সীম- আলু- বেগুনের তরকারী - Broad beans-potato-eggplant curry

 

The above picture shows the dish ready to serve. It is the rich, flavourful curry of broad beans, potato and eggplant cooked in thick mustard- and poppy seed paste gravy. 

Below are the main ingredients:

The vegetables being sautéed

I used mustard oil but you can use sunflower oil or any other oil you are comfortable with. After oil is heated, lower the flame and add the seasoning, mustard seeds and sliced fresh green chili, and immediately add the vegetables. Stir and sauté so that it doesn't burn, on medium flame. Do this for some time. The vegetables starts turning soft and you can see that from how they look. Add the paste of the spices below. Stir and mix well. Cook like this stirring every now and then. Add a little water (see the last photo below) and cover and cook on a low flame till all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. If the vegetables are of good quality it should not take more than 15 minutes but I had cook it longer this time because some of the eggplants were not good. You might need to add a little more water if you see water is drying and the vegetables are still not soft. 

The pastes of three different spice grains I manually made:

Turmeric and Cumin Seed Paste  

Poppy Seed Paste

Mustard Seed (white) Paste

After cooking some time adding a little water ..

আলু ভর্ত্তা - Mashed Potato Sautéed

 

Mashed Potato Sautéed with Green Chilly and Shallot

I can eat potato any time in any shape or form. (Cooked potato, I mean!!) And the same goes with rice. I think, Van Gogh, the creator of the famous painting "The Potato Eaters", would have made me also a subject of his painting, moved by my loyalty and dedication to potato. 

The Concept of  সেদ্ধভাত /sheddho bhaat/

This morning I was making breakfast for my Mom and me. For my Mom it was mashed potato with butter and salt and a hardboiled egg with rice. Mom was not well. Otherwise she doesn't let me prepare the breakfast, neither does she eats rice in the morning.

আলুসেদ্ধ-ডিমসেদ্ধ-ভাত, a common breakfast for children and ill people

Our traditional way of preparing "mashed potato" is by cooking it in rice, i.e. cooking the two together. We call it আলু-ভাতে /aalubhaate/, literally, "potato in steamed/cooked rice". We do cook other vegetables, too, the same way and call it ভাতে দেওয়া /bhaate deoa/, "adding into rice" and the vegetables thus cooked ভাতে সেদ্ধ /bhaate sheddho/, i.e. "cooked (thoroughly) in rice". Usually these vegetables are mashed adding fresh green chillies, salt, mustard oil, and sometimes (for some vegetables) very thinly chopped fresh shallot and had with rice. This combination of steamed rice and boiled vegetables without any spices is a dish itself and called সেদ্ধভাত /sheddhobhaat/ the literal meaning of which -- "boiled rice" is misleading.

Making my আলু ভর্ত্তা /aalu bharttaa/

After the rice is done, I drained the starch and then took the potatoes out, mashed them adding salt. I added a little butter to my Mom's share. 

Now I heated very little mustard oil on a pan and added the very thinly chopped onion and green chillies into it, and a pinch of turmeric powder. When the onion is glazed I added the mashed potato. I sautéed the potato changing sides. It turned beautiful golden. I had it with steamed rice. 

ওলকপি / Kohlrabi Curry

 

One of my favourite winter vegetables  is Kohlrabi or, in Bengali language, ওলকপি. 

ওলকপি/Kohlrabi

I don't eat hot and spicy food very often but I do love a spicy curry of kohlrabi with a little potato and fresh peas, garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

I prepared this in last winter while hiding in my own apartment as Mom visited my sister. It was not very spicy. (Why hiding ? That's not a food story but a long story which I hope to tell the world one day.)

This is how the vegetables should be cut: in small cubes. 

Cumin Seed and Turmeric Paste

I made everything from scratch. That's how I usually do it. And I thoroughly enjoy it. Cooking is a great stress buster for me. 

To prepare this dish I begin with sautéeing the potato in heated oil. After a few minutes the sides of the potato pieces starts changing colour. Then I add the seasoning: sliced green chilli, cumin seeds and one or two bay leaves and add the kohlrabi. I stir and sauté a little and add the paste of spices and mix very well stirring it several times. I let it cook like this but keep an eye and stir from time to time so that it doesn't burn. Then I add salt and mix well. Now I add water and the peas and cover the pot. Until now it was medium flame. The water starts boiling and I reduce the flame and let it cook until all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. I add fresh coriander leaves, shredded, at the end.

If you want you can add garam masala powder at the end. It's perfectly all right to cook this with powdered spices instead of the paste. And black pepper powder can also add a really nice flavour. 

A Fun Way to Have Leftover Roti

 The word রুটি, ruti, (Hindi: roti), I think, is people everywhere are now quite familiar with. It is the hand-made Indian flat bread, of whole wheat flour, baked on a hot flat pan. 

Though some Bengali people often have ruti for dinner (and not for lunch), it's often common to have it for breakfast. দুধ-রুটি, ruti torn with your hands into small pieces and soaked in milk with sugar added to it, was a common breakfast I saw in my childhood. I saw, never had, and always disliked it . And, now, I no longer consume dairy.

It's not common to have a few extra rutis prepared at night and keep it for the next morning, though I rarely have them at breakfast since I often skip breakfast. This is what I did one day, with the leftover ruti.

I baked it again. It became slightly drier. I shredded it with the kitchen scissors. Well, looks are not everything. 

I made some mug dal with cumin seed seasoning and added it on the ruti "spaghetti"! Et voila! That was my breakfast. You can sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice on it, fresh coriander leaves, shredded, and just a little fresh green chillies, also shredded, if you like it hot. 

Note: dal-ruti, literally, lentil soup with flat breads, just like dal-bhat, i.e. lentil soup with steamed rice, with a side dish of vegetables, is staple in India. 

I don't know if Bengali people still have milk and flat bread nowadays. Do they have ruti at all at breakfast? Or do they bread, butter and boiled eggs and some fruit juice in cartons and try to feel international? Our food habit is changing rapidly and so is our attitude to our traditional dishes. But my parents still soak some puffed rice or খই /khoi/, popped rice (?) or flattened rice to break their fast in the morning. 

পাতলা চিতই পিঠা -- A Porous Rice Flour Pancake

 This is a traditional age-old recipe from the former East Bengal ( পূর্ববঙ্গ) that turned into East Pakistan overnight with India's independence, which became Bangladesh later in 1971. So, East Bengal doesn't exist any longer but East Bengal food culture is alive in India with the  Hindu Bengali community who fled to this side of the border after partition and gradually established themselves in India. And of course it is very much alive in today's Bangladesh. In fact, Bangladesh's hospitality and food is extraordinary. 

This pancake was a snack my Grandmother often prepared for my mother and her siblings to eat after they returned from school.

I have never been to Bangladesh, my ancestors' motherland, where they were the children of the soil since time immemorial. But I want to and I can keep the food culture alive.

I made this yesterday morning with the leftover soaked Gobindobhog rice and mug lentil for the day before. I manually made the paste on the traditional shil-norha, শিলনোড়া ( see the photo below). 

Shil -- the flat stone, Norha -- the small, cylindrical one

The Paste

I added salt, baking powder, shredded green chillies and onion, and more water into it and mixed very well. Beating the batter well is essential, too. The consistency needs to be watery. There can't be any lump left. 

The Batter is Ready

We need really very little oil to make this pancake. Just baste the pan with the oil of your choice. I used rice-bran oil. Pour some batter on the hot pan bearing in mind that the pancake will be very thin. The flame should be medium. Flip and cook both sides. It took about a minute only to cook one side. You will see and understand how long (or how quick) it will take as you do it. 

Note: 1) Traditionally only rice flour is used but I wanted to use up the soaked mug from the previous day. 

2) We serve it with some kind of curry/ meat dish but I was to have only the pancake; therefore I added green chillies and onion. 

Making Overripe Banana Palatable

 Nobody likes overripe banana, right? 

 I had only one small banana left. Its skin started turning black.  Nobody  can guess from the photo but inside it just started to become very soft. Usually I throw it if the skin is totally black but during this difficult time of pandemic getting fresh fruits and vegetables are not easy; I can't simply go out and get fresh and new things. So, we are not throwing out anything. Pandemic has changed our lifestyle.

Early this morning I manually made a paste of yesterday's leftover soaked Gobindobhog rice and golden mug Dal for preparing a special traditional East Bengal pancake. I used some of this paste to make my overripe banana palatable. 

Banana Coins Coated in Rice Paste and Semolina

I cut the banana into small round coins and dipped them in the thick rice and mug paste and coated them with semolina. Then I sautéed them in very little oil. I removed them from the frying pan as they started being golden brown on both sides. They were super crispy outside and very soft inside.

I didn't add sugar to the rice paste batter but you can if you want it sweet. I don't have a sweet tooth. So, for me the banana itself was sweet enough.

Sago Pearl with Mug and Rice -- Raw Vegan Lunch

 

 We decided to have a no-cook meal today. 

And to prepare this meal we need a special type of all the ingredients. Simply any rice or any Mug (a type of yellow lentil) or any type of sago pearl won't do. Here are a few words about the main ingredients:

Gobindobhog rice or গোবিন্দভোগ চাল is a small grain, aromatic rice,a indigenous produce of certain districts of West Bengal. West Bengal has the geographical indication tag for it. 

Sona mug or সোনা মুগ is a very small and bright yellow type of the mung bean (Vigna radiata) or green gram. I had difficulty to find this in the cities of Western India where I lived for years and I used to pack some to take with me each time I visited my Mom in West Bengal. সোনা মুগ gets this name because of its bright golden yellow colour. It's also very tiny. 

The sago pearls or সাবুদানা we, Bengali people, traditionally consume has very tiny particles. It is usually a baby food or used in diets for elderly or sick people. Tapioca pearls are an alternative which produced in large scale industrially and is cheaper. 

দানা in Bengali means "grain" or "particle". 

We soaked Gobindobhog rice, sonamug Dal and the smallest type of tapioca pearl for about five hours. Then all these are very soft. I mashed two small ripe bananas with these ingredients and took one date with it. But I suggest you add sugar also. And you can add more bananas and jaggery. The quantity of rice was much less than the lentil. I guess I took about two tablespoons of mug and one tablespoon of rice. I always take according to my guess, experience and choice. My Mom took more rice. But I liked it this way. There's no hard and fast rule. But rice should be taken just a little since it is uncooked. 

Before soaking, please rinse thoroughly. Washing the ingredients with drinking water is important. Soak the three ingredients in separate containers.

This meal was totally without oil. 

This is not a diet for small children.

ঝাল সুজি -- Savory Semolina

 I often make a savory porridge of semolina for breakfast. Depending on the availability and the season, the vegetables change. Today I added peanuts, too. 

Savory Semolina

Now, below are the photos showing the different stages. Since I have posted the recipe earlier -- the link is at the end of this post -- I am just posting the photos today:

Ready

Mixing all ingredients before adding water

Adding semolina

The vegetables

Usually I add more vegetables. But today, along, with carrot, I added an unusual ingredient: cucumber. This pandemic and quarantine life is making me really adventurous with food! 

The recipe is here:

http://kayhavingfeasts.blogspot.com/2018/07/jhaal-suji-spicy-semolina.html?m=1

Vegan Omlette with Sattu Filling

 

I often prepare myself a pancake early in the morning and semolina is my regular ingredient . I make a light batter of semolina adding salt, shredded green chillies, shredded onion, and sometimes a pinch of cumin powder. To make the vegan Omlette above I added cumin seeds and green chillies and a little flour to the semolina, and of course, salt. 

To  make the filling I made a paste of sattu adding salt, freshly shredded onion to it. I don't like hot and spicy but you can add chillies, too, and a little lemon juice, if you want. Also, it tastes good when we add a little shredded coriander leaves, tomato and bell peppers but we don't have our usual supply of vegetables during this quarantine. 

First, I make the pancake cooking it by both sides. I put the filling like in the photo below, roll it and cook it just one or two minutes changing the sides. Et voila! My breakfast is ready. 

Note: sattu is roasted split Bengal gram flour.

Sautéed Okra and Potato

 Sautéed Okra and Potato or আলু ঢেঁড়স ভাজা is a common side dish with rice and lentil soup. It's super easy and very quick. You don't need much oil.

Add long and thin slices of potato to heated oil. In one or two minutes add nigella seeds and sliced green chillies. Stir and add medium cut okras into it. (Okra cooks faster than potato. Therefore, we add the potato first.) Add turmeric powder and salt. Stir and mix well. The flame should not be two high or too low. Stir and cook for some time. Stir to make sure it doesn't burn. You will see the colour will start changing. Cover and let it cook for a few minutes. The reason I can't specify exactly how many minutes because I have been doing it since I don't remember when based on guess and feeling. I keep an eye and check from time to time. Cook it until the vegetables are done. 

I prefer preparing it in mustard oil. But that's not a must. 

We prepare the simple okra and potato curry the same way with the same seasoning. But in the curry the okra is tenderer and practically wet, a little viscous because we use even less oil, put the vegetables right after adding the seasoning in the hot oil, add salt and turmeric and cover and let it cook on a low flame. It is practically steamed. Therefore, while frying, don't cover in the beginning, but only at the end for a few minutes. Many people don't like the viscosity and for them this recipe is an option. 

মুসুর ডালের বড়া -- Red Lentil Fritters

 During this pandemic our consumption of rice and lentils has increased and that of fresh vegetables has decreased only to ensure maximum physical distancing and isolation. Therefore, we are having red lentil fritters more often than usual.

We had red lentil fritters tonight also. Two days ago I soaked some lentil and made fritters with some of it. The rest was in the fridge. We had to use it up, too. 

This fritter is super easy to make: soak >make the paste> add salt, a little shredded onion and green chillies, a little turmeric powder > stir, stir, stir to mix well > fry. And Voila! No need to deep fry! The only difficult task is to make the paste if you do it manually using the traditional শিল-নোড়া, the two pieces of stones with which Bengali women have been making pastes of almost everything under the sun since time immemorial!! 😅 But I suggest you use a mixer-grinder. Our mixer is kaputt and cannot take it to the shop for fixing unless the infection rate starts reducing. Almost every day we are at the top of the list in daily infections and death. For the same reason I can't get my spectacles replaced; so, Mom did the frying. Two days ago I did it without my glasses but we shouldn't take such a risk since the entire medical service is under tremendous pressure and treatments to other medical conditions are not happening regularly and so, this is not the most convenient time to have an accident in the kitchen. 

The Paste

Soaked Dal on the Flat Stone(শিল)

Instead of onion I prefer adding nigella seeds. I also don't add turmeric powder. 

Make the shapes flat; then the lentil will cook thoroughly though you don't deep fry. We never deep fry lentil fritters. 

It's heavy and oily. I wouldn't give it to very small children. But it tastes simply out of this world and a very common side dish with জল-ভাত /jawl bhaat/ in summer and a popular traditional part of the Iftaar menu as our poet শামসুর রহমান(Shamshur Rahman) reminds us in his poem 'বাংলাভাষা উচ্চারিত হলে': "নানী বিষাদসিন্ধুর স্পন্দে দুলে / দুলে রমজানী সাঁঝে ভাজেন ডালের বড়া"

Red Lentil Soup + Red Lentil Fritters with Rice

Basamati Rice with Bitter Gourd!!!

 No normal person would add bitter gourd to mixed veg rice. But this is not a normal time. We are not having a normal life. Every day more than sixty thousand new Covid infections. These are only symptomatic and documented ones. Often we are at the top in the number of daily death, too. 

We are not going to the local market any longer. Supply of vegetables is less and infrequently. So, unlike a normal person, I prepared mixed veg rice with bitter gourd. Below are the ingredients. The egg is kept to show the size/quantity of the vegetables.

I cut the vegetables in tiny  pieces and sautéed them separately and later added them later them to the rice. Carrot and bitter gourd--- what an unusual combination.

I used Basamati rice. The process is similar with the other veg rice recipes I have here. Below is the final product and it tasted good. 

Khichuri with Very Little Vegetables

 

This is an example of my quarantine cooking.  Since lock-down started, we are consuming much less vegetables to make, in the beginning, my visit to fresh market, and now the visit of our domestic help to us, much less frequent.  

Today morning I made this khichuri -- the traditional Bengali rice and lentil dish -- with a few ground nuts and a small piece of carrot as you will see the ingredients in the pictures below. 

Usually we use at least the equal amount of rice and lentil and mostly more lentil than rice to prepare khichuri. But today I used relatively less mug lentil since we are having Dal with every meal nowadays. First I roasted the mug in hot wok and then washed it and kept it at one side.

In a separate pan I sauteed carrot, potato and the ground nuts in the seasoning of shredded onion and cumin seeds, adding turmeric powder, salt and coriander powder.

 I kept this at one side and started cooking the mug and rice together in water in a covered pot. I started on a high flame but reduced it as it started boiling. ( I had soaked the rice already for about half an hour ). After the rice and lentil are almost done, I added salt and stirred and mixed well and let it cook for a few more minutes. When both the ingredients are thoroughly done, I mixed the sauteed vegetables and mixed everything well and let it cook until the water dried up. That was it. I had a filling and satisfying meal.