Bongo Bhoj by au-designcenter

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DEDICATED Bong Eats

Spice Bangla

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Contents

Shubhaarom (Starters)

Mukhorochok

(Sides)

Luchi

Begun Bhaja

Chholar Dal

Vegetable Chop

Paneer Paturi

Modhano Bhoj

(Main)

Mishthanno

(Deserts)

The Perfect Rice

Tomato Chutney

Chhanar Polao

Nolen Gurer Payesh

Bhaja Moong Dal

Lobongo Lotika

Potoler Dorma Kachkola Kofta Dalna

Shubharam

Luchi

Luchis are made from finely milled flour (Maida), unlike puris, which are usually made from whole-wheat flour (atta) in several parts

of the sub-continent. What makes a good luchi is its flaky interior and crispy exterior. Rolling perfectly round luchis is a skill and it is absolutely alright if you don’t get it right the first time. Like every skill, this too develops with time and effort. Yet, what remains unchanged is the versatility of this dish—you can pair it with meat, dal, or even with a simple potato curry. In fact, there are many Bengali households where luchi is eaten just with sugar.

RECIPE NOTES

Letting the dough rest at each stage (after kneading, after shaping/before rolling) is very important. It helps relax the dough so that when you roll out the luchis, they don’t spring back. Take your time with the shaping, especially if you are new to making luchis or have trouble rolling out a round shape. If you start out with a piece of dough that is as round as possible, chances of you ending up with round luchi are much higher!

INGREDIENTS

200 g Maida (all-purpose flour)

15 g vegetable oil/ghee

10 g sugar

4 g salt

100–110 g hot water

vegetable oil for deepfrying

METHODS Take Maida in a mixing bowl, with salt, sugar, and oil/ghee. Distribute the oil evenly so that a fistful of flour when pressed together retains its shape. Add water and knead the flour for 10 minutes. The dough may seem a little tacky at first, but it will come together in the end. Cover and rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into 20 equal portions (of about 16 g each). Take the small portion and tuck it in from all sides, shaping it into a round shape. Rest these again for 10 minutes to relax the dough.

When you are ready to roll the luchis out, heat vegetable oil in a kadai for deep-frying. Oil your rolling surface and rolling pin, and roll the Luchis into flat discs of about 10 cm diameter. Carefully lower the luchi (one at a time if you are a beginner) into hot oil (oil temp: ~220°C). Press down gently and rotate to help it puff. Flip, and fry the other side. Drain from the oil and serve hot with anything you like.

CHHOLA’R DAL

Savoury-sweet preparation of curried split Bengal gram The Savoury-sweet cholar dal is a Bengali classic. Bursting with warm, mellow flavors, it is easy to make and insanely delicious.

YIELDS

6 servings

COOKING TIME 45 minutes Breakfast, lunch, dinner—this is a dal recipe for all occasions. Every family has its own the classic Bengali chholar dal recipe. In fact, the Bengali culinary tradition is replete with easy dal recipes for every occasion. This is the niramish or vegetarian version of the Bengali chholar (or chholar) dal, prepared without onions or garlic. Hing (asafetida) supplies the necessary sharpness that one would generally get from the use of onions. The best part about this warm, mellow, delicious coconutand-raisin (narkel aar Kishmish) strewn chholar dal? It can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner, with rice, polao, Luchi, kochuri or porota! It doesn’t get more versatile than this. Master this Bengali chholar dal recipe and it is sure to become the secret weapon in your culinary arsenal for when you are looking for an impressive, yet quick, easy, Bengali vegetarian dal preparation. In this video recipe, we show you how to make chholar dal (or chana dal, as it is known in Hindi) that has the perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors, and the right consistency and texture. Although this preparation is a Bengali classic, other parts of India, and Pakistan and Bangladesh, too, enjoy their own versions of this delicious and nutritious chana dal.

INGREDIENTS 200 g Chola or chana dal (split Bengal gram)

30 g Ginger paste

20 g Coconut (thinly sliced)

2 g Turmeric powder

20 g Raisins 20 g Mustard oil 1 pc Cinnamon 5 pcs Cardamom 3 pcs Cloves 4 pcs Bay leaves 2 pcs Dried red chilies ½ tsp Cumin seeds

½ tsp Coriander powder 3 g Cumin powder 6 pcs green chilies (slit) ¼ tsp Bengali garam masala powder 5 g Ghee 18 g Salt 24 g Sugar

¼ tsp Hing (asafetida)

METHOD

Rinse the chhola’r dal well and soak it in water for at least 2 hours. After this time, strain the dal and transfer it to a boiling pot or pressure cooker. Add 700 g water, 6 g salt, and the bay leaves. Boil the dal until it is tender, but the grains are still whole. The texture of this dish will depend a whole lot on how well the dal is boiled. We want each grain of lentil to be perfectly cooked, but not turned to mush. On medium heat, our chhola’r dal cooks to the desired doneness in 2 whistles. The time may vary for you. Before you begin cooking, make a spice slurry by mixing together the ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and 50 g water. Also, slice the coconut and slit the green chilies. Heat mustard oil in a pan (on medium heat) and once it starts to smoke lightly and changes color to a pale yellow, add the thinly sliced coconut. Fry until the coconut turns golden brown. This should take about a minute. Remove from the oil and set aside. Temper the same oil with the dried red chilies, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin seeds. Stir in the Hing, allowing it to fry for about 10 seconds.

Add the spice slurry we made earlier to the pan. Fry on medium heat until the raw smell of the spices is gone. This should take about 6 minutes. Add the slit green chilies and raisins, and continue frying until you see oil leaving the sides of the spice mixture. Now add the boiled dal along with the water to the pan. (If you feel there’s a lot of excess water with the dal, reserve some in a bowl.) Add the remaining salt (12 g) and allow the dal to bubble until it thickens (about 6 to 8 minutes). Depending on how soft or hard your dal is, you may have to adjust the flame and water accordingly. For example, if your dal is still slightly hard, boil on low heat, adding water to maintain consistency, until it is cooked. If it is on the softer, mushier side (first of all, you need to make note of where you went wrong and try correcting the boiling time on your next attempt!), turn up the flame to thicken the dal quickly. Pick out a softened green chili from the dal, mash it with the back of a spoon and add it back to the dal. Add the sugar and bubble for about a minute before stirring in the ghee, Bengali garam masala, and fried coconut. Allow the dal to rest, covered, for 2 minutes before serving.

Paneer Paturi Paneer Paturi orChanar Paturi is an authentic Bengali recipe of paneer that is flavored with mustard, coconut and green chillies and steamed in pumpkin leaves. Paneer is called as Chanar in Bengali language. This recipe is a vegetarian adoption of popular Bengali fish recipe paturi, one of the royal dishes of Bengali cuisine. Pumpkin leaves wrapped parcels of mustard-coated paneer is steamed to make the delicious dish. The basic idea is to cook the paneer in a wilted banana-leaf envelope.

Ingredients Green Paste oriander leaves Bhaja Masala Mustard Oil Banana Leave

lime juice, green chili

Sour Curd

Sugar Salt

Mustard Seed Past

Slit Green Chili

METHOD

First make a mix with green paste, sour curd, roasted cholla Chatu, salt and sugar. In the meantime, cut the paneer cube a bit and put the aamshotto in the cube. Now dip the stuffed paneer in the green mix and put them in the banana leaves and cook it until the leaves became a little brown. The paneer Paturi is ready to serve.

Mukhorochok

BEGUN BHAJA

Begun or baingan bhaja is a Bengali vegetarian recipe of shallow-fried eggplant disks. Crunchy outside, soft inside. Cooks in 15 minutes! The goodness of perfectly seasoned, pan-fried brinjals

YIELDS 6 slices

COOKING TIME 20 minutes

The taste of begun bhaja is difficult to explain to anyone who hasn’t eaten fried brinjals. Suffice it to say that it is probably unlike anything you’ve ever tasted, especially if seasoned with the right amount of salt and sugar. And we won’t even go into how drop-dead gorgeous the finished product is. The recipe is ridiculously simple. You smear thickly sliced brinjals in turmeric and seasoning, and fry them on medium heat in a skillet. The sugar in the marinade allows the brinjals to develop a wonderfully amber-colored crust, and deepens the flavour of the dish. If you have 20 minutes to spare, give this recipe a try. Eat it along with steaming rice and dal, and you will not regret it. This recipe uses one large brinjal. When shopping for the vegetable, be sure to select a specimen of the male variety as it is likely to contain far fewer seeds than its female counterpart. You can identify the type of the brinjal by looking at the indentation on its bottom. If the indentation is elongated and deep, it’s a female brinjal. And if it is round and shallow, that’s the seedless, male brinjal.

INGREDIENTS

1-piece large brinjal ¼ tsp turmeric powder a pinch red chili powder

1½ tsp sugar

¾ tsp flour (atta) ~80 g mustard oil (for frying)

¾ tsp salt

METHOD

Wash the brinjal and chop off its stalk. Cut the vegetable along the cross-section into discs, 2 cm thick. A large brinjal should yield about 6 slices. In a mixing bowl, combine the turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt, sugar, and atta. Add the brinjal slices to the bowl and coat them with the spices. Cover and let them rest for at least 15 minutes. During this time, the salt and sugar will draw out the water from the brinjal slices and soften them up. The moisture generated will also help all the flavors mingle nicely. So, don’t skip this step. Now, heat mustard oil in a skillet till it starts smoking lightly. For even frying, the depth of the mustard oil in the pan should be at least 1 cm. Lower the marinated brinjal slices into the oil one by one and fry them on each side, for about 3 minutes, till they are golden. Make sure that the pan is set on medium-low heat; we want to cook the brinjal slices from the inside while allowing them to develop a nice crust on the outside. Also, keep a close eye on the pan, as the sugar in the marinade may burn. When golden, lift the begun bhaja from the oil. Hold them against the side of the pan for about 20 seconds to drain out excess oil, or use paper towels to soak it up. Serve hot.

VEGETABLE CHOP Kolkata-style, crumb-coated, vegetable cutlet made with winter vegetables like beetroot and carrots, and boiled potatoes.

YIELDS 16 chops

COOKING TIME 90 minutes Bengali vegetable chop (also called 'beet chop' or 'veg cutlet') is widely popular in roadside chop stalls or cabins in Kolkata. The main ingredient here is beetroot, which lends the chop its characteristic vibrant maroon color. A landmine of flavour and texture (from the different vegetables and nuts used), this recipe uses a unique blend of freshly ground spices.

Enjoy it hot off the oil, with a simple salad of onions and cucumbers, a dollop of kasundi(Mustard Sauce), and tea.

RECIPE NOTES

Take time to chop the beetroot and carrots instead of grating them, as chopping produces a better texture. Grating will lead to loss of juices, making the mixture soggy. You can bread the chops and freeze them in an airtight container for up to a month. When you need them, drop them directly in oil—no need to defrost. While breading the chops, keep your 'dry' and 'wet' hands separate, such that you handle the eggs (wet) with your left hand only, and flour and breadcrumbs (dry) with your right hand. (Reverse this if you're left-handed.) This is to avoid the eggs from wetting the dry ingredients and clumping them together. Anyone who has watched Alton Brown brandish his 'club hands' on television knows never to forget this crucial technique.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING 400 g beetroot

20 g salt

200 g carrot

35 g sugar

400 g potatoes 30 g vegetable oil

SPICE MIX 4 g amchur (dry mango powder)

30 g peanuts 20 g coconut ½ tsp panch phoron

5 g fennel seeds

6 g green chili

20 pcs peppercorns

30 g ginger paste

4 pcs dried red chilies

8 g coriander leaves (optional)

1 pc cinnamon

10 g ghee

2 g cumin seeds

2 pcs cardamom

8 pcs cloves 4 pcs bay leaves

FOR BREADING 30 g flour 200 g breadcrumbs 2tbsp Cornflower

METHOD FILLING

Steam or boil potatoes until tender. Peel the skin off and mash them until lump-free. Chop carrots and beetroot into 3-cm long matchsticks. Finely chop green chilies and coriander leaves. Slice coconut slivers. Halve the peanuts. Grind the spice mix into a fine powder. Heat vegetable oil. Fry coconut on medium heat until golden. Set aside. Then, fry the peanuts until golden. Set aside. Temper the oil with panch phoron. Wait until it crackles. Add chopped green chilies and ginger paste. Fry on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add beetroot and half the salt, to help soften the beet. Cook until it becomes slightly limp. Add carrots and the remaining salt. Keep cooking until the vegetables are soft, but be careful not to let them turn mushy or the chop will lose its texture. Add the ground spices. Cover and cook for 2 minutes to allow spices to infuse. Add sugar (this chop is meant to be sweet, requiring a generous amount of sugar). Add mashed potatoes. Mix everything thoroughly, while taking care not to break up the strands of beet and carrot. Keep cooking until the mixture turns completely dry.

Turn off the heat and add ghee, along with the fried coconut and peanuts, and chopped coriander leaves. Mix everything gently. Once the mixture has cooled down, divide it into 50 g portions. Shape into cylindrical logs, by rolling each portion between your palms.

BREADING For breading, in three separate dishes, take breadcrumbs, plain flour (Maida), and beaten eggs. Season each of them with some salt. We will double-bread the chops to get a substantial, crisp crust. For that, first, lightly dust the chops in flour. This step will prevent the crust from sliding off the filling later. Next, dip it in the egg and shake off the excess. Then, roll it in breadcrumbs, pressing them on, so that they stick to the egg. Repeat the previous step once again: that is, dip the chop in egg and then breadcrumbs for a second time. [Throughout this process keep your 'dry' and 'wet' hands separate, such that you handle the eggs (wet) with your left hand, and flour and breadcrumbs (dry) with your right hand. Reverse this if you're left-handed. This is to avoid the clumping of the dry ingredients.] Fry on medium heat in hot oil (180°C), until evenly brown on all sides. Drain from the oil and sprinkle black salt on top. Serve hot with a salad of freshly sliced cucumber, onions, and beetroot.

Modhano Bhoj

THE PERFECT RICE

A simple technique for that muchyearned-for jhurjhure bhaat The best and quickest way to cook steamed rice. This detailed video tutorial yields the perfect Bengali jhurjhure bhaat in 30 minutes.

YIELDS

2 servings

COOKING TIME 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the rice and water you use . In this tutorial, we show you how you can cook the perfect, fluffy, non-sticky rice on an everyday basis to go along with your _dal_, _torkari_, or _mangsher jhol_ for the day. Rice is Bengal’s staple carbohydrate. Grown in vast quantities in paddy fields across the region, rice is eaten in various forms—boiled, steamed, puffed, or beaten. While the keeper of the Bengali kitchen might break out the precious gobindobhog for polao, payesh, or khichuri, and the basmati for biryani, it is the sheddho chal, or parboiled rice, that is piled onto plates daily. Sheddho chal is named after the technique used to separate the grain from the husk. This process is said to enhance the nutritional profile of the rice and make it easier to digest. There is something extremely satisfying in sitting down to a meal before a plate of perfectly cooked, non-sticky, pearly-white, fluffy rice. While there are innumerable ways of boiling rice and there appears to be no set formula, keeping a few things in mind is useful. (1) Washing the rice thoroughly and repeatedly helps get rid of the

starch that usually contributes to its stickiness. (2) Rice, like pasta, must be boiled in a large pot of water. The water must measure at least 5 times in volume than the volume of uncooked rice. Doing so dilutes the starch and ensures that most of it gets drained out at the end, along with the water. (3) Once the rice is cooked to the desired softness, use a large strainer to remove the excess water. Letting the rice sit in the boiled, starchy water (or not draining off as much of the liquid as possible) will yield a sticky, mushy end product. (4) Sometimes, the iron content in the water tends to produce yellowish rice. For fluffy, white rice, you may add a tablespoon of vinegar or a teaspoon of fitkari (alum) to the boiling pot. (5) Finally, as for boiling time, it will depend on the rice and water you use. Ours usually takes about 25 minutes. We highly recommend that you determine the cooking time for your rice. Once you've done that, set a timer whenever you put a pot to boil. When the timer goes off, all you need to do is drain out the water, and you have perfectly cooked rice every single time.

INGREDIENTS 1 cup Rice 5 cups Water 1 tbsp Vinegar (optional)

METHOD Measure out the rice and place it in a boiling vessel. Fill the pot with water and wash the rice thoroughly to remove dirt and any excess starch. Rinse and repeat this process till the water runs clear. Fill the pot with water once again and set it to boil, with the lid on. Rice is a starch that loves water. Be sure to boil it in sufficient water (at least 5 parts waters to 1 part rice) if you want your rice to not be sticky. For fluffy, pearly-white rice, you may also add 1 tbsp of vinegar or 1 tsp of fitkari (alum) to the pot.

Cook the rice till it is just done. Check by lifting a grain between your fingers and mashing it gently. Do not overcook if you want the rice grains to remain firm and separate.

Strain immediately over a colander and allow the water to drain off completely before serving.

CHHANA’R POLAO A Tagore family recipe

An exquisite vegetarian polao from the Tagore household laden with pistachio, almonds, raisins and fresh cottage cheese.

YIELDS 3-4 servings

COOKING TIME 2 hours Chhana'r polao is a fragrant rice-based dish with Indian cottage cheese, chhana. This recipe is from the 1902 cookbook called Amish or Niramish Ahar (Volume I) by Pragya Sundari Devi, Rabindranath's niece. This particular recipe seems to be influenced by Persian cooking in not just the ingredients it uses (dried fruits, nuts, saffron, etc.) but also in the technique it follows in achieving the delicate balance between decadence and subtlety. Every year we commemorate Rabindra Jayanti (birth anniversary of the Bengali poet laureate, Rabindranath Tagore) on our channel, by cooking one of the recipes from cookbooks authored by members of the illustrious Tagore family. In nineteenth and early-twentieth century Bengal, the Tagore's held a prominent position in social, cultural and political life. Although Rabindra Jayanti is the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, well known for his contribution to Bengali poetry, music, education and publishing, we take this opportunity every year to celebrate the work of some of the women of this family, especially that related to the culture surrounding food. The Tagore's were steadfastly modern in their outlook, and the recipes cooked in their household—some of them extremely quirky— reflect their sense of being part of a larger world beyond Bengal.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PHNAKI MOSHLA

7 g shah jeera

½ tsp shah jeera

7 g white pepper

¼ tsp white pepper

30 g chhola’r dal (Split Bengal gram)

¼ tsp nutmeg

FOR THE AAKHNI

1 pc cardamom

1 pc cinnamon 2 pcs cardamom

2 pcs cloves 3 pcs cloves 1 pc cinnamon 2 pcs bay leaves 1 pc dried red chili 15 g ginger 700 g water

FOR THE RICE 250 g basmati rice (aged, non-parboiled, soaked for 2 hours)

15 g salt

1 L water

FOR THE CHHANA 200 g chhana

2 pcs cardamom

3 pcs dried red chilies

3 pcs cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 pc cloves

1 pinch saffron

2g salt

1 pinch sugar

5g sugar

1 tbsp warm milk

bay leaves

115 g total ghee

15 g rose water

15 g raisins 15 g almonds 15 g khoya kheer (solidified milk) 15 g pista

METHOD STEP 1—MAKE THE AAKHNI Using a cheesecloth, tie a spice bundle with shah jeera, white pepper, chhola'r dal, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, dried red chilli and ginger. Boil it in a saucepan with 700 g water until the water reduces to about 100 g, leaving behind an amber-colored stock. Once reduced, cool the pan, and squeeze the bundle to extract all the flavorful liquid. This is the aakhni. Measure 100 g of aakhni and set aside.

STEP 2—BOIL RICE

Wash and soak the basmati rice for at least two hours. Then strain it and set aside. Bring a pot of water (1 L) to a boil with 15 g salt. Once bubbling, add the soaked and strained rice, and cook it until the rice is roughly 90 per cent done. Ours took 10 minutes, but the time will depend on the quality of your rice. Strain the cooked rice and spread it to cool.

STEP 3—MAKE CHHANA Bring milk to a boil. Add vinegar or lime juice to it to separate the curds and form chhana. Collect the chhana on cheesecloth and shape it into a block. Once set, divide the chhana in 4-cm-large cubes. Soak 3 dried red chilies in hot water. Once they are softened, transfer them to a mortar. Grind to a paste with ½ tsp salt. Coat the pieces of chhana with this chili paste. Set aside.

STEP 4—MAKE PHNAKI MOSHLA Grind shah jeera, white pepper, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves to a fine powder. Sift it over a tea strainer or a finemesh cloth. Set aside.

STEP 5—FRUITS, NUTS AND SAFFRON Blanch and peel the almonds

and pistachios, and chop them into thin slivers. Grind a pinch of saffron with a few grains of sugar. Steep in 1 tbsp of warm milk.

STEP 6—FRY IN GHEE Heat 40 g ghee in pan. Fry

marinated Channa evenly until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside. Reserve the extra ghee in a small bowl, leaving only about 2 tbsp in the pan. In it, fry the raisins, almonds and khoya kheer, one by one, and set aside.

STEP 7—MIX RICE Now with the prep done, we're ready to cook. Start by transferring the boiled rice from the strainer into a large mixing bowl.

a couple of times so that the streaks of color are not lost. Set aside.

STEP 8—COOK ON DUM Set your pan on the heat. Grease it with ghee and cover the base completely with bay leaves. Over it, layer some rice, followed by some more bay leaves. Heap the remaining rice in a pyramid, to allow the rice room to expand. Add 100 g of the aakhni and 15 g rose water. Cover and cook on Dum on medium heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it rest for another 15 minutes before serving.

To it add 1 tsp of the phnaki moshla (ground spices), cardamom cinnamon and cloves (chaal Makha moshla), fried khoya kheer, raisins and almonds, pistachios, 2 g salt, 5 g sugar and 75 g melted ghee. Mix thoroughly but gently so that the rice does not break. Then add saffron and mix only

BHAJA MOONG DAL SHOBJI DIYE A gorgeous-looking traditional Bengali vegetarian dal with roasted yellow mung beans, simmered with cauliflowers, carrots and peas. Roasted dehulled moong dal with fresh, winter veggies

YIELDS

4 servings

COOKING TIME 40 minutes What makes bhaja moong'er dal the most beloved of all dals is the fact that it is rich and comforting, without being entirely over-the-top. With this dal, you can get away with serving the simplest of torkari or bhaja as it elevates any meal that it is part of. This version of the bhaja monger dal— one with cauliflower, carrots, and peas—is best enjoyed in the winter months, when these vegetables are fresh and in season. Even though this dal is reserved for special occasions, it is so incredibly simple to make that there is no reason it cannot become part of your regular winter fare.

INGREDIENTS 100 g moong dal (split gram) 550 g water (for boiling dal)

1 piece clove (whole)

10 g mustard oil

¼ tsp cumin seeds

1-piece dried red chili (whole) 1 piece bay leaf (whole)

2 pieces green chilies (slit)

25 g carrots (1-cm cubes)

25 g cauliflower (2-cm florets) 1 piece cardamom (whole) 1 piece cinnamon (whole)

15 g tomatoes (roughly chopped) 15 g peas (shelled)

7 g salt

15 g sugar

¼ tsp turmeric powder 10 g coriander leaves (finely chopped) ¼ tsp garam masala powder

5 g ghee

METHOD

Weigh out the dal and add it to a dry pot (preferably a kadai or wok), set on medium heat. Dry-roast the dal, stirring continuously, till it changes color from yellow to a pinkish brown. Here, it is important to keep the dal moving while it is in the pan to ensure that all surfaces of the grains roast evenly. Be particularly alert once the dal has taken on a light, brown color, as it is during this stage that the dal has the tendency to burn easily. Transfer the roasted dal into a boiling pot immediately (do not hold it in the hot pan, as it will continue to brown when kept in contact with heat). Wash and rinse the dal thoroughly. Add 550 g water to the washed dal. Boil it on medium heat for about 20 minutes. While we want the dal to be completely cooked, we still want the individual grains

to remain unbroken. So, check frequently to ensure that the dal doesn’t turn into mush and lose its texture. Chop the cauliflower into 2-cm florets, the carrot into 1-cm cubes, and the tomatoes roughly. Shell the peas and slit the green chilies. Heat up the kadai once more and add 10 g mustard oil. Once the oil has smoked lightly and lost its pungent smell, temper it with the dried red chili, bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, cumin seeds, and 1 green chili. Add the carrots and stir-fry them for 1 minute. Next, add the cauliflower florets and fry them for another minute. Add the tomatoes and peas, one at a time, and fry them for a minute after each addition. Pour in the roasted, boiled deal with its water. Add the salt, sugar and turmeric, and stir them in. Allow the dal to bubble for about 6 minutes on low heat. Don’t increase the heat level or the liquid in the dal may dry up. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, a slit green chili, garam masala powder, and ghee. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the dal to soak up the flavors from the garnish before serving.

POTOLER DORMA (CHHOLAR DAL) with chholar dal (Bengal gram) stuffing

Potol, stuffed with a dry filling made with chholar dal, coconut, peanuts and raisins, then cooked in a gravy.

YIELDS

6 servings

COOKING TIME 2 hours

RECIPE NOTES

Potoler Dorma requires large or jumbo potols since they allow us to scoop out the insides. Plus, they are hardy enough to be stuffed and cooked.

The Bengali Dorma is said to be a local evolution of the Middle Eastern dolma, which is part of the Ottoman cuisine. Dolma was possibly brought into Bengal by Armenian immigrants. If you are interested in the fascinating history of the Bengali Dorma, you can read Tanushree Bhowmik's well-researched post. Dorma can be made with a variety of vegetables, although the one made with potol or pointed gourd has become popular among Bengalis. The stuffing can vary widely and traditionally includes dried fruits (and sometimes nuts). This is a niramish (without onion or garlic) version that uses ground Bengal gram, or chholar dal, although chhana (cottage cheese), rice, dried fruits, etc., are also used. Non-vegetarian stuffing can include fish, prawns, dried fish (shutki), or meat.

INGREDIENTS 400 g potol (large pointed gourd) 4 g salt (to season the potol) 20 g mustard oil (to fry potol)

FOR THE STUFFING 75 g chholar dal (Bengal gram) 25 g mustard oil 6 g coconut 10 g raisins 6 g peanuts ¼ tsp cumin seeds ¼ tsp Hing (asafetida) 6 g ginger paste

6 g green chili paste 15 g grated coconut 4 g salt 18 g sugar

FOR THE GRAVY 30 g mustard oil 2 pcs dried red chilies 2 pcs bay leaves 2 pcs cardamom 1 pc cinnamon 2 pcs cloves 1 tsp cumin seeds 175 g potatoes 10 g cumin powder

3 g coriander powder 2 g turmeric powder 2 g red chili powder 2 g Kashmiri red chili powder 15 g cashew nuts (soaked) 5 g charmagaz (mixed-melon seeds; soaked) 25 g yoghurt 200 ml hot water ½tsp gorom moshla 1 tbsp ghee

METHOD PREPARING THE POTOL Soak chholar dal for 2 hours. Scrape off the gritty outer layer of the potol. Cut off the ends, around 2 cm from the top. Keep these ends safe, as will be using them later. Using the handle of a spoon, scoop out the flesh and seeds. For visual reference, see the image Season the scooped potol with 4 g salt. Heat mustard oil in a kadai. Fry the potol on high heat, so that they turn brown but do not go soft. Set aside. Fry the caps too, and set aside when they turn golden. Now, grind the scooped-out potol flesh and seeds to a

smooth paste. Set aside. Add chholar dal to the grinder. Grind in short pulses to keep the grind course, for texture. Heat mustard oil in a kadai. Fry sliced coconut until golden. Set aside. Add peanuts. Fry until golden. Set aside. Temper the same oil with cumin seeds and Hing. Add ginger paste and green chili paste. Fry on medium heat for 20 seconds. Add grated coconut. Fry until golden. Add the ground potol seeds and chholar dal. Stir to mix everything. Add salt and sugar. Mix again. Add chopped raisins, fried coconut, and peanuts. Roast the dal well until it smells nutty, and the raw flavor is gone. Keep scraping the bottom of the kadai until the mixture becomes dry. Spread on a plate to cool. Stuff the potol shells with a generous amount of filling. Then, secure the caps with wooden toothpicks.

MAKING THE GRAVY

Soak cashew nuts and charmagaz in warm water for 15 minutes. Drain the water and grind to a smooth paste. Peel potatoes. Cut lengthwise. Heat mustard oil in a kadai. Add potatoes. Cover and fry on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir intermittently. Season with salt. Set aside when golden. Temper the same oil with dried red chilies, bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin seeds. In a small bowl, combine cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder, Kashmiri red chili powder with warm water to make spice slurry. Add to the kadai. Fry for a minute or so, adding a splash of water if the spices become dry. Add ginger paste. Fry well. Beat yoghurt until smooth. Add to the kadai. Stir quickly to mix everything. Add the cashew and charmagaz paste. Add salt and sugar. Once the spices are well cooked, and their raw smell has dissipated, add hot water to form the gravy. Once it comes to a boil, add the stuffed potol and potatoes. Bubble on low heat until potol and potatoes are cooked. Finish with ghee and gorom moshla.

KACHKOLA’R KOFTA DALNA Bengali special spicy green plantain fritters soaked in a warm gingery curry Green banana fritters in a spicy curry

YIELDS

6–8 servings

COOKING TIME 90 minutes Among the many kola Gach (banana plant) products Bengalis have thought to turn into delectable food items, kachkola’r

kofta (raw banana kofta) remains an eternal favorite. Kachkola’r kofta are delicately spiced, deep-fried raw banana fritters. Boiled Kach kola are mashed with boiled potatoes, onion paste, ginger, green chilies, and a host of dry spices including bhaja masala, which gives the koftas their distinctive flavor. A little Maida (all-purpose flour) binds everything together. This mixture is then portioned, shaped into discs, and dropped in hot oil. We like to fry our kachkola’r boras until they are dark brown in color (as opposed to golden brown). This leads to richer, better tasting koftas, which also don’t break as easily once introduced to the curry. This brings us to the second part of the recipe—the Kach kola Johl/dalna.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE KOFTA 400 g Kach kola (unripe, green bananas) 80 g boiled potato 45 g onion paste 10 g ginger paste 10 g grated coconut 2 pcs green chilies (finely chopped) ¾ tsp cumin powder ¾ tsp coriander powder ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp bhaja masala

20 g Maida ~150 g vegetable oil (for frying)

FOR THE DALNA 150 g potatoes (3cm cubes) 25 g grated coconut 40 g ginger paste

6 g salt

4 g cumin powder

10 g sugar

2 g coriander powder

3 g turmeric ½ tsp Kashmiri red chili powder 4 pcs green chilies 25 g mustard oil 3 pcs dried red chilies 3 pcs bay leaves 3 pcs cardamom 1 pc cinnamon 3 pcs cloves ½ tsp cumin seeds 14 g salt 20 g sugar 10 g ghee ¼ tsp Bengali garam masala 450 g hot water

METHOD STEP I—MAKE THE KOFTAS Cut Kach kola into 5-cm crosssections and boil in a pressure cooker with 8 g salt, ¼ tsp turmeric, and 450 g water. On medium heat, one whistle should do the trick. Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally. However, do not let the Kach kola sit in the water for too long or it will absorb water and become soggy. Remove the Kach kola peels and transfer the boiled bananas to a mixing bowl. Add the boiled potato (80 g) and mash the two together until lump free. Now add onion paste, ginger paste, grated coconut, green chilies, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, bhaja masala, salt, sugar, and Maida. Mix everything until well combined. Divide in 30 g portions and shape into discs.

Lower the koftas into hot (170°C) vegetable oil in a single layer. Fry them until they are dark brown in color, turning them over often. This should take about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain from the oil and set aside.

STEP I—MAKE THE DALNA Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3-cm cubes. Make a slurry of spices by mixing ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, and Kashmiri red chili powder with 50 g water. Set aside. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Temper it with dried red chilies, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin seeds. Add the potatoes and fry them for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are golden. Add the grated coconut and fry it for about a minute. Be careful not to let the coconut burn. Now add the spice slurry prepared earlier and sauté it on medium heat. Whenever the mixture dries out, add a splash of hot water and continue frying. Add the salt and 2 slit green chilies, and after a couple of minutes add the sugar. Cover the pan and keep cooking the spices until oil separates and the potatoes are done (about 6 minutes). Add 450 g hot water. This will form the curry. Once it comes to a boil, drop in the koftas. Simmer on low heat until the curry thickens. This should take about 5 minutes. Garnish with ghee, Bengali garam masala, and two more slit green chilies. Rest it covered for 2 minutes before serving.

Mishthanno

TOMATO CHUTNEY KHEJUR AMSOTTO YIELDS

15 servings

COOKING TIME 30 mins There’s no better after-meal treat than the sweet-tangy Bengali tomato chutney with a scattering of khejur (dates), aamshotto(mango pulp candy), raisins and cashew. Extremely popular on biyebari (wedding feast) menus, as well as in puja bhog(offerings) where it is served alongside khichuri, the syrupy tomato-khejur’er chutney is slurped up with crunchy fried papad. Served right after the fish or meat courses, and just before dessert, chutneys ease you from one to the other. The sweet Bengali tomato chutney recipe is so simple that its beggars' belief—including prep time, it takes under 30 minutes to make! With ripe red tomatoes in abundance, winters are the perfect time for preparing it in large batches. Feed a large group of people, or savor this long-lasting tomato chutney (if divided up and stored in small airtight containers in the fridge, it can last for as long as 3–4 months) by yourself over time, either way do give this a try!

INGREDIENTS 500 g tomatoes 40 g pitted dates

400 g sugar

6 g salt

2 g turmeric 80 g aamshotto (mango pulp candy)

40 g raisins

25 g cashew

20 g mustard oil 1 pc dried red chili ½ tsp panch phoron ½ tsp citric acid

METHOD

Chop the tomatoes and aamshotto in 3-cm chunks. Split the dates length-wise. Heat mustard oil in a pan, and temper it with dried red chili and panch phoron. Add the tomatoes, along with the salt and turmeric, and cook them, covered, until they have softened (about 5 minutes). Add the citric acid and cook, covered, for another 2 minutes until the tomatoes are completely soft and mushy. Now stir in the cashew and sugar. Because of the sugar, the color of the chutney will start to transform from pale to a deep red. Once that has happened, stir in the raisins, dates, and aamshotto, and boil for another 2 minutes or until the chutney reaches the desired consistency. Remember to remove it from the heat while it is still thin as it will thicken once cooled. If you are storing it for long-time use, allow it to cool completely before you pour it into an airtight container and put it in the fridge, where it will last for up to 2 months.

PLASTIC CHUTNEY YIELDS 5

COOKING TIME 30 minutes

For someone who has not grown up in Bengal, coming across plastic chutney on a wedding lunch menu may be startling—who would want to eat that! But this used to be (and still is) a fixture on catered menus, especially when fruits for making other chutneys were not in season. You have green mango chutney for summer, tomato amshotto chutney for winter, pineapple or kool'er chutney for spring— but for the months of monsoon through autumn there aren't that many suitable fruits. It must have

been a smart caterer who thought of using the bland papaya to make a chutney, and then gave it a shocking (almost clickbait) name— "plastic chutney"— because of how glossy and translucent the papaya slices appear once cooked in the sugar syrup! Not our favorite chutney, but it definitely is interesting. Give it a try because it is easy and quick.

INGREDIENTS 200 g pepe

15 g cashew nuts 200 g sugar

¼ tsp salt 20 g lime juice

250 g water

METHOD

Peel the papaya, scoop out the seeds, and slice along the cross section into 2-mm slices. We prefer using a slicer to do this so that the thickness is uniform and they cook evenly. This is especially important if you want to achieve the plastic-like glossy transparent look of this chutney. Divide the annular (round) slices radially into eight squares. In a korai or wok add all of the sugar and the salt along with the water. Turn on the heat and let the sugar dissolve. Once the sugar dissolves and the syrup start boiling, inspect it for any cloudiness or turbidity. If it is not clouded, move to the next step. The cloudiness is caused by impurities in the sugar. To get a clear sugar syrup, add a tablespoon of milk and stir. You will notice that scum will float to the top. Using a strainer remove the scum from the syrup. Add the sliced papaya into the syrup, cover with a lid, and boil to cook the papaya. Once the papaya is cooked— about 10 minutes—remove the lid

and add the cashews. Squeeze fresh lime into the chutney. Let it cook until some of the water evaporates and the chutney thickens a little. Remember that this will thicken further when it cools. So, when it is a little waterier than you want your final chutney to be, turn off the stove and let it cool.

NOLEN GURER PAYESH

A good Nolen gur’er payesh (Bengali rice pudding) is one with a rich, creamy, silky texture and just the right amount of sweetness. Bengali rice pudding with date palm jaggery

YIELDS 4 servings

COOKING TIME 1 hour Getting the Nolen gur’er payesh recipe right is one of life’s most rewarding experiences. Also known as khejur Patali gur’er payesh because it uses date palm (khejur) jaggery in solid form (Patali) as a sweetener, this Bengali sweet recipe can double as a snack and an after-meal dessert. Whether you call it ‘payesh’ or ‘payasam’ or ‘kheer’, this is one of those quintessential Indian sweet dishes that transcends cultures and cuisines. Nolen gur’er payesh (rice pudding with date palm jaggery) is made by boiling rice and milk together to produce a creamy reduction. It is a Bengali winter specialty since Nolen Gur is available during the season. Used in a wide variety of Bengali sweet dishes during the winter months, Nolen Gur brings a depth of flavor and smell, in addition to mellow sweetness, to whatever dish it is added. The key ingredients required for making a good payesh are fragrant Gobindo hog rice (notun aatop chawal—new, freshly harvested, non-parboiled rice),

full fat milk, and good quality Nolen Gur. The milk to rice ratio is quite high in this recipe (1 liter milk for 50g rice). The fat in whole milk lends creaminess to the payesh and starch in ‘new’ rice helps thicken it. In case you can’t find Gobindo bhog rice where you live, the ‘Kali Jira’ or ‘jeera samba’ varieties will also do in a pinch.

INGREDIENTS ¼ tsp salt

20 g cashew

10 g raisins (soaked and drained) 10 g ghee

1-liter full fat milk 50 g new Gobindobhog rice 150 g Nolen Gur (date palm jaggery)

METHOD

Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Do not over wash the rice as we don’t want to lose too much starch. After 30 minutes, strain the rice and spread it to dry. Coat the soaked rice in ¼ tsp of ghee and set aside. Soak the raisins in some water to allow them to swell. Heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashewnuts on medium heat until they are golden. Remove from the pan and set aside. Transfer the milk to a heavy pan or kadai. On medium heat, wait for it to come to a boil. After that,

reduce the milk for about 15 minutes. Stir regularly so that the milk does not catch the bottom or sides of the pan. Add the ghee-coated rice to the milk and keep cooking on low heat until the rice is fully cooked. This will require patience, as at several points it will appear as if the rice has cooked. However, you need to keep boiling it until you reach a stage where a grain mashed between your fingers faces no resistance at all. It should be mushy soft, as rice will harden when payesh is cooled. Stir gently throughout this process. Not only will that ensure that the payesh doesn’t burn, stirring will also release the starch from the rice, which will help thicken the payesh. Now is it is time to add the Gur. But you need to be sure of two things before that. (a) The rice should be fully cooked because after adding the Gur, the rice will not cook any further. (b) The payesh should be slightly thicker than how

you actually want it as Gur will loosen it up slightly. Right. Now turn off the heat and add the Gur, along with salt, soaked raisins, and fried cashew. Keep heat turned off as any impurities in the Gur will cause the milk to split. Fold everything in and cover the pan. Allow the residual heat to melt the Gur fully. Serve hot or cool.

LOBONGO LOTIKA

Pockets of kheer, sealed with a clove, deep fried, and coated with sugar syrup Lobongo Lotika is a flaky parcel, filled with kheer (sweetened, reduced milk), sealed with a clove, deep fried, and coated with sugar syrup.

YIELDS 3 hours

COOKING TIME 10 pieces

Bengali cuisine is no stranger to sweet tea-time snacks, and certainly not to those that involve kheer, flour, and deep-frying. Lobongo Lotika, like Mishti Shingara and goja, is a flaky, deep-fried, sugarsyrup-coated pastry. Like the Mishti Sinagra, it is also filled with kheer. But what gives lobongo Lotika its whimsically poetic name is the

fact that the kheer envelopes, once folded, are sealed with a single clove (lobongo). This recipe calls for only six ingredients, all of which you undoubtedly have on hand. The preparation is elaborate. Deal with each stage, one at a time, as shown below. The filling (kheer) can also be prepared 3 to 5 days ahead of time, and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, till needed.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING 1 kg Whole milk

45 g Sugar

¾ tsp Maida (flour)

FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP 400 g Sugar

40 g Ghee

200 g Water

4 g Salt

FOR THE PASTRY 200 g Maida (flour)

80 g Water

~ 400 g Vegetable oil (for deep frying)

METHOD STEP I—PREPARE THE FILLING Take 1.5 kg milk in a heavybottom saucepan and set it to boil. Once bubbling, stir in 65 g sugar. Keep boiling the milk, while stirring it continuously, for about 90 minutes. During this entire time, the pot should be on medium to low heat. At regular intervals of 3–4 minutes, be sure to scrape the solids from the bottom and sides of the pot, and incorporate them into the boiling milk. This step, as well as the previous one, is crucial. We don’t want our kheer to burn at any point. Once the milk has thickened such that when you lift some of it on your spoon and drop it, it falls in clumps, make a paste of 1 tsp flour and 1 tbsp milk. Add this paste to the pot. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Allow the kheer to cool before proceeding to the next stage.

Take 1 kg milk in a heavy-bottom saucepan and set it to boil. Once bubbling, stir in 45 g sugar. Keep boiling the milk, while stirring it continuously, for about 90 minutes. During this entire time, the pot should be on medium to low heat. At regular intervals of 3–4 minutes, scrape the solids from the bottom and sides of the pot, and incorporate them into the boiling milk. This step, as well as the previous one, is crucial. We don’t want our kheer to burn at any point. Once the milk has reduced and thickened (when you lift some of it on your spoon and drop it, it should fall in clumps), make a paste of ¾ tsp flour and 1 tbsp milk. Add this paste to the pot. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Divide the kheer into 10 portions of 20 g each. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

STEP II—THE PASTRY DOUGH In a mixing bowl, take 200 g flour, 40 g ghee, and 4 g salt. Mix these ingredients well till they take on a bread-crumb texture. The idea is to distribute the fat among the flour particles, in order to make the pastry crisp and flaky. Now, add in 80 g water. Mix until the dough comes together. This is a tight dough, so don’t add more water even if it seems a bit dry at first. Cover the dough and rest it for at least 20 minutes.

STEP III—SHAPING Once the kheer has chilled in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and the pastry dough is rested for at least 20 minutes, proceed to shaping each of them. Shape each 20 g portion of kheer into 3 cm by 4 cm tablets. Put them back in the fridge to chill, till needed. Divide the dough in 10 portions of 30 g each. Shape each portion into a flat disc. Cover and rest, till needed. This proportion—20 g kheer and 30 g dough—will give you the best filling to pastry ratio.

STEP IV—CONSTRUCTION Roll each portion of the dough into a 14 cm disc, about 1 mm thick.

Place a kheer tablet at the center of the disc. With your fingertips, apply water to the edges of the rolled pastry. This will act as a glue. Fold the opposite ends over one another, overlapping them. Press gently to seal. Turn the pastry over and apply water to the protruding wings. Fold them over each other, sealing them as you go. Use a clove to seal the topmost layer of the envelope in place. Follow these steps for all the pastries.

STEP V—THE SUGAR SYRUP In a saucepan, add 400 g sugar and 200 g water. Cover with a lid, and set it on medium heat for about 10 minutes, or till the sugar syrup starts bubbling. For this recipe, we do not want a thick syrup. It should be the consistency of, say, packaged fruit juice.

STEP VI—FRYING Heat oil in a frying pan to 150°C. The oil should be 5-cm deep. Lobongo Lotika is not fried in hot oil like other deep-fried snacks or crisps. Since this pastry has a lot of layers of flour, we must fry it at low temperatures to ensure that all the layers cook through. If you try to fry it at a high temperature,

the outside may look brown and done, but the inner layers will still be gummy. Because of the slow frying, each batch of lobongo Lotika will take about 30 minutes to cook completely. During this period, turn them

every five minutes to ensure that the dough is getting cooked, and hardening, from both sides evenly. Otherwise, the kheer may start to ooze out of the softer end. Once the pastries are goldenbrown in color, drain them from the oil and dunk them in the sugar syrup. Coat well, shake off the excess syrup, and place them on a plate to cool.

by Snehani Sil