Kumro bhate (boiled pumpkin)

Bhate, meaning ‘in rice’, is what we call any vegetables boiled in the pot of cooking rice. In Bengal, we have all sorts of bhate. Potato, pumpkin, okra, different gourds, everything could be a bhate. Instead of boiling the vegetables separately, mothers, grandmothers would put inside some vegetables in same pot while cooking rice. They did know how to save energy! Then when it is done, keep the rice aside. While, mashing the vegetables with a bit of mustard oil, salt, and green chili would make the quickest and tasty side dish ever.  It had been long that I have had a bhate. Therefore, I decided to use a bit of the pumpkin that was left from the 6kg one in the garden for a bhate. I was cooking pumpkin in all sorts of Bengali styles, so why not a boiled pumpkin dish. The day before, I had made ghee (clarified butter), and saved the milk solids. I love using it with rice. I had to cook the aromatic gobindobhog rice, a small grain sticky variety of aromatic rice. Wow, how delicious it was! The mellow sweetness of pumpkin spiced up with the heat of the chili was heavenly to eat with the fragrant rice and the subtle hint of fat.

  You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 2)

200g pumpkin

1sp mustard oil

1 green chili thinly sliced

Salt

Sugar

METHOD:

1.      Leave the pumpkin as large pieces. Put it in boiling water along with rice grains while cooking rice.

2.      After rice is done, take out the pumpkin pieces and let it cool a bit.

3.      Mash well with green chili, mustard oil, salt and a pinch of sugar.

NOTE:

Any vegetable can be used instead of pumpkin.

The vegetable can be boiled on its own instead of doing it with the rice.

Though the taste from mustard oil cannot be replaced, in case of unavailability, olive oil or butter or anything similar can be used.

Kumror chakka (pumpkin with potatoes and chickpeas)

Chakka is a cube or dice. And the name of this simple potato pumpkin dish comes from the shape in which the vegetables are cut. Little cubes. How a vegetable is cut, is not only important for asthetic reason, but also for the way it is cooked. And all Bengali recipes have exact instruction of about the shapes of the cut vegetables. In this case, it is small cubes similar to the size of dices. This is the dish that started all the pumpkin tales last year. I had cooked it once for Blaž’s family. They loved it so much, that I had to cook a few more times in the next weeks. And the result, the big pumpkin growing in the garden this year. I love this dish. There is hint of sweetness, hint of spice, it is tender, and there is a bite.  And it uses the bhaja masala, a toasted-and-ground spice mixture that can make any dish my favorite.

  You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 4)

750g pumpkin

3 large potatoes

1/2cup red Bengal gram (soaked overnight)

1.5tbsp ginger paste

1 pinch freshly ground asafoetida/asafetida

1 green chili

1sp whole cumin seed

1 pinch turmeric powder

Salt

Sugar

Oil

Spice mixture:

1sp whole cumin seed

1/2sp fennel seed

1/2sp mustard seed

1/4sp nigella seed

1/2 dried red chili

METHOD:

1.      Cut the pumpkin and potatoes in small cubes (the size of dice).

2.      Heat oil in pan. Add whole cumin seeds and let it crackle.

3.      Add the asafoetida. When it leaves fragrance, add the ginger paste. Cook for a minute on medium heat.

4.      Add the diced potatoes, salt and turmeric powder. Cook for a couple of minutes on medium heat with frequent stirring. Make sure that the potatoes are not getting brown.

5.      Add the pumpkin cubes, soaked Bengal grams, chili. Stir well. Cook covered on low-medium heat with occasional stirring. Do not stir too much, otherwise the vegetables will mash.

6.      In the meantime, toast the whole spices for the spice mixture and then grind well.

7.      When almost done, remove the cover, and increase the heat. Add a pinch of sugar and cook for a few more minutes.

8.      Garnish with the toasted-and-ground spice mixture (bhaja masala).

NOTE:

If not used to hotness from the chili, one can omit the green chili. The dried red chili however gives the flavor and aroma, and should not be omitted. Use only a smaller amount if necessary.

Chingri kumro (Pumpkin with shrimps)

In Bengal we love eating fishes and shrimps, and use them in all possible preparations. Kucho chingri or tiny shrimps can give such a delicious flavor in any vegetable preparation, and is used often. So, for my pumpkin series in Bengali style, I of course had to cook it with tiny shrimps. It is cooked similar to Kumro boti, with only shrimps instead of garlic. Blaž loved it. And his grandma said, if pumpkin tastes so good, she can eat a lot more of the vegetable!

 You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 4)

1kg pumpkin

2 big onions

200g shrimp

1 green chili

Turmeric

Chili powder

Salt

Sugar

Oil

METHOD:

1.        Cut the pumpkin into thin sticks. Chop the onions.

2.        Heat oil in a wok (around 3tbsp, a bit more than usually needed).

3.        Add the shrimps, salt and chili powder. Fry until golden. Remove from oil and keep aside.

4.        In the same oil, add chopped onion. Cook on medium heat until onion starts getting golden.

5.        Add the pumpkin. Add green chili, chili powder to taste (tastes better if hot), a pinch of turmeric. Cook covered on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally.

6.        When pumpkin is almost done, remove cover and the fried shrimps. Cook on high heat for a few more minutes, until pumpkin is well done. It must be semi-dry with no gravy.

Pickled bread poha

I had some bread lying around for long. In the fridge there was some pickled cucumbers and bell peppers waiting to be eaten. A few slices of salami was there from breakfast before. Some potatoes were there in the box. And I had not much mood of cooking a proper lunch. So I decided to use up all these leftovers together for some short-cut meal. I make these kinds of food when I am not in much mood, when there is little time, or when the leftovers need to be finished. And this recipe is perfect for a tasty quick snack-meal and for cleaning the fridge.

You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 2)

3cups of old bread cut into cubes

1/2cup chopped pickled cucumber

1/2cup chopped pickled bell pepper

1 medium potato cut into small cubes

1/2cup chopped salami

Salt

Pepper

Oil

Ketchup

METHOD:

1.      Heat little oil in a wok. Add the potatoes and cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes.

2.      Add all the cucumber, bell pepper, salami.

3.      Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4.      Cook until the potatoes are done.

5.      Add the bread cubes. And sprinkle 1/2 cup a bit of water. Cook until its dry.

6.      Serve with ketchup.

Kumro boti (Pumpkin with garlic - a semi-dry preparation)

There was a huge pumpkin in the garden weighing 6kg. And I was happily eating pumpkin the whole last week. For lunch and for dinner. And was I happy? I couldn’t be happier eating pumpkin. I cooked it in different classic Bengali preparations. I would keep a bit for taking as lunch to work the next day. And then, just one spoon more I would tell myself. I just couldn’t resist eating it. So the first recipe from my pumpkin cooking week. Kumro boti. Pumpkin cooked on low heat in a covered wok. This recipe requires a bit more oil than one would usually use. And there is flavored mainly with garlic. One of my favorite pumpkin dish.

You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 4)

1kg pimpkin

2big onions

2tbsp minced garlic

1green chilli

Turmeric

Chili powder

Salt

Sugar

Oil

METHOD:

1.      Cut the pumpkin into thin sticks. Chop the onions.

2.      Heat oil in a wok (around 3tbsp, a bit more than usually needed).

3.      Add chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook on medium heat until onion starts getting golden.

4.      Add the pumpkin. Add green chili, chili powder to taste (tastes better if hot), a pinch of turmeric. Cook covered on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally.

5.      When pumpkin is almost done, remove cover and cook until done on high heat. It must be semi-dry with no gravy.

Payesh (Bengali version of rice pudding)

In Bengal, birthdays are celebrated with payesh. However, now-a-days one also get a cake with the candles around, there is always payesh on the menu. One starts the birthday with a spoonful of payesh, generally cooked by the mother. It is a sweet way to start the day. And then, later, the lunch or dinner ends with a big bowl of payesh. It is also cooked during any auspicious occasions, for festivals and so on.. A big bowl of thick milk with specks of gobindobhog rice, sweetened with the delicious jaggery giving it a hint of brown is just delicious. And then you add nuts and raisins of your choice. Jaggery is used in winter, when new date jaggery comes in the market. Otherwise, sugar is enough. The gobindobhog rice adds a sublte aroma. Though similar to rice pudding from different parts of India and elsewhere, it has a very different consistency. It is more liquid, and the trick is keeping the milk enough liquid and yet the rice shouldn’t settle down at bottom. My mother used to make a big pan of it every time, and it would be gone in no time at all.. After coming to Slovenia, for the first time I made it myself. Even though it was good every time, there was something missing. And I know what it was. The rice! Now when my parents visited me recently, they got me the perfect gobindobhog rice. And behold! It did the trick. It was the best payesh I had ever cooked. And it brought those nostalgic memories of my mother’s payesh and home. And Blaž just could not stop eating :)

You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 2)

1lt full cream milk

1/2cup gobindobhog rice (or any aromatic small grain sticky rice available)

2tbsp date jaggery (or sugar)

2 bay leaves

5-6 green cardamoms

1/2cup nuts and raisins of choice (broken almonds and cashews are best with golden raisins)

METHOD:

1.      Pour the milk in a thick-bottomed deep pan. Add the bay leaves and cardamoms. Start reducing it over low heat.

2.      Wash the rice and keep it aside.

3.      Reduce the milk to 2/3 of its volume.

4.      Add the rice and half of the nuts and raisins.

5.      When the rice is cooked, add jaggery or sugar.

6.      Cook on low heat for 10 more minutes.

7.      Remove from heat and garnish with the remaining nuts and raisins.

8.      Serve cold.

NOTE:
The jaggery  or sugar (or whatever sweetener is used) should be added after the rice is cooked. Otherwise, the rice does not want to be cooked.

Any small grain, aromatic, sticky rice can be used in place of gobindobhog rice.

You can add bit more milk if the payesh is getting too thick. The payesh should be almost a bit less viscous than honey.

Full cream milk tastes best, but other can be used too.

Adding cream or half-half is not good choice.

Kanchkolar shukto (Plantain cooked with milk)

Shukto is the Bengali way of simmering vegetables with hint of sugar and milk. Though mostly eaten in summer, and with a medley of vegetables including something bitter, Bengalis love shukto anytime of the year. I hear stories when grandmothers or great grandmothers would safeguard their shukto recipe as the most secret thing. And the parameter of how good a cook one is was based on how good the person could cook shukto. So you know now, what an important place shukto holds in Bengali cuisine. This kanchkola or plantain shukto recipe is one of my favorite dishes made of plantain. I love the excellent blend of sweetish milk and ginger with the crunchy meaty plantain pieces. And the subtle hint of ghee makes it all the more delicious.

You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

 

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 2)

2 big plantains

1cup milk

1tbsp ginger paste

1/2sp cumin seeds

1/2sp cumin powder

Salt

Sugar

Ghee

METHOD:

1. Peel the plantain and cut it into thin semi-circle slices. While cutting, soak the plantain in salt water. Wash well to remove excess salt before using.

2. Heat ghee in a wok. Add cumin seeds and let it crackle.

3. Add ginger paste and quickly stir for a half a minute on medium heat.

4. Add the plantain pieces. Stir it quickly for a minute or so.

5. Add cumin powder, salt to taste.

6. Add 1 and ½ cup water. And simmer covered on low heat until plantains are half done.

7. Add the milk and sugar. Simmer until done.

NOTE:

While cutting plantain it is necessary to soak it in salt water. This prevents blackening of the plantains.

Plantain does not taste so good if it is fried for too long for this particular recipe.

Mulo-r Ghonto (Daikon radish in Bengali style)

Ghonto is the Bengali style of cooking finely chopped or grated vegetables with both whole and ground spices and garnished with ghee in the end. This is one of the daikon radish preparation that I really enjoy. Those evenings when ma had a bit more time and mood to cook dinner, she would great the daikon radishes and cook it in this richly flavored dish. This dish is not very rich in spices. The generous use of aromatics goes well with the strong flavor of daikon radish and tomatoes add a tangy hint. And there you have a tasty dish to go with hot rotis (Indian breads) for chilly winter dinners.

  You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

 INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 4)

700g daikon radish

2 big potatoes

1 big tomato

1/2sp cumin powder

1sp coriander powder

1/4sp cumin seeds

2 bay leaves

1 green chili peper

1sp garam masala powder

1tbsp ghee

1 pinch turmeric

Salt

Sugar

Oil

METHOD:

1.      Grate the radish. Cut the potatoes in large cubes. Chop the tomato in cubes.

2.      Heat oil in a wok. Add bay leaves and cumin seeds. Let crackle.

3.      Add potatoes. Fry for a couple of minutes until slightly golden.

4.      Add the grated radish, tomatoes, turmeric, cumin coriander powder, salt, green chili pepper.

5.      Cook on medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring and mixing well.

6.      Add 1/2cup of water. Cook covered on medium-low heat until radish is well done. (Add more water if necessary).

7.      Uncover and cook 5 minutes on medium-high heat.

8.      Garnish with ghee and garam masala.

Narkel mung daal (Mung lentils with coconut)

Even though green mung bean is more popular in most places of India, in Bengal we use mostly yellow mung without the skin and split into half. Musur dal is more common for everyday lunch in Bengali household. And when it is some special occasion, mung dal is on the menu. Specially if the menu consists of the rich variety of vegetarian Bengali dishes. Vegetables in Bengal are cooked slowly, with only a few ingredients to bring out the subtle flavors of each ingredients in a delicious harmony. Mung dal is no exception. It is simply cooked with a bit of ginger and Indian cumin. A bit of ghee for the fatty taste. And sometimes coconut is added for a bit of crunch and variety of taste. Or one can just add a handful of peas, a few pieces of radish, or broken fish head. The later specially is a coveted delicacy. I am still trying to figure out where to buy head of fresh water carp like fishes. In the meantime, I am no less satisfied with my coconut mung dal.

 You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 6)

1 and 1/2cup mung lentils

1/2cup freshly grated coconut

1inch ginger grated

2tbsp of fresh coconut flakes

1/2sp whole cumin seeds

1/2sp cumin powder

2 bay leaves

Salt

Sugar

Ghee (clarified butter)

METHOD:

1. Toast the mung dal on wok until it starts giving the aroma and only a few are turning burn. Do not over toast, or it will take too long to cook properly.

2. Put the toasted mung dal in a pot. Add grated ginger, cumin powder, and salt. Add 4-5 cups of water. Boil until the mung dal almost melts. Water must be added accordingly to get a nice viscous consistency.

3. Heat ghee in wok. Fry the coconut flakes until golden brown and set aside.

4. Add whole cumin seeds and bay leaves in the hot ghee. Let it crackle.

5. Add grated coconut. Stir for a couple of minutes but do not brown.

6. Add the boiled mung dal (along with the water). Add a pinch of sugar.

7. Bring it to boil. Garnish with fried coconut flakes.

Jhinge boti (Ridged gourd with coconut)

Boti is the name of any vegetable dish in Bengal cooked slowly with cover until it is cooked into almost mash. We eat ridged gourd in all different ways, the most famous being the one with poppy seeds paste. However, this particular preparation with grated coconut is also one of my favorite. It has this very subtle taste of the ridged gourd and the hint of crunch from coconut. Very refreshing and delicate dish for hot summer noon. And it is so easy to cook!

 You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

 

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 2)

2 ridged gourds

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

1/4sp nigella seeds

1pinch turmeric

Salt

Sugar

Oil

METHOD:

1. Peel the ridges of the ridged gourd. Cut into small cubes.

2. Heat oil in wok. Rub the nigella seeds in your palm and put in oil. Let them crackle.

3. Add the ridged gourd, a pinch of turmeric, and salt.

4. When the gourd leaves water, cover it and cook it on low heat until almost done.

5. Add the coconut, and a pinch of sugar.

6. Cook until it is done, and still moist but not watery.

NOTE:

If the ridged gourd doesn’t leave water, add very little water to it, and this will tirred the ridged gourd to leave more water.

Rubbing the nigella seeds before putting into oil helps to release its flavor.

You can add more grated coconut if you like. I like to do so!

Alu korola bhaja (Fried bitter gourd with potatoes)

I love bitter taste. Some of my childhood memories are of fighting with brother over the quantity each would get of some bitter dish that was on menu. Or I would secretly ask my ma or dida to give me more of the bitter dish than anyone else. It was amusing for them. When other children were trying to avoid the bitter taste, we were fighting over it. A Bengali lunch in summer typically starts with some little bitter dish. It is good to fight the heat, and tastes very refreshing. It is also a palate cleanser. Therefore, I was elated to eat this nice bitter gourd after long long time. Our Munich trip gave me the opportunity to buy some typical Bengali vegetables from a Bangladeshi store. So, the first weekend after we returned, a simple Bengali platter was served on my dining table. Let us start with something bitter. The simple bitter gourd fried with potatoes and the subtle mustard flavor.

You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 4) 

1 big bitter gourd

2 medium potatoes  

1tbsp mustard seeds

1pinch turmeric powder

Salt

Oil

METHOD:

1. Cut bitter gourd in quarters lengthwise. Scrap out the seeds. Cut the bitter gourd into thin slices.

2. Cut potato into similar thin slices.

3. Heat oil in a wok and add mustard seeds. Let it crackle.

4. Add bitter gourd and potato, pinch of turmeric and salt to taste. Stir well.

5. Cook covered on low-medium heat until almost done.

6. Remove cover, increase heat and cook till done.