A visit to Kolkata always means a whole lot of Bengali food
for me to look forward to. No, not just the biryani, chaap, roll, rezala, and
other delicious fare, but the simple daily fare that graces tables in Bengali
households every day. The clean flavours of the vegetables (or fish) with a
minimal stroke of spices make many of these daily mundane dishes quite
delicious and are light on the tummy too. When you're on holiday you know
you're going to indulge in a lot of fancy food and it's these simple homely
meals that help keep the balance between indulgence and over indulgence.
This afternoon we had the typical 'bhaat-daal-bhaja' sort of
meal with random leftovers to add variety. While bhajas are usually very basic
with the fish or vegetable simply smeared with turmeric and salt and then fried
in hot mustard oil, sometimes one might add a smattering of nigella seeds
(kalonji) along with a fresh green chilli or two for a little more flavour. You
can either have just one vegetable or a combination of them too.
I was in the
mood for a little more so I made a bhaja tempered with nigella seeds using a
combination of potato, eggplant, and pointed gourd (potol).
1 Potato
2 Potol or pointed gourd
1 Small eggplant
1/4 tsp
Nigella seeds
Salt
Turmeric
Mustard oil
Peel the potato and the pointed gourds. Cut all the
vegetables into small cubes.
Sprinkle them with salt and turmeric and mix to coat them
properly.
Heat mustard oil in a wok or kadai. Once the oil is hot chuck
in the nigella seeds and let them sizzle.
Put in the vegetables and stir well for a minute.
Cover the wok and reduce the heat letting the vegetables cook
for around 5 minutes.
Stir occasionally and cook till done. I like to brown the
vegetables a little.
Serve with hot rice and daal.
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