ঝিঙের ভর্ত্তা / Ridge Gourd Bhartta

 It's a very delicious traditional plant-based dish.

Before going into details I apologise for the bad photos. I definitely have no talent for photography, unfortunately. I used one kilogramme ridge gourd and made the dish from scratch, totally manually. The final product looks like the picture below:

I removed only the rough ridges and left most of the skin as you can see below. 

Removing the Ridges

One KG Ridge Gourd

After that I cut then in very tiny pieces and made a paste by hand on the traditional শিল পাটা. It was a lot of work. I could easily use a mixer but since March I am indoors and I hardly move; therefore I preferred the hard work to the smart work. 

Cutting in Tiny Pieces

Making the Paste on শিল পাটা

I also made pastes of black mustard, white mustard and poppy seed. This is optional. I added a small green chilli to the mustard while making the paste.  If you don't use these spices, please use nigella seeds and fresh green chilli for seasoning. I used mustard seeds and fresh green chilli for seasoning. I also added my homemade turmeric powder. 

White and Black Mustard Paste

Heat up a little mustard oil and when the oil reaches its smoking point, it's smell is gone and the colour becomes a little clearer/lighter. Lower the flame. Add the seasoning and add the ridge gourd paste. Add the turmeric paste,  stir quickly and add the ridge gourd paste and stir. Add the mustard- and poppy paste. 

Stir and mix. The mixture already has a lot of juice. It will start boiling. Stir every now and then. It will cook and gradually the water content will reduce. Cook it on low flame covering and stirring from time to time. The colour will change, the raw smell will go away. 

Almost Done! Water Dried Up

Add salt and mix very very well. It's ready. I sprinkled some fresh mustard oil on top after removing it from the flame. But this is very Bengali and skip this if you are not familiar/comfortable with the flavour of fresh mustard oil. You can in fact use sunflower oil to prepare this dish which I, being a Bengali, will never do. Consuming cold-pressed virgin mustard oil is, to me, a part of being Bengali! 😉

The Ridge Gourd Paste