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.

Pointed Gourd with Coconut

Pointed gourd is not available in every part of India. In Bangalore  and in Pune I rarely found it. In Mumbai I get a smaller type of it and it is always very costly. So, I don't prepare this often. In Bengal we make a number of dishes withis vegetable: light fish curry with poipted gourd, patol posto (pointed gourd with poppy seed paste, pinted gourd with potato in light watery gravy etc. Most of the time we add a little potato also. I prepared this dish on the 12th of June. Finally I have the time to write about it.

I peeled the vegetables and cut them into pieces as they are in the pictures at the end of this post.
This is how we commonly cut them for many dishes but not for all preparations.
I heated mustard oil and added cumin seeds and dried red chillies for seasoning. I took the seeds of the chillies out so the curry didn't become too hot. UsuallyI add beat leaves, too, but I hadn't any. Also, my mother usually adds a little grated ginger which I didn't use either.
I added the vegetables into the oil with the seasoning and stirred well. I let the vegetables sautéed for a few minutes. Then I added turmeric-, cumin-, coriander-, and red chilli powder. Red chilli powder is optional and I added just a little. I mixed everything well and let it cook for a few more minutes. I added finely grated (and dried) coconut now. I buy this from the supermarket. Now I added salt. Mixing everything well, I added water and I let it boil until the vegetables were thoroughly cooked. Now I added garam masala. I let it cook a little longer to reduce the water. I wanted the curry near dry.
I had it with steamed rice.

Day before yesterday my Mom prepared a curry with coming and bay leaf seasoning. I made the vegetables ready for cooking and then I took these photos to show you how the fresh vegetable looks like.

Cauliflower Curry

Alu-Phulkopir Torkari: Traditional Bengali Cauliflower Dish

       Cauliflower is mainly our winter vegetable. Nowadays, though, thanks to technology, we can find at least some small cauliflowers here and there in the market throughout the year. Of course, the off-season products are very costly. I cooked this dish a few months earlier but could not have the opportunity to post it. Cauliflower is one of my most favourite vegetables and I cook this dish quite often.

       I cut the potatoes into small and the flower in comparatively bigger pieces. The quantity of potato is much less than the flower and you can even prepare this dish without potato. I heat oil ( this time I used mustard oil) till the smoking point and sautee the potatoes and keep them at one side. I add the seasoning cumin seeds and chopped green chili to the oil and then add the cauliflower pieces. I stir and let it cook and after a while add cumin powder and turmeric powder and stir a few more times to mix everything. I cover it now and let it cook for a while on low flame, but not for long to make sure that it does not get burnt because I do not add water at this point. Now I add a little very thinly sliced tomato, usually a half of one big tomato if I cook a small flower and fresh green peas (we almost never use frozen peas), stir a little and now add water. I let it cook by covering the pot till everything is done and then add salt ( and ideally a little sugar which I didn't use), mix well and let it cook for may be one minute.

        I like it with thick gravy. If you prepare it often, you can guess how much water to add and when and how often you must stir. I had it with steamed rice but it also goes very well with Roti or Luchi

Cauliflower and Potato Curry

Before Adding Water

Rigde Gourd With Potato and Nigella Seasoning

Jhinge Alu Kalo Jire Kancha Lonka Phorhon Diye

         This is a traditional, simple and quick recipe and totally vegan. We peel the ridge gourd and potato and cut them into small pieces. Then we heat up oil, (mustard oil traditionally but rice bran oil this time). We add nigella seeds and sliced fresh green chillies and add the vegetables and stir well. WE let it cook for a few minutes and stir as required. Then we add turmeric powder and stir and mix well. Then we cover it and lower the flame and let it cook. We don't need to add water since juice comes out of the gourd. 

         After the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, we add salt and we do not add sugar though traditionally at least a pinch of sugar is added to every dish.

          We mix the salt well and let it cook a little more especially a lot of juice is still there because we eat this with lentil soup and rice and we don't want it watery.

One can also take a little more time and after heating the oil, sautee the potato cubesm keep them separate and then after adding the seasoning add the gourd pieces and sautee well adding cumin powder in addition to turmeric powder. But I like it simple, and more importantly, quick.

Ridge Gourd, whole