THE FRYING PROCESS:

I used a non-stick Tawa (a non-stick frying pan would do fine)

Smeared some oil/ghee (I used ghee....sinfully delightful!!) on the Hot Tawa. (I used the top of a brinjal cut horizontally, with the stalk intact..it makes the ghee smearing easy as the stalk acts as a handle)

Poured a ladle of batter and spread it in a circle as in Dosa/Pancake 

Fried in low to medium heat to ensure the patishapta is crisp yet soft. Flipped it over.

Made a snakelike shape with a tablespoonful of Pur and laid it lengthwise as is shown in the pic.

Folded the patishapta and turned it around a bit to give a golden brown look to it.

Served hot!!!

This Sankranti special delicacy is off to Foodabulous Fest Event organised by Preeti’s Kitchen Life.

Thor Ghonto

A dry vegetarian dish made of BANANA PITH or STEM

The abundance of Banana Plant in Bengal is probably responsible for Bengalis using up each and every part of the plant, as I've already mentioned in several of my previous posts (here & here).

But a sad reality of today's fast paced nuclear families, is a gradual obsolescence of these regional delicacies. The main reason behind it is the difficulty in cutting and chopping these plant parts. I found a blogpost detailing the cutting procedure of Banana stem or pith, or as we Bengalis call it THOR.An additional tip is the last dicing or chopping....it should be as fine as possible. Almost minced.

Well, coming to the recipe of Thor Ghonto....this recipe is suitable when the stem/pith i.e Thor, is tender. Else the better option would be to go for Thor Chhechki.

Ingredients :

-Thor of length abt 1.5 ft - 2 nos.

-Gobindobhog rice preferably or any other similarly fragranced rice - 1/2 bowl

-Potatoes diced small - 1 medium or 2 small

-Grated coconut - 1/2 Gram/

-Bengal Gram - 1/2 bowl soaked in water (overnight preferably)

-Bay leaf/Tej Pata - 1 or 2

-Whole Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

-Whole garam masala - 2-3 green elaichi/cardamom, 1 1"stick of cinnamon, 2-3 cloves

-Masala Paste -
     Jeera powder - 2 tbsp;
     Halid/Turmeric-1 tsp;
     Red Chili powder- 1 tsp;
     Kashmiri Chili powder - 1tsp (optional)

-Salt

-Sugar
-Ghee - 1-1 1/2 tsp
-Roasted Garam masala powder

-Mustard Oil - 1 cup (This recipe is high on oil...for that matter all thor, mocha recipes are....)

-Wheat flour/Ata - 2 tbsp (optional, as a binder)

Procedure :

1. Cut the thor as given here. It's a very well illustrated explanation.Chop as fine as possible.

2. In a pressure cooker, take the minced thor, add a cup of water, add salt and haldi/turmeric and pressure cook upto 2 whistles. Drain the water and squeeze out as much water as possible.

3. Fry the diced potatoes after sprinkling a pinch of salt and turmeric.Keep aside after frying.

4. Now fry the washed gobindobhog rice in oil till crispy. Keep aside.

5. In the wok, pour the cup full of oil, heat it and season with whole garam masala, tej pata/bay leaf and cumin seeds/whole jeera.
6. Throw in the soaked Bengal Gram and immediately cover the wok with a lid until the bengal grams stop spluttering.
7. Now add the masala paste (haldi, jeera powder, red chili powder & kashmiri chili powder) and salt and sugar.
8. Also add the grated coconut now. Cook the masala well, 'koshano' as we call it in Bengali.
9. After the masala is well cooked, add the pressure cooked, water drained & squeezed minced thor. Mix well with the masala.
10. Add the fried rice followed by diced potatoes.

11. Cover and cook on low/medium flame for around 10 minutes. Keep stirring on and off. No water is to be added. If required drizzle a spoon of oil.
12. If the thor ghonto appears a bit too moist, sprinkle a tsp of Flour/Ata and turn the vegetable around to mix it. This is an optional step and is required ONLY to reduce the moistness of the dish.

13. Before taking off the 'ghonto' off the flame, heat ghee and season with roasted garam masala powder and pour over the 'Thor ghonto'.

The Thor Ghonto is ready to be served with steamed rice.

This post is off to Weekend Herb Blogging #291 started by HAALO and  hosted for the week by PAULCHEN'S FOODBLOG

Lau er Khosha Bhaja

Dry veggie dish made out of Bottle Gourd Skin/Peel

Scavengers...that's probably what non-Bongs would call us. Apart from our carnivorous tendencies, we are herbivorous scavengers....We eat the skin of vegetables too!!!!

I have eaten all these traditional stuff at home throughout my growing up years. But when I became the homemaker, shortcut, easy to make dishes were what I fell back upon. Moreover, despite being from a family of food lovers and great cooks, during my school-college days, I never entered the kitchen to cook ... ever. Hence the unfortunate consequence....I never got the opportunity to train under my Ma's supervision. Moreover at that point of time, vegetables belonged to the much-hated, to-be-forced-down-the-throat category. Being the food lover I am, I was forced to learn cooking when I was living alone, from Ma (over the phone) or from friends and neighbours!!!!! And now, although my unbridled love for fish, chicken, mutton continues, but vegetarian dishes have managed to carve a little place in my heart (or is it the taste buds!)

Now fast forwarding to the present......

SD (the husband) has a bowl of boiled Bottle Gourd every morning to fight his triglycerides and cholestrols. Last month, during Ma's visit, when she saw the substantial amount of bottle gourd skin being generated everyday and promptly thrown into the garbage bin, she was scandalised!!! And cooked this particular Khosha Bhaja (Khosha=vegetable skin/peel; Bhaja=fried veggie dish) or Khosha Chhechki (Chhechki=dry veggie dish).

Following her instruction, I saved up all the Bottle Gourd skin during the last one week and made Lau er Khosha Bhaja/Chhechki this afternoon!!

And the result is as follows :

Ingredients :
Bottle Gourd skin - finely chopped (3 Bottle Gourd skins)
Pumpkin - sliced (1 smal bowl)
Kalojeera/Kalonji- 1 tsp
Whole dry red chilli-2
Green Chillies - 4
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Mustard paste - 2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2-3 tbsp
Coriander leaves - finely chopped.
Oil - 2tbsp


Procedure :
1. Finely chop the skin of bottle gourd
2. Steam the chopped skin after adding a pinch of salt
3. Drain the water and keep aside.

4. In a wok, pour some oil and season with Kalo jeera, Whole dry red chillies (2), green chillies (2-3)

5. Add the sliced pumpkin and cook till par cooked.
6. Add the steamed and water-drained chopped skin of bottle gourd.
7. Add salt, sugar and turmeric powder
8. Cook on medium flame for around 7-10 minutes or till the veggies are fried
9. Add the mustard paste followed by grated coconut. Mix well
10. Before switching off the flame, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and sliced green chillies.

The Lau er Khosha' Chhechki is ready to be eaten with steam rice.

This recipe goes to the WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING #206 hosted for the week by Yasmeen of Health Nut. The history of WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING is available here. The logo for the event is .....

Celebrating Kali Pujo & Diwali with Chhanar Jilipi

(Jalebi made out of cottage cheese)


It's that time of the year again!

Come September/October/November and the Indian Calendar is choc-a-block with festivities. Religious, social, cultural ... our festivities are a joyous symphony of vibrant colours, myriad tastes that tingle the palate and religious fervour that embraces and engulfs our sprirts. It's a time of the year I love and yearn for. The smell of new clothes, the anticipation of going home to family and friends, the smell of Pujo in the air, the sound of the Dhakis in the background are all so familiar and nostalgia evoking....yet gives me goosebumps every year thus creating the magic of pujo. For us since childhood, Pujor Chhuti meant Durga Puja followed by Lakshmi Puja and finally the festivities and fun would culminate with Kaali Puja exactly two weeks after Dussehra and finally Bhai Phonta just two days thereafter!

Maa Kaali, the fierce incarnation the Durga, is worshipped on the Kartik Amavasya night in Bengal. While Ma Kaali is worshipped in Bengal, on the same day, Diwali is celebrated in the rest of the country and Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped in most homes of North, South and Western India.

Diyas, candles, fireworks are an intrinsic part of both Kali Pujo as well as Diwali. And as in case of all Indian festivities, be it religious/cultural/social, food, especially a wide variety of sweets is an integral part of all our celebrations!

So on this ocassion of Kali Puja, as we indulge our sweet tooth, shoving to the backseat for a couple of weeks the fear of calories, pretending to ignore for a while the clockwise swing of the weighing scale needle, I bring to you a sweetdish I love.... CHHANAR JILIPI. I learnt it from my Ma during my Puja vacation and here I am sharing it with you......


Ingredients:
Chhana from 2 litres milk (check here to see how chhana is made in Points 1 & 2 of Process)
3 Black Elaichis, made into a paste (I used the green elaichi/cardamoms-around 5)
Maida (refined flour) - 2 - 3 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Baking Powder - a pinch
Sugar syrup using sugar : Water in the ration 1:1.5
Oil for deep frying


Procedure:

1. Knead the Chhana into a soft and smooth dough

2. Mix the Maida with the Oil.

3. Then mix the maida-oil mix to the chhana to give some firmness to the very soft chhana dough

3.Mix the elaichi paste and baking powder and again knead very well.


4. Pinch of small balls of chhana and roll into smooth balls.

5. Roll it into a snake like shape as shown above

6. Twist the two ends as shown in pics below.

6. Deep Fry each formed jalebi in the wok

7. Keep the sugar syrup hot/boiling.

8.Fry the jilipis and dunk them in the sugar syrup.

9. Let them stay dunked in the sugar syrup for about an hour when the jalebis soak in the sweetness of the syrup and turns juicy.

Serve hot or cold......

HAPPY DIWALI!!

This is my entry to the event FF:DIWALI DHAMAKA hosted by Purva Desai of PURVA's DAAWAT. The logo for the event is ....

Chingri Machher Malaikari

Prawns cooked in Coconut milk

Away from Kolkata on Poila Boishaakh was indeed depressing and more so when the Bengali New Year was on a weekday! Bengali New Years Day or Poila Boishaakh celebration is all about families, friends meeting up, feasting on sumptuous food and indulging in Nirbhejaal Adda!

So just couldnt reconcile to the fact that the first day of Boishaakh would be spent working as usual....but there was no option! The best we could do and did was have a Naboborsho get-together in advance....so we invited our Bong friends over on Sunday afternoon...thereby advancing our Naboborsho by just three days. It was a wonderful afternoon and the adda rolled well into evening....

Coming back to the Chingri Maachher Malaikari...this was one of the main courses on that day. Cooking for lunch is always a high speed affair...one cannot afford the leisurely pace of a dinner party...hence photography was my last priority and hence forgot to click several steps or ingredients and the finished product was also photographed almost towards the end of the party...maybe I will amend the pics at a later date when I make this again !

So here comes the recipe :

Ingredients I used:
*Prawns (medium sized) -1250 gms (large prawns are better for this dish)
*Coconut - 1
*Onion - 1 large (finely chopped)
*Tomato - 2 small - finely chopped
*Ginger - 1tsp
*Garlic - 3/4 tsp
*Bay Leaf - 1
*Whole Garam Masala - 2 elaichi; 2-3 cloves; 1 medium cinnamon stick
*Haldi - 1.5 tsp
*Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
*Kashmiri Chilli powder - 1tsp
*Salt - to taste
*Sugar - a pinch
*Roasted and ground Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
*Ghee - 1.5 tbsp
*Green Chilli - 2-3
*Potato - 1 medium - diced into small cubes and fried lightly (this is totally optional...I like potatoes with anything and hence add it)
*Mustard Oil - 3-4 tbsp

Procedure : In the order I prepared :
1. Wash, clean and devein prawns. Marinate the cleaned prawns with mustard oil, salt, turmeric for 15 minutes

2. Coconut milk preparation :
a. Grate the coconut.
b. Put the grated coconut in a mixie and run it for 5-10 seconds
c. In a wok, mix the coconut paste with 1/2 glass of water and bring to a boil. Let it boil vigorously. Take it off the heat.
d. Once the boiled 'coconut paste in water mix' is cooled, pass it through a clean cheese cloth and squeeze out the coconut milk till the residue doesnt have any moisture in it.
e. Keep the coconut milk aside for use at a later stage.

3. Saute the marinated prawns lightly. Keep aside

4. Heat a wok; pour the mustard oil

5. When hot, temper with whole garam masala, bay leaf.

6. Add the garlic paste, finely chopped onions and a dash of sugar for colour (sugar caramelizes to give the brown colour)

7. When the onion turns a light brown, add ginger followed by chopped tomatoes. Stir well to do away with the rawness of the onion, tomato, ginger-garlic.

8. Add the turmeric + chilli powder + kashmiri chilli + salt (mixed with a little water to make a paste). Stir to cook the masala.

9. Add the cubed and fried potato. Keep stirring till the oil separates from the masala.

10. Add the coconut milk. Cook on low heat.

11. Add the sauted prawns. Stir to mix. Cover the wok with a lid and continue cooking on low flame.

12. Let the gravy comes to a boil and thicken to desired consistency (if too thick, water may be added). Add the slit green chillies.

13. In a skillet heat the ghee and sprinkle the roasted and ground garam masala and when it sizzles in the ghee, pour it on the boiling Chingri (Prawn) curry. Mix well.

The Chingri Maachher Malaikari is ready to eat with steamed rice.

Shubho Naboborsho!

Shubho Naboborshe shokolke janai priti o shubhechha!

Today being Bengali New Year's Day, I wish you all
A VERY HAPPY BANGLA NEW YEAR!!

For us Bongs, Naboborsho celebrations are all about friends and family, getting together .. food, feast and adda are must haves on this occasion of New Years!

Living away from my hometown of Kolkata, today is a working day....

Keeping this in mind, we celebrated our Poila Boishakh (1st day of the first month of the new year 1416) last Sunday with friends....it was an enjoyable gathering of friends and their families!

Pics : courtesy my friend Hrsikesa who wished me this morning a Shubho Naboborsho with this deluge of pics which made my mouth water......

Muri Ghonto....A Heady Delight!!

That we Bongs love fish is an understatement. But this delicacy proves beyond doubt our unadulterated love for anything fishy!!
We dont spare the poor fish's head and manage to dish out mouthwatering culinary delight out of the head of the fish.

Before I proceed to narrate the recipe, let me give you a sneak peek into the Bong's fish eating tradition. As I have told you earlier, to the Bengali, fish means more than mere food. It is an intrinsic part of the Bengali culture, tradition, religious and social ritual. Another peculiar and interesting custom is the designation of the fish parts as per the family hierarchy...the Fish Head (Maachher Muro) or the Fish Tail (Lej/Lyaja) are the parts reserved for those held in the highest esteem. The son-in-law of the family receives an almost royal treatment and he is the de facto recipient of the largest Fish head available in the market...

It was a cause for immense merriment and leg-pulling when my parents' son-in-law (aka SD), was in a sorry spot when as the guest-of-honour, he was served a massive head and tail on the day after our wedding (Baashi Biye). He loves fish but is extremely uncomfortable in handling these choice portions of head & tail!!!!

Before I lose track amidst the never ending tales of heads and tails, let me revert to the Heady Delight of Muri Ghonto...a mix of Fish head, Potato, Rice, flavoured with spices and ghee.....

Ingredients :-
1. Fish head - washed clean several times over (I used half the head of a 2kg Kaatla fish)
2. Potatoes -2 cut into big pieces
3. Gobindo Bhog Rice / Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup. (I used Gobindo Bhog Rice)
4. Onion - finely chopped - 1
5. Tomato - 1 diced into small pieces
6. Whole garam masala- 2-3 cardamoms, 1 piece of 1" cinnamon stick, 3-4 cloves
7. Bay Leaf - 2 small
8. Masala paste - [1 tsp of Turmeric powder + 1 tsp cumin powder + 1/2 tsp of coriander powder + 1 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp of kashmiri mirch powder (for colour) + 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder (optional) mixed with a little water]
9. Ginger paste - 1-2 tsp
10. Garlic paste - 1 tsp (Optional...traditionally, Bongs use very little garlic in their cooking)

11. Ghee - 1 tbsp
12. Roasted & ground garam masala - 1 tsp
13. Sugar - a pinch
14. Slit Green chilli - 2-3
15. Mustard Oil - 3 tbsp

Procedure :- (In the sequence I do)
1. Soak washed Gobindo Bhog/Basmati rice in water.
2. Rub salt and turmeric on the washed fish head and keep for 10-15 minutes
2. Cut the potatoes into big cubes and rub them with a little salt and turmeric and lightly fry them in oil and keep aside.
3. Fry the fish head till crisp and break the head into smaller pieces.
4.Take fresh oil in a wok. When hot, add the Bay leaf, whole garam masala & the garlic paste
5. Add the masala paste. Stir and let the masala cook till you see the oil & masala separate.
6. Add the ginger paste followed by finely chopped onions and add a pinch of sugar for colour
7. Fry the onions to brown them but take care not to burn them. Add the chopped tomatoes
8. Keep stirring and cook on low to medium heat for about 6-8 minutes. Sprinkle water if required.
9. Add the uncooked rice. Stir well and let the masala seep into the rice.
10. Add the pre-fried potato cubes. Add some water (about 1/2 glass)
12. Keep cooking and when the rice is semi cooked in the masala, add the broken fish head pieces.
13. Stir well and add some more water if it has become too dry.
14. Cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.
15. Keep checking and stirring from time to time.
16. The rice should not be overcooked but the rice, potatoes and fish head should be well blended as is characteristic of any Bengali 'ghonto'
17. Add the slit green chillies
18. Before switching off the flame, heat the ghee in a skillet and add a tsp of roasted & ground garam masala and add this to the almost done 'Muri Ghonto'.

The amazing aroma of the blend that is Muri Ghonto will tickle your taste buds alive and you are ready to taste these heady delicacy with hot steamed rice!

Boiragi Dal....Mixed Lentil Soup

What has Dal (lentils) got to do with Boiragyo or spiritualism? Well, if you go by the name of this Dal…..quite a bit, I guess!

This Dal opens a floodgate of memories….of having lunch with Dadu (my paternal grandfather) during my growing up years.

A man of reticence, well-known amongst relatives for being a strict disciplinarian, with us grandchildren, Dadu was a different man altogether. Age had probably mellowed him. For me, his 'live-in' granddaughter, he was a storehouse of stories…of his growing up years, his schooling in the village pathshaala followed by his college years in Kolkata.

The sepia tinged memories of Dadu narrating his tales of a bygone era while we had lunch (on Sundays and holidays), with the 1 o'clock Bengali newscast on All India Radio in the background, are crystal clear even today, more than 20 years later.
Different stories of different phases of his life…Like when while studying engineering, he, with some friends played hookey and got caught while trying to sneak back to the hostel after a round of football match and were almost suspended by the professor. Of another occasion when the hungry youngsters, fed on measly hostel food, went uninvited, to a wedding party close to their college premises. After the host came to know they were engineering students from the hallowed institution, they were given an almost royal treatment and the boys feasted to their hearts' content. Stories of seaplanes taking off from water instead of the runway left me wide-eyed with wonder and amazement while tales of post World War II Germany and Britain, when food was rationed and life was stark gave me a first hand account of history. Myriad stories of a life spanning the entirety of the 20th century…..
To imagine that a modest dal had so many memories associated with it!!!
Well, coming back to the Dal…..peeping through the cobwebs of the past, the first time I remember having this dal, Dadu asked us whether we knew its name ….Boiragi Dal was what is was called, he said! 'Boiragi'?? I asked, taken aback by the totally out-of-context name. The Boiragis, he explained, lived on alms. And whatever they received as Bhiksha from each grihostho-baari was collected in a common container. And the Boiragi, at the end of the day, cooked this assorted Dal and hence the name Boiragi Dal.

But now as I write, a question comes to mind. Didn't the Boriagi receive any rice as alms. So that would make his day's Bhiksha a mix of Dal and Rice and hence it would become Boiragi Khuchudi!! Or did he have two separate containers for rice and dal? Explanations anyone??

Again, returning to the Dal…..the recipe :

Ingredients :

i) To be pressure cooked :-

-Any number of dal - I used 5 varieties. Masoor (Red Lentils), Toor(Pigeon Pea), Yellow Moong(Yellow lentil), Urad(White lentils), Chana(Split chickpea) : 20 gms each

-Ginger paste : 1 tsp

-Bay leaf : 2

-Salt to taste

-Sugar : a pinch

-Turmeric : 1/4 tsp

-2 glasses of water

ii) Other spices

-Oil : 2tbsp

-Dry red chillie (whole) : 2

-Panch phoron : 1 tsp

-Asafoetida (Hing) : 1 tsp

-Chopped tomatoes - 1

-green chillies : 2-3

-Ghee : 1 tsp

Procedure :-

1. Take all the dals and the other ingredients at (i) and pressure cook till the dal mix is of a creamy consistency. Mix the lentil grains well.

2. Heat oil in a wok.

3.Throw in the dry red chillies, panch phoron, hing and the chopped tomatoes and stir well

4. Pour the dal mix already prepared and kept aside.

5. Stir well and add some water if the consistency is too thick.

6. Check for salt and let it come to a boil

7. Add the slit green chillies and a dash of ghee before taking it off the stove.

8. Ready to serve with steamed white rice

*This is my entry to the BLOG EVENT 'LENTILS MELA' hosted by Ashwini's Spicy Cuisine. The event logo is....

** This is also going to the BLOG EVENT 'MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR-EIGHTH HELPING' hosted by The Well-Seasoned Cook. The event logo is...Bibliography :
Boiragi - From the sanskrit word Vairaagya which means Sannyasi or one who has renounced the world
Pathshaala -yesteryear's junior school in villages
Grihostho-baari - home of a family man
Bhiksha - Alms
Panch Phoron - Very commonly used seasoning in Bengali cooking. The 5 spice mix consists of Cumin (Jeera), Fenugreek (Methi), Kalonji (Kalo jeera), Radhuni, Fennel seed (Mouri/Saunf)

Banana Flower...Mochar Ghonto

Pics  updated on 17-dec-12 with Mochar ghonto cooked with Chhola & cubed coconut.

Again a Bong recipe...this time a vegetarian one, though addition of shrimps could have converted it into a non-vegetarian one!
Banana trees are found in abundance in rural Bengal and in Bengal every part of a Banana tree and flowers are utilised.
Stem or pith - Thor in Bengali is made into a tasty vegetarian dish rich in Iron content.
Flower-Mocha (in Bengali) is what I made for dinner tonight.
Leaves - Traditional plates for food. And they serve as a wrap for preparing smoked or grilled items. Even for religious and social rituals they are utilised.
Fruit- of course the banana fruit!!! Raw bananas are used as vegetables..

Rich in nutritional value, Mocha or Banana flower is one of the favourite vegetarian dishes of Bengal.

Now coming to the Banana Flower Recipe .... Mochar Ghonto ('Ghonto' in Bengali means veggie mix)

Ingredients:

-Banana Flower-1
-Whole garam masala like cardamom (elaichi), cinnamon, clove
-Bay leaf (Tej pata):1 or 2
-Ginger paste : 1 tspn
-Coconut - it should be cubed and fried. But today due to lack of time and energy, I just grated and sauted it in a little oil.
-Turmeric:1 tsp
-Whole Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
-Powdered mix of Coriander & Cumin seeds (Dhone+jeera powder) : 1/2 tspn each
-Boiled Bengal gram:1/2 cup (Again, today I didnt have that and used 1/2 cup peas instead)
-Clarified butter (Ghee) :1 tsp
-Garam masala (Dry roasted & ground into powder) : 1/2 tsp
-Green chillies : 2-3
-Potato cut into small cubes & fried: 1/2 cup
-Oil : 5-6tbsp (This is a dish which requires oil on the higher side)
-Salt to taste
-Sugar : a pinch

Procedure :
1.Throw away the outer purple cover of the flower.Take each bunch of banana flower, separate the florets, remove the stigma from the centre of each floret and the bracts (the translucent outer coverpluck the centre of each flower and chop into tiny pieces. (The detailed procedure is demonstrated here :http://www.masalatize.com/veg-recipes/how-to-cut-and-clean-mocha-banana-blossom-banana-flower/) Wash them well. Soak into salt water and boil the chopped flowers. Drain out the water. The toughest part is over!

2.Heat oil in the wok.

3.Add to the heated oil, the whole jeera grain and while they splutter, add the whole garam masala & bay leaf.

4.Add the boiled chopped banana flowers and stir it around in the wok.

5.Add salt, sugar, ginger paste and again mix them well with the flowers

6.Add the paste made out of turmeric, jeera and coriander powders. Sprinke water and mix well by stirring.

7.Add the fried cubed potatoes

8.Add the coconut cubes (grated & fried coconut in today's preparation) and the peas. If bengal gram (brown chana) is being used, which is more prevalent and also tastier, add the soaked chana along with the whole garam masala & jeera seasoning (as given in procedure sl.no.3). Cover the wok with a lid, till the chana gets fried, as else the oil splutters and makes a mess of the kitchen!!!

9. Sprinkle water.

10.Lower the flame and cover the wok. Let it cook for about 10minutes. From time to time, remove the lid and stir the ghonto.

11. Add a couple of slit green chillies.

12. You'll know the cooking is over when the ghonto (a Bengali a term used to refer a well-integrated mix of veggies) is well binded.

13.In a skillet, heat the ghee to which add 1/2 tspn of the roasted & ground garam masala mix. Add this to the almost ready ghonto.

14. Mix well. The Mocha Ghonto is ready to serve.

Note: Fried shrimps may be added as a replacement / in addition to the coconut (cubed/grated).

This recipe goes to the WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING #171 hosted for the week by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. The history of WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING is available here. The logo for the event is .....