Sheet Kaal'er Sada Sobji - White Winter Veggies

Bengalis eat a lot of vegetables seasonally and winter is a big celebration of seasonal bounty. The markets in Kolkata come alive with a huge variety of produce ranging from new potatoes, deliciously tasty cauliflower, tomatoes, kohlrabi, radish, onion scapes, and lots more. It's not just the markets; every locality has its vegetable vendors setting up on street-sides and corners and there are vendors with 'vans' that cycle through the neighbourhoods calling out their wares, and they all offer the best of seasonal produce. It's like this all year round but my favourite is winter when, I feel, everything is a little more lush and delicious! 

This sheet kaal'er sada sobji is one of the best celebrations of winter produce. It's a simple preparation with hardly any spices where the vegetables do the work to make for something truly delicious. Pair it with hot phulkas or daal and rice and you will have a nutritious and tasty meal. 

Turnip

Kohlrabi

Radish

Bottle gourd

1 cup each, cubed, or less but in equal quantities. 

Green chillies 2-3

Nigella seeds 1/2 tsp

Mustard oil 1-2 tbsp

Sugar 1/2 tsp

Salt as required

Method

Heat the oil in a wok or kadai and chuck in the nigella seeds and a couple of green chilies split lengthwise. Once the seeds have sizzled add the cubed turnip first and sauté for a couple of minutes. Cook this recipe throughout on a medium flame. Cover the wok and let the turnips cook for a few minutes and then add the cubed kohlrabi. Once again sauté for a bit and then cover and cook for a few minutes. 

Follow the same process adding the radish cubes next and finally the bottle gourd. Take care not to brown the vegetables. Once all the veg is in the wok add salt, mix well, cover and cook on low heat till the all the veg is cooked through. It should all cook in its own moisture but if you feel the veggies are sticking add very little water. Sprinkle a bit of sugar and add a couple of green chilies, cover and cook for a further five minutes. 

You can also add cubed potatoes or even pumpkin to this dish if you like, it works very well. 

Serve with phulkas or as a side with daal chawal. 

Jhinge diye Moog Dal - Bengali Mung Dal with Ridge Gourd

Dal is a part of nearly every main meal in Bengali households. Every menu discussion begins with bhaat, dal, and bhaja, and then continues with the main attractions of the meal depending on whether it's a weekend, a special occasion, or if a particularly favourite ingredient - like the hilsa - is in season! However, it's not as if dal is a neglected item. Bengalis have countless recipes for dal and many of these feature a vegetable that's in season, especially paired with moog dal. Moog daal is lightly roasted till it becomes aromatic and is then cooked in many ways. One of these is with ridge gourd or jhinge.

Jhinge diye Moog Dal

1 cup moog dal

1 medium ridge gourd

2 tej pata (Indian bay leaf)

2-3 dried red chillies

1/2 tsp jeera

A good pinch of hing

2 inch knob of ginger

Sugar

Salt

Turmeric

Mustard oil

To begin, roast the moog dal in a dry kadai or pan on low heat till it changes colour and gets a slight reddish tinge and gives out a lovely fragrance. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Once it's cooled rinse the dal gently to clean off any dust and then boil it with some turmeric till the grains are cooked but still hold their shape. You can also pressure cook the dal but take care not to overcook it. 

Peel the ridge gourd, lop off the ends and then halve it lengthwise. Now cut into one inch chunks or into thinner slices. Wash and drain. 

Make a paste of the ginger in your mortar and pestle or mixer. 

Heat a couple of tablespoons of mustard oil in a kadai or wok and saute the ridge gourd pieces till they are nearly cooked. Do this on a medium flame. You can also put a lid so it cooks faster in its own steam. Remove the sauteed gourd to a plate or bowl. 

Add a bit of oil to the same wok if required and once the oil is hot chuck in the jeera and the hing. Fry for half a minute and then add the tej patta, dried red chillies, and the ginger paste. Stir for a minute till everything is fragrant.

Now tip in the boiled dal, add salt, and bring it to a boil. Once the dal boils add the sauteed jhinge or ridge gourd pieces. Add a good pinch of sugar and let the dal boil properly. 

Enjoy this delicious jhinge diye moog dal with plain hot rice. A piece or two of begun bhaja on the side will make it a perfect meal! 

Sheem Sorse - Bengali Style Hyacinth Beans with Mustard

Sheem or hyacinth beans are one of my favourite vegetables and I usually add them to chorchoris or a panchmeshali - each a style of mixed vegetables cooked in Bengali households. Like with most vegetables, there are innumerable ways to cook sheem and we all look forward to winter when you get the best sheem. 

Here's a pic of sheem and other veggies from last winter. 

Sheem Sorse or hyacinth beans in a mustard sauce is a delicious dish and is really easy to make. There's hardly any prep barring stringing the beans and halving them, and quickly chopping up a tomato. It nearly cooks itself! This is a vegan dish and is also a no onion and no garlic recipe. 

Sheem Sorse

250 gms sheem (hyacinth beans)

2 tbsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp kalo jeere/kalaunji (nigella seeds)

2 green chillies

1 tomato

salt

turmeric

mustard oil

String the beans and cut each one in half along its width. Wash and drain. Chop the tomato and keep aside. Soak the mustard powder in enough water to make a thin runny paste. Leave it to soak for at least 10-15 minutes. 

In a kadai or wok heat 3 tbsp or so of mustard oil. Once the oil is hot and shimmering chuck in the kalo jeere and the green chillies (slit or broken into half).

Saute for a minute and add the sheem.  Add turmeric and salt and mix everything well. Let it cook for a minute or so and then cover and cook on low heat for a few minutes till the beans soften a little.

Now chuck in the chopped tomato and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat till the tomatoes are soft. 

Pour in the mustard paste and mix again. Add a bit of water only if required and let it cook till the gravy thickens. Adjust salt if necessary.

Take it off the heat and drizzle a tablespoon of good mustard oil on top, cover the kadai and let it rest for five minutes. 

Serve with rice as part of your meal with daal, and a nice bhaja (veggies or fish fried in mustard oil with salt and turmeric) 

Bhetki Paturi - Bengali Fish in Banana Leaves

Bhetki Paturi is a very common and well known Bengali preparation that you would find on restaurant menus and at homes too. Though paturi is not restricted to bhetki, or even to fish for that matter, this mustard laden parcel of boneless fish is a joy! And it's so easy to make -you don't need any special ingredients or equipment. 

A little planning goes a long way in making top notch paturi. And by planning I only mean a long marination time. Otherwise it's just a matter of slapping the parcels together and cooking them. 

Here's how I made Bhetki Paturi.

4 boneless Bhetki fillets 

4 pieces of banana leaf enough to wrap the individual fillets

3 tbsp posto or white poppy seeds

4-5 green chillies

3 tbsp mustard powder

6 tbsp freshly grated coconut

salt

turmeric (optional)

2 tsp lime juice

1/5 cup mustard oil

Soak the poppy seeds for around 30 minutes and then grind to a smooth paste with a couple (or more) green chillies. 

Soak the mustard powder for around 15 to 20 minutes in a little water to make a paste. 

In a clean bowl or tiffin box marinate the fish fillets with salt and lime juice for an hour or so.

In a separate bowl mix the mustard and poppy seed/posto pastes and add a little bit of salt and the grated coconut. Pour in a couple of tablespoons of mustard oil and around half a teaspoon of turmeric if you are using it. I didn't. 

Use approximately half of this mix and coat the fillets nicely. Close the box or cover the bowl and marinate the coated fish fillets for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. Reserve the remaining marinade in a separate box in the fridge for use later in the recipe. 

Remove both boxes from the fridge an hour or so before you're going to cook the fish and let them come to room temperature.

In the mean while prep the banana leaves. Wash and dry them and cut to a size that allows you to make neat parcels, each for a single fillet. Coat the inner side of the leaf (this will be darker) with a little mustard oil - take just a few drops on the tips of your fingers and smear to coat most of the middle of the leaf. Hold each leaf over a low flame and move it around quickly to 'roast' it very lightly. This softens the leaf and the central stem and makes it easier to bend and fold while making the parcels. 

To assemble the paturi parcels place a leaf on your work surface dark side up. Put a bit of the reserved marinade onto the leaf and spread it a little to cover as much as the fillet will sit on. Now place one marinated fillet and top with another small dollop of marinade. Add a drizzle of mustard oil and carefully close the parcel. You can use toothpicks or string to tie the parcels together. I didn't need to. Make up parcels using up all the fillets in the same fashion. 

In a flat pan large enough to place all four parcels heat some mustard oil - a tablespoon will be enough. Place the four parcels in a single flat layer, reduce the heat to the lowest and then cover the pan. Use two pans if your pan is too small or do them in batches. Let it cook for around 5 - 8 minutes depending on the thickness of the bhetki fillets and then flip the parcels and cook for another few minutes. Keep an eye on things and don't let the banana leaves char too much or the fish inside will taste charred instead of lightly smokey. 

Serve the bhetki paturis with plain hot rice. 

Among the general reading and YouTube videos I also referred to Debjani's recipe for Bhetki Paturi to understand how paturi is made. 

Posto Sorse Dhyarosh - Bengali Style Okra with Poppy Seed and Mustard Pastes

Posto is a must-have in most Bengali kitchens. In fact, it would be a rare Bengali kitchen that didn't have it. Moni cooked different posto dishes quite often and I loved it. My favourite, and the most commonly made, was aloo posto. As far as the cooking method goes it's pretty much the same with whatever veggies you use - a tempering of nigella or kalaunji with some fresh green chillies in hot mustard oil, followed by the veggie of choice being sauteed in this oil, and ultimately the posto paste joining the party in the kadai along with seasoning and sugar. 

However, this darling of the Bengali kitchen has a bit of a murky past. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757 the British East India Company gained control of Bengal. The Company realised that there was a huge market for opium in China and decided to cultivate poppy as a cash crop in massive swathes of agricultural land in place of every other food crop. The Company made huge profits while the local populace languished without ingredients to cook with beyond a very few basic things. The extraction of opium from the poppy flowers left behind tiny dried seeds. Since the scale of this cultivation and the subsequent extraction was massive there was a large amount of these 'waste' seeds. In a desperate bid to bulk up their dishes and add some new flavour/texture to the food this waste product came into play and turned out to be quite delicious. It was used as a thickener and has a lovely nutty taste of its own. 

Read more about this here - https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/how-british-greed-spurred-the-creation-of-one-of-bengals-most-loved-dishes/

Today posto or the poppy seed is  literally a part of a Bengali's identity. We have so many preparations with this one ingredient we could actually fill a cookbook. 

Anyway! I had some posto paste in the fridge and as a change from the usual aloo posto I decided to make something I haven't eaten in years - dhyarosh posto. I made it with a dash of mustard paste to liven it up. 

Posto Sorse Dhyarosh 

500 gm ladyfingers or okra

2 tbsp posto paste

1 tbsp mustard paste

1/2 tsp nigella or kalaunji seeds

2-3 fresh green chillies

mustard oil

salt

sugar

Cut the ladyfingers into two to three inch pieces.

Heat mustard oil in a kadai and chuck in the kalaunji and green chillies.

Add the cut ladyfingers and salt and fry for a few minutes on medium heat. I like to cover the pan and let the ladyfingers cook properly when I have cut them this big. The sliminess goes away when you take off the lid and dry it off. 

Once the ladyfingers are cooked through cook for a couple of minutes to dry it up. Then add the posto paste and the mustard paste. Also put in half a teaspoon of sugar. Stir to mix properly and let it cook for a few minutes on medium heat till the posto is no longer raw and whatever moisture is in the mix has gone. 

Serve the Posto Sorse Dhyarosh with daal and rice.

Olkopir Dalna - Bengali Style Kolrabi and Peas

Olkopi or Gaanth Gobi is one of Kurush's favourite vegetables. I saw some lovely olkopi at the veggie shop today so I bought some. I've cooked it the Parsi way with coconut milk many times so I went to look at the first volume of Aamish O Niraamish Ahaar (in Bengali) by Pragyasundori Debi - my go to book for Bengali recipes. Volume One has the vegetarian recipes and I was quite sure I'd find something for the olkopi. There were quite a few recipes and I picked the recipe for dalna because I had all the ingredients at hand. 

Dalnas will have a reasonable amount of gravy so they can be paired with rice or rutis. You can serve the dalna as part of a larger multi-course meal or you can have it for dinner paired with rutis. 

Olkopi'r Dalna 

1 olkopi - peeled and cubed

1/2 cup green peas

2-3 green chilies

salt

sugar

turmeric

chili powder

dhania powder

4 cloves

3-4 green cardamom

1 inch cassia bark

2 tbsp curd 

ghee

1/2 tsp whole jeera

1 pinch hing 

Boil the cubed olkopi till cooked through, drain and keep aside. 

In a vessel heat one cup of water and to it add chilli/dhania/turmeric powders. Bring to a boil.

Add the boiled olkopi and a handful or more of fresh green peas to this. Also add 2-3 green chillies, broken into pieces.

Now chuck in 2-3 green cardamom, 4 cloves, and a inch of cassia/dalchini. 

Whisk 2 tbsp dahi and add to the pot. You can add a little more for a slightly thicker gravy.

Add salt and a tsp of sugar. Cook on simmer till the gravy is reduced and the peas are cooked.

In a tadka pan heat desi ghee. Add tadka of hing and whole jeera and once it sizzles add to the veggies. Keep the heat on low as the jeera can burn quickly and that will ruin the entire dish. Mix well, let it sit covered for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot with ruti/chapatis or rice.

Chingri Narkol diye Chichinge Chenchki - Snake Gourd with Coconut and Prawns

Chichinge or snake gourd is one of my favourite veggies and, in fact, the hubby is quite fond of it too. But I only knew one recipe for this veggie - Chichinge Peyanj Bhaja - and was quite delighted to find more recipes on Sayantani's blog A Homemaker's Diary. This blog is one of my go to blogs when I'm looking for help with Bengali recipes or for something new to try out. She has easy to follow instructions interspersed with little tips that make life in the kitchen easier. 

Bengal is an abundant region, be it for vegetables and fruit or the bounty from its innumerable ponds, streams, rivers, and coastline. It is no surprise, therefore, to find numerous recipes for every ingredient. You will find preparations to fit a vegan, vegetarian or non vegetarian diet, and in fact, even sweet meats made from a myriad vegetables too. Our daily meals are traditionally elaborate in that they have multiple courses including daal, vegetables, fish, or meat, followed by something sweet to round off the meal. The abundant Gangetic delta provides rich seasonal produce giving the Bengali plenty of variety through the year - and thus we have a wide range of dishes , enough to cook something different every single day of the year! 

I am very grateful to bloggers like Sayantani who share not only the festive and the unusual recipes from their Bengali kitchens but also the simple yet delicious everyday fare that is common in Bengali households. Like this easy Chingri Narkol diye Chichinge Chenchki. 

Chingri Narkol diye Chichinge Chenchki

3-4 feet  snake gourd, skin scraped, pith removed, and then sliced
Half cup prawns, deveined and chopped
3 tbsp Mustard paste
Half cup scraped fresh coconut
A couple of green chillies
1/2 tsp Nigella seeds
Salt
Turmeric
Mustard oil

Chuck in the nigella seeds and green chillies into hot mustard oil. 

Add the prawns with salt and turmeric and mix well.
After a minute chuck in the sliced gourd. Mix well and cook covered for 5-7 minutes.
Now add the mustard paste and mix. Cook further for a couple of minutes.
Add the grated coconut at the very last minute, give it a quick stir, and then take it off the heat.

Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with more grated coconut and drizzle with a little mustard oil for extra punch. 

Serve it with plain hot rice along with daal and a bhaja, and you will have a delightful Bengali meal! 

Doi Posto diye Chalkumro - Ash Gourd with Curd and Poppy Paste

Chalkumro or Ash Gourd is a very common ingredient in Bengali kitchens and is used in a zillion different ways. I've never been a great fan of this bland vegetable and have therefore never cooked anything with it ever. However, in the last few years as I have explored Bengali cuisine with more interest I have made an effort to cook with even those ingredients I have hitherto found uninspiring. The chalkumro was in line and the last time I went to buy vegetables I picked up a large wedge of this white gourd.

I found this recipe on the Facebook group - Bangla Niramish Rannaghor contributed by Mili Banerjee. This is a fairly easy recipe - the only effort is in prepping the chalkumro.

Doi Posto diye Chalkumro

500 gms Chalkumro or Ash Gourd
150 gms fresh curd
3 tbs posto or poppy seeds
3 tbsp mustard paste
1 tsp nigella seeds
5 green chillies
mustard oil
salt
sugar
fresh coriander

Soak poppy seeds for 20 minutes or so and then grind to a smooth paste with 2 green chillies.
Soak 2 tbsp of Sunrise mustard powder or make 3 tbsp fresh mustard paste.
Remove the seeds and pith from the chalkumro, peel the outer skin, and cut the chalkumro into thin match-sticks.

In a large bowl combine the curd, mustard and poppy pastes and mix well. Add the cut chalkumro to this mixture and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes.

In a wok heat mustard oil. Chuck in the nigella seeds and the remaining green chillies and let it sizzle for half a minutes. Then tip in the marinating chalkumro, mix well, cover and cook for around 20 minutes on a low flame. Give it an occasional stir.

Remove the lid and add salt and sugar, mix well and then dry out the water in the wok stirring constantly. Cook till you see the oil released. Let it cook for a further few minutes and then take it off the heat.

Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with some finely chopped fresh coriander.

In Bengali households this will be eaten with hot rice as part of our usual multi-course meals along with daal, bhajas, and more. However, it also works well with simple phulkas.

Palong Shaak Ghonto - Spinach with Vegetables

Spinach/palak/ palong shaak is the leafy green that was cooked the most often in our house. On occasion we would eat laal shaak or red amaranth which I loved because of that fabulous colour it oozed onto the rice in my plate. Moni was not fond of cooking though she was a good cook and tended to make the simpler dishes that required less prep. So greens like methi never appeared on our dinner table. In spite of its frequent appearance at meals I never got tired of palong shaak and I cook it quite often too.

Palong shaak features in many Bengali recipes and this one with brinjal, potato and 'bori' (dried lentil dumplings that look like Hershey's Kisses in shape) is a general favourite. Like most everyday dishes, this shaak ghonto is quite easy to cook. This dish is also vegan.

Palong Shaak Ghonto

1 bunch spinach
1 medium potato
1 small brinjal
a handful of bori
2-3 dried red chillies
1 tsp panch phoron
salt
turmeric
mustard oil.

Chop the spinach, wash thoroughly in plenty of water and leave aside in a colander to drain.
Peel and cut the potato into smallish cubes.
Cut the brinjal into proportionate cubes.

Heat oil in the wok and fry the potatoes, brinjals, and the boris separately and remove to a plate/vessel.

Add a little oil to the wok and let it heat properly. Chuck in the panch phoron and the dried red chillies and fry for a few seconds. Don't let it burn.

Add the drained spinach leaves and mix well. Add salt and turmeric, stir to mix, lower the flame and cook the spinach covered for around five minutes.

Add the fried potatoes and cook till the potatoes are soft and most of the water has dried up.

Add the brinjals, mix well and cook for a couple of minutes. Finally add the fried bori, mix them in and take off the heat after a minute or so.

Serve the ghonto as an accompaniment to rice and daal, or enjoy it with hot chapatis.

Chingri diye Kolmi Shaak - Water Spinach with Prawns

Leafy greens are a big part of Bengali cuisine and you will a wide variety of recipes for an equally wide variety of greens or 'shaak' as we call them. Pui, palong, notey, kolmi, methi, sorse, ...the list is long! My visits to Kolkata always include a few trips to Gariahat market to pick up seasonal veggies. And in addition, there is a sobji-wala who comes to the house every morning laden with produce. This means there is no lack of good veggies whatever the season. Luckily for me, I also have an excellent veggie shop near my house in Kharghar where I get almost everything that is available in Kolkata, enabling me to cook quite a lot of typical Bengali dishes even though I'm not in Bengal.

Most of us tend to pick up regular spinach but not so much the other leafy greens. I certainly spent many years cooking only spinach, not being confident with the other greens. But now, after having read innumerable excellent Bengali food blogs and having really chewed the two volume Amish o Niramish Ahar by Pragyasundari Devi (my Bible for Bengali recipes) I have broadened my repertoire considerably. I learned many recipes for the various shaaks in combination with root vegetables, peas, brinjals, and of course, prawns.

I also look at recipe videos on YouTube and among my favourites are the ones showing recipes from Bangladesh. The ingredients are mostly the same as those from West Bengal but the recipes can differ quite a bit! Like this recipe I saw for kolmi shaak or water spinach cooked with prawns from Rosonar Shad  that includes onions. The Ghoti (West Bengali) recipes from my family don't include onion when cooking leafy greens even when they have non vegetarian elements like prawns. I liked the newness of this recipe and how different it is from the pui chingri I cook very often. The instructions are detailed and the recipe is quite simple. 

Chingri diye Kolmi Shaak 

kolmi shaak - 1 bunch
shelled and deveined prawns - 1/2 cup
mustard oil
1 onion
2-3 green chillies
salt
turmeric
dhaniya/coriander powder

Apply salt and turmeric to the prawns and leave to marinate while you prep the kolmi shaak.
Cut the kolmi shaak finely including the tender stalks. Wash thoroughly and leave aside in a colander to drain.
Slice the onion.
In a wok heat mustard oil and fry the prawns till they turn opaque. If you have large prawns cut into halves or smaller pieces and then fry.
Add the sliced onions and the green chillies to the prawns. You can slit the chillies for more heat or break them into pieces for less heat.
One the onions lose their rawness, add the chopped and drained kolmi shaak. Add salt keeping in mind that the prawns have already been salted. Stir well and let it cook covered for around 5 minutes. The shaak will release water and everything will get cooked in the steam.
Sprinkle a little coriander powder and mix well. Cook open, letting the excess water evaporate.
Serve with plain rice and daal.

Murgi'r Jhol - Bengali Everyday Chicken Curry

Jhols are thin stews that a big part of the repertoire of any decent Bengali cook. From the rojgere or sadharon (everyday or ordinary) to the Robibar'er (Sunday) jhols there are many versions of this spiced stew. Usually non vegetarian, the jhol will feature seasonal fish, chicken, or goat meat, and often features seasonal vegetables in addition to the meat or fish that is the star of the dish. Jhols are easy to put together and cook quickly too. Given their inherent simplicity they are a part of mundane everyday menus though their variety is wide.

Murgi'r jhol, a thin chicken curry, would appear regularly on Sundays and occasionally in the middle of the week to perk up our bored palates, tired of the monotonous daily machch'er jhols that appeared with stubborn regularity at very lunch. Goat meat was the ultimate treat for us while chicken was compromise, a relief from the relentless bowls of fish curry. A typical meal during the week would comprise rice, daal, a seasonal vegetable, an occasional bhaja or fry to go with the daal, and some form or the other of fish curry or machch'er jhol.  In spite of there being a variety of fish in the jhols, they were all perceived as a boring continuum and the occasional blip in the menu with chicken was warmly welcomed!

After Baba passed away Moni had to go to work daily and there was no time for elaborate meals with multiple courses. Very often she'd just cook a large pot of chicken curry and that would stretch over a couple of meals with plain steamed rice. My brother and I were quite happy to eat just curry and rice without vegetables, etc., cluttering up our plates. Slowly Moni started instructing me to prep for meals and keep things ready for her to cook once she get home from work. Apart from chopping veggies and washing rice, I also started marinating chicken for the jhol.

This is how, like thousands of other girls, I started to learn cooking. Murgi'r jhol is one of the first things I learned and now I too cook it quite often as it is easy and convenient, and makes for a deliciously simple meal.

Murgi'r Jhol

1 chicken, curry cut
2 onions, sliced finely
4 potatoes
3 carrots
fresh corainder

for marinade-
1/2 cup curd
salt
turmeric
kashmiri chilli powder
jeera/cumin powder
garam masala powder
ginger garlic paste
mustard oil

3 inch piece cinnamon
4 cardamom
6 cloves
2 star anise
3 Indian bay leaves
mustard oil
1/2 tsp sugar
water as required

In a large bowl mix the washed chicken pieces with all the ingredients listed under 'for marinade'. Mix well and evenly coat all the pieces of chicken. Leave aside for a couple of hours at least.

Peel and cut potatoes into thick wedges. Peel and cut carrots into thick batons. Slice onions as finely as you can. Pick the fresh coriander leaves and separate leaves and stems.

In a large kadai or wok heat a generous amount of mustard oil. Fry the potato wedges till they start to lightly brown. Remove and keep aside, draining as much oil as possible. You should have a decent amount of oil left behind in the kadai. Heat it again.

Once the oil is nice and hot drop in the whole spices and cook on medium heat for a minute. Add the sliced onions and the sugar and fry till the onions begin to brown. Keep the heat at medium. Add the marinated chicken and braise for 10 to 15 minutes till all the pieces have turned opaque. Keep stirring so all the pieces cook evenly and cook covered for another 10 minutes. 

Add the fried potatoes, carrots and coriander stems and mix well. Cook for a few minutes and then add enough water to make plenty of a watery gravy. Cook this further till the potatoes are done. Once the potatoes are cooked through the jhol is ready. Taste the jhol and adjust salt if required.

Scatter fresh coriander leaves and let it sit covered for five minutes and then serve with plain hot rice.

Chingri Bhaape - Bengali Style Prawns Steamed in Mustard, Poppy Seed, and Coconut

As my journey of exploration into Bengali cuisine continues I'm impressed again and again at the sheer simplicity of most of the recipes be they simple everyday dishes or quite often, dishes one would serve as a treat on a special day. The list of ingredients is frugal and the method quite simple. In fact it's often made me wonder if the recipe would actually work. But of course my doubts have evaporated every time I'm put my faith in the recipe and simply given it a try.

Yesterday I was meeting friends for a potluck lunch. I volunteered to make some Bengali dishes among which was Chingri Bhaape, which, translated literally, means steamed prawns. As I read through the recipe in the numerous Bengali recipe books I'm cooking my way through I was hooked. All you had to do was mix all the ingredients with the prawns and steam the whole thing. That's it. I'm a great fan of quick, no fuss recipes and I couldn't wait to try it out. The results, I must say, were excellent and Chingri Bhaape is going to feature on my menus quite often, that's for sure!

Chingri Bhaape 

500 gms large prawns, shelled and deveined
salt
turmeric

4 tbsp poppy seed paste
3 tbsp mustard paste
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup mustard oil
6-8 fresh green chillies
1 tsp sugar


Soak poppy seeds for around 30 minutes, drain and then grind to a smooth paste. I added a couple of green chillies (not the very pungent ones) just for added flavour while making this paste.

Soak mustard seeds for 30 minutes, drain and make a paste. You can grind the mustard along with the poppy seeds. I like to keep it separate in case the mustard paste turns bitter. In a pinch I use Sunrise mustard powder which I get easily (touch wood!) from my local fish shop. This powder also needs to be soaked before use.

You can keep the tails on the prawns if you like. I remove everything as the husband has a shell allergy. Marinate the prawns in salt and turmeric while the poppy seeds and mustard is soaking.

Once the prep is done you're ready to go. Take a steel box or dabba with a close fitting lid that's large enough to hold all the prawns leaving enough room. In the box put in the prawns and all the ingredients barring the green chillies and mustard oil. Give it all a good mix.

Pour the mustard oil over the prawns and place the green chillies on top. Shut the box.

In a cooker or large vessel (one in which the box will fit) with a lid put water to heat. Place the box in this water. The box should sit in the water but shouldn't get submerged and water shouldn't get into the box. If you're using a pressure cooker put the lid on without the whistle. If you're using a regular vessel put on the lid. Once the water starts boiling lower the heat and let the box of prawns steam for a good 15- 20 minutes undisturbed. Put a weight on the lid to keep the steam in.

Alternatively, you can also cook the prawns directly on a VERY LOW flame directly in a kadai or wok. Just remember to leave it alone so that the steam generated stays in and the prawns and the pastes cook properly. Keep an eye on the gas flame - since it's kept very low it might go off and you don't want any accidents thanks to leaking gas.

Serve the Chingri Bhaape with plain hot rice.

Aloo diye Laal Shaak - Red Amaranth Greens with Potatoes

I always ignored the fresh greens section at the veggie shop frankly because I'm a lazy cook and the thought of spending endless minutes picking out a ton of leaves in prep put me off. But then with age comes patience (maybe) and better sense (bigger maybe!) and I bought a bunch of laal shaak or red amaranth leaves, also known as laal maath, tambi bhaji, etc.

Moni used to cook it quite often and I remember her insisting we eat at least a little of it, as she did with whatever she cooked especially the vegetables. We didn't need much coaxing to eat meats or fish! Of all the leafy greens she cooked the laal shaak was the most attractive - rice would turn a beautiful pink once mixed with the laal shaak and this miracle in the plate fascinated me. She would always add a generous amount of garlic and occasionally she'd cook it with potatoes. I never needed convincing when she added potatoes. The pretty pink batons would call out to me and I would even ask for more.

Like most vegetable side dishes, laal shaak is cooked with barely any spices and is done in minutes. And like most of our vegetable dishes the prep takes time.

Aloo diye Laal Shaak

1 bunch red amaranth leaves
1 small potato
4-5 cloves of garlic
2-3 dried red chillies
1/4 tsp nigella or kalonji seeds
mustard oil
salt

Pick out the leaves and the tender stems of the amaranth greens. Discard the thick, woodier or stringier parts of the stem.

Wash thoroughly and drain in a colander. Chop roughly or finely, as you prefer.

Cut the potato into thick matchsticks. Peel and chop the garlic (do not mince).

Heat the oil in a kadai and fry the potatoes till nearly done. Add salt and mix.

Push them to one side and chuck in the nigella seeds and garlic, letting them sizzle for a half a minute. Tilt the kadai if it has a flat base so the oil collects together and is deep enough for the garlic and nigella seeds. This way you don't have to add more oil.

Now add the chopped greens and a little salt and then stir well to mix. Cook covered for a few minutes till the greens are completely wilted and cooked through. Check that the potatoes are done to a nice softness. Adjust salt if required.

Serve the laal shaak with daal and rice, or with soft phulkas. We Bengalis usually have it as a 'bhaja' that accompanies the daal course in our traditional meals.

Edible Flowers from the Bengali Kitchen

Over the last few years my trips to Kolkata were quite frequent and in contrast to the standard visits in summer, I happened to be in Kolkata in the winters too. Moni's house is in a quiet lane in Selimpur and a variety of vendors come to the 'goli' or lane calling out their wares. From umbrella repair to ice cream, from variety plastic products to fresh veggies and fish, everything comes to our doorstep.

I found the steady stream of vendors quite entertaining and slowly began to buy vegetables and fish for the novelty of buying at the door, so much in contrast to my life in Mumbai where veggies were either bought online or from a supermarket, an entirely impersonal experience. As I chose vegetables every morning I started examining the variety on the cart more closely and questioning the vendor about specific vegetables I was unfamiliar with. I'd also ask Jethima from upstairs or go bug Moni to identify ingredients and then to cook them for me. My interest vegetables and local ingredients grew and if you've ever enjoyed winter vegetables in Bengal, you'll understand just why I succumbed.

What a glorious variety there was! Leafy greens, beans, brinjals, gourds, root veggies, the list can go on and on. And among all this bounty I found an array of edible flowers and inflorescence that are all a regular, even mundane, part of the Bengali kitchen, enjoyed in season and then looked forward to once the season was over. As I took photograph after photograph the subziwala, seeing my interest and quite entertained by my enthusiasm, started bringing unusual seasonal ingredients to show me every morning. I'd happily be awake at 6 am waiting for him to make his first circuit of our goli. Thanks to him I learned about many vegetables that are a part of the Bengali's winter meals. Not only did I learn from him, Moni and Jethima, the neighbourhood mashimas (aunties) also started educating me, making the entire experience richer and so much more interesting.

Edible flowers maybe trendy today and perceived to be modern and hip but for the Bengali they are a part of everyday meals and I discovered a wide variety in Kolkata, some of which I have listed here. Whether it's the blooms, inflorescence or stems, the flowering portions of many plants are commonly cooked into simple dishes or more elaborate fare.

Malabar Spinach or Pui Shaak is a common ingredient in many Indian kitchens, but did you know the inflorescence on this plant is also eaten? It's sold separately as an individual ingredient and I first saw it on the subzi cart.

Pui Mituni (inflorescence on Malabar Spinach)

Similarly the inflorescence on Spinach or palak, called Shish Palong in Bengali, is also a delicacy and Jethima made a quick stir fry with potatoes for me. 

Shapla or water lilies also star on Bengali menus. The stem is cooked with prawns or made into fritters. While prepping the stems may feel tedious the resultant fritters are perfect as a snack at tea time or are served as the accompanying bhaja in the daal course of a traditional Bengali meal. The flowers aren't eaten but they look lovely floating in a flat vessel full of water.

Shapla or Water lIlies

Then there were onion scapes or Peyaanj Koli as we call them in Bengali. Such a pretty vegetable! Mostly added to chorchoris or made into a simple bhaja with potatoes, the markets are filled with these in season. 

Peyaanj Koli

This post would be incomplete if I didn't mention Kumro Phool or pumkin flowers. Mostly served batter fried, sometimes with a stuffing of prawns (yes, we Bengalis cook many veggies with prawns) I had plenty of these thanks to my beloved Jethima.

Kumro Phool 

On my last trip to Kolkata I encountered Jukti Phool. This flower enjoys a very short season and, from what I understood from the vendor in Gariahat market, is gathered from plants growing in the wild. A strongly bitter flower, it can be stir fried with potatoes and panch phoron or can be used in a sukto to impart the bitter notes.

Jukti Phool in the foreground with other Sukto ingredients

I also found Bok Phool or Agasti phool on an earlier trip to the market. These are cooked by many communities across India and I have seen many getting excited over them on myriad food groups on Facebook. These too are mostly batter fried and served as a tasty snack, much looked forward to by the Bengalis when in season. A simple chickpea flour batter seasoned with salt and chilli powder, a dash of turmeric and some nigella seeds is made, the flowers (stamens removed) are dipped in and then deep fried till crisp and golden. Sometimes maida and/or rice flour are added to make the batter lighter and the fries crisper but all these are variations from kitchen to kitchen.

Bok Phool outside Gariahat Market

Mocha or banana blossom is very widely known so it wasn't really a discovery for me. This much treasured ingredient in cooked a million ways by the Bengali - ghonto, chop, with prawns, chop with prawns... the list can go on and on. 

Mocha or Banana Blossom

And here's a picture of the man himself, the shobjiwala or veggie vendor. As I write this I realise I've never asked him his name as I always called him 'bhai' or younger brother. 

Sukto with Jukti Phool

Sukto is a lovely light stew of assorted vegetables with a hint of bitter. Flavoured with a bit of mustard and a hint of poppy paste, this stew also has milk in it and must be cooked very carefully. Though you can make sukto without the bitter element, many Bengalis believe that a classic sukto must have the bitter ingredient. I always avoided sukto thanks to the bitter flavour and never bothered to even see how it was cooked, turning up my nose and shaking my head this utter waste of effort! 

Over the last few years my interest in Bengali food has increased greatly - maybe I'm feeling the need to understand my roots now that I'm well into my forties and the attraction of other cuisines has paled. Somewhere I also feel great ignorance where Bengali food is concerned - it is after all the cuisine of my forefathers and I should know it in some detail at least. My frequent visits to Kolkata and the discovery of new ingredients at practically every visit to the market only fuelled my curiosity. The door to door vegetable vendor, seeing my interest, would bring new things to show me - pui mituni, kolmi shaak, shapla, kochu'r loti, bok phul, shish palong... the list is endless. 

My visits to Kolkata are now incomplete without a visit to Gariahat market, if only for a quick walk through just to see what's available. The last visit to Kolkata was for less than a week and I squeezed in a quick trip to the market on my last morning there. This time I discovered Jukti phool. 

Jukti Phool  Dregea volubis is also known as Sneeze Wort or Green Milkweed Climber. This plant is known to many Indian cuisines and has names in many Indian languages. In Marathi it is called 'harandodi' or 'naaksikani'. In Hindi it's also known as 'akad bel'. The Malayalam word for it is 'velipparuthi'  while in Gujarati it's called 'kadvo kharkhodo', and in Bengali it's also called 'tita kunga'.  See here for more details - http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Sneeze%20Wort.html

I'd never heard of this ingredient nor seen it but the tiny, pretty bunches of blooms were irresistible and of course I bought some. I asked the vendor how to cook it and he said to either stir fry it with a little garlic and plenty of potatoes or to use it instead of uchhe (bitter gourd) to make sukto. It's quite bitter, he warned, and I wasn't to try to eat it on its own.

Back in Mumbai I read several sukto recipes before I attempted making it for the first time. My mother loved sukto - or 'suktuni' as she preferred to call it - and I keenly missed her because it would have been so easy to just call her on the phone and learn how to make one of her favourite dishes. I wish I had paid attention on the rare times she made it... 

Anyway! Here's the recipe for the Sukto I cobbled together today. This dish has a lot of ingredients and therefore there's a good amount of prep to do before you start cooking so make sure you read the recipe from start to finish and make a shopping list before you go to get the veggies. 

Jukti Phool diye Sukto

Jukti phool - half a cup

1 small potato

1 small sweet potato

1 small ridge gourd 

1 small long brinjal or a chunk from a large one

7-8 green beans (yard longs/borboti or french beans, either will do)

7-8 papdi or seem (flat beans) 

1 drumstick

2" piece of ginger

2 tbsp mustard paste 

2 tbsp poppy seed paste

1 tsp panch phoron

1 tsp randhuni (ajmod seeds)

1/2 cup milk

mustard oil

water
salt

sugar

ghee

Wash the jukti phool and drain in a colander. 

Peel the potatoes and cut into thick batons. Peel the ridge gourd, discard seeds and pith, and cut into batons of the same size as the potatoes. Don't cut the vegetables too thin or small or they will disintegrate while cooking.
String the beans and cut into 3" pieces.
Peel the hard outer skin of the drumstick and cut into 5" batons.
Cut brinjal into proportionate pieces, not too small.
Grate or pound the ginger into a rough paste. 

Heat a generous quantity of mustard oil in a wok or kadai and wait till it's properly hot. Fry the prepared vegetables one by one for a couple of minutes each and remove to a plate or other flat vessel. 

In the same oil, after you've finished frying all the vegetables, chuck in the panch phoron, randhuni and grated ginger (add a little oil if required before you throw in the spices). Let the spices sizzle for a few seconds and then add the mustard and poppy seed pastes. Add salt and sugar to taste. Keep the flame low and stir well to cook everything. See that the pastes don't stick to the bottom of the kadai.

After a minute or two add a cup of water and the milk. There are different methods followed with the addition of milk - some recipes add it at the end of the cooking and some add it early. I added it at this stage. Bring the whole mix to a gentle boil and then add the fried vegetables. Mix gently and then cover the kadai and let it cook over low heat till the vegetables are done.

Once the vegetables are cooked switch off the flame and drizzle good ghee over the sukto. Cover and let it infuse for five minutes.

Sukto often has bori (vadi or lentil cakes) in it. My mom would fry the bori and then crumble it over the cooked sukto before serving. I didn't have any bori so I couldn't do that bit. 

You can make sukto without randhuni. It will taste different but no one will accuse you of cooking a sukto that's not authentic. So don't stress out over the randhuni. 

There are many variations to the vegetables in a sukto. Use whatever you have at hand - brinjal plantain, radish, potato, sweet potato, beans of various kinds, gourds, and something bitter, be it bitter gourd or jukti phool. Did you notice there are no spices here apart from the panch phoron and randhuni?

Serve the sukto as the first course of your meal with plain rice. Follow it up with daal accompanied by a couple of bhajas and then a light machh'er jhol and you'll be on your way to a proper Bengali meal! Or just keep it simple and have it with hot rice and daal to follow.

 

Pui Chorchori - Malabar Spinach Stir Fry with Vegetables

Chorchoris are light side dishes that liven up a meal and provide plenty of nutrition thanks to the myriad seasonal vegetables that go into them. The spicing is minimal, usually dried chilies and panch phoron, apart from the basic salt and turmeric though some recipes have cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic and even onions. As with most things, recipes and traditions vary from family to family, kitchen to kitchen. I like the chorchori with as few spices as possible and use just panch phoron and chilli, sometimes fresh green and sometimes dried red ones.

The vegetables in a chorchori vary with availability and of course the preference of the cook and those who will eat. The usual suspects include brinjal, pumpkin, potatoes, flat beans, white radish.. the list is endless. Pui Shaak or Malabar spinach makes the base of this version.

Pui Chorchori

2 cups Pui tender stalks and leaves
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
1 cup red pumpkin, peeled and cubed
1 cup brinjal, cubed

salt
turmeric
1 tsp panch phoron
1/4 tsp fennel
2 green chillies
mustard oil.

Separate the leaves and stalks of the Pui greens, discarding the wilted sticky leaves and the thicker hard stalks. Wash the leaves and the stalks separately. Wash really well. Leave in the colander to drip off excess water.

Prep the vegetables. Chop the pui stalks into small pieces (2-3 inches) and chop the leaves too.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of mustard oil in a kadai and once it's properly hot reduce the heat and chuck in the chillies, panch phoron and the fennel seeds. It will all sizzle.

Add the cubed potatoes and saute for a minute. Then add the pui stalks and the pumpkin pieces and saute for another couple of minutes.

Add the brinjal pieces, salt and turmeric and mix well. Cover and let it all cook on a medium flame for a few minutes. Then add the pui leaves and mix again.

Add half a cup of water, cover and cook on a low flame till the potatoes and pumpkin pieces are cooked through. Dry off the water and check for salt before you take it off the heat.

Serve the chorchori with daal and rice, and a bhaja for a perfectly light Bengali meal. 

I Eat Pulish'er Daal to Grow Up Fast!

I was around seven or eight years old, on yet another summer vacation trip to Kolkata. On a warm afternoon I was at Khukhun Didin's house discussing the menu for the special feast she would cook for us, my brother and I, her very honoured guests. The shiny kansa dinner ware had been approved (at Lokhi Didin's house we ate off banana leaves with terracotta bowls and water glasses) and now we had to fix the dishes we wanted to eat. We'd also go across to Ranu Didin's for another feast or she'd feel left out, wouldn't she?! This was the advantage of having three of my Didin's sisters living just a few houses away from her. 

Mutton would have to be on the menu of course, with mishti bhaat, machher kalia, and yes chingri maach would be good too, cooked in any way Khukun Didin fancied. Now that we'd finished discussing the main parts of the menu I condescended to approve the less attractive bits like daal, torkari, shukto (eewww we don't like it so it can't be on the menu, no way!) and the bhajas.  

Oh yes, bhajas were expected in large quantities, and only aloo please because though I was happy to eat begun bhaja the brother hated begun (brinjal) in any form. With bhaja was always daal - actually it's the other way around but our primary interest was the bhaja so that's how we looked at it. Once the bhajas were sorted we moved on to discuss daal. 

"Ki daal khabe?" Khukun Didin asked. What daal will you have? And I promptly answered "Pulish'er daal! Ami pulish'er daal khai, pulish'er daal khele taratari boro hoa jay!" Police Daal! I eat Police Daal because Police Daal makes you grow up quickly. She stared at me in fascination and then went into complete peals of laughter! After drying her tears of pure delight she asked me which daal was 'pulish'er daal' and I looked at her in amazement - such ignorance! She didn't know what pulish'er daal was! Of course I couldn't enlighten her and she eventually asked my Didin what pulish'er daal was.

Years later, when I was in my early teens and learning to cook, pulish'er daal was a faint memory when one day I suddenly remembered it and asked Moni which daal it was. She looked at me in amusement, tinged with her own memories of her efforts at making the two of us brats eat our food without fuss, and revealed - arhar daal or tuvar/toor daal. 

Even today when I cook arhar daal there's a part of me that still calls it Pulihs'er daal and smiles. 

Pulish'er Daal

1/2 cup arhar or toor daal

a couple of green chillies

1 onion sliced

1 tomato, chopped (optional)

fresh coriander, washed and chopped

1/2 tsp jeera

turmeric

salt

sugar

mustard oil

ghee

Wash the daal and let it soak for 10-15 minutes if you like. You can cook it without soaking too. Pressure cook the washed daal with enough water and around half a teaspoon of turmeric. The daal shouldn't become a mush, the grains should be cooked but remain whole. 

In a kadai heat mustard oil and once hot chuck in the jeera and the whole green chillies. Add the sliced onion and fry till the onion just starts going brown. Add half a teaspoon of sugar while frying the onions. 

Pour in the cooked daal and bring it all to a boil. Add salt at this stage. My mom would add chopped tomatoes with the daal, I don't. I prefer the daal without tomatoes. 

Once the daal has come to a good boil stir in a generous dollop of ghee and switch off the heat. If you're vegan don't add the ghee.

Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh coriander. Serve hot with plain rice. 

Accompaniments with the daal are ideally a bhaja or two - this could be fried fish, fried potatoes, brinjals, pointed gourd, lady's fingers, bitter gourd, etc. 

Lomba Kaata Alu'r Torkari ar Luchi - Bengali Style Long Cut Potatoes with Puris

Sometimes breakfast demands to be elaborate. The usual toast and eggs or muesli simply don't make the cut and the heart demands something more. And then, if it's Kali Pujo, the demands are louder. Since I don't make luchis very often I decided Kali Pujo was a special enough occasion to put aside all thoughts of counting calories and carbs and to simply indulge. And thus we had luchi and alu'r torkari for breakfast today.

Now there are many different kinds of alu'r torkari, or potato preparations, that can be paired with luchis, the pale, pure maida Bengali puris. From a simple alu bhaja (fried potato) to a more elaborate alu'r dom, alu phulkopi, sada alu'r torkari, Bengalis have a wide range of options. One that my mom used to make very frequently was a lomba kaata alu'r torkari.

This is a very simple preparation with barely any spices or ingredients and is absolutely delicious. It's also quick to cook which makes it perfect for breakfast. Once in a way mom would make this early in the morning for our school tiffins too. She'd roll up luchis with the torkari tucked inside and put three or four rolls in the box, enough for me and my friends to have a high treat at tiffin break!

Lomba Kaata Alu'r Torkari

4 large potatoes
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp kalonji or nigella seeds
1 tomato
salt
turmeric
chilli powder
mustard oil
water

Cut the potatoes into matchsticks, not too thin. You can retain the peel, make sure you wash the potatoes really well.

Chop the tomato and keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a wok or kadai and once it's properly hot chuck in the green chillies followed by the kalonji.

Once the kalonji finishes sizzling, add the potatoes.

Stir well to coat the potatoes with the oil and kalonji seeds.

Cover the wok and lower the flame, let the potatoes cook for a couple of minutes. Do not let the potatoes brown.

Once the potatoes are translucent add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder, and tomato and stir properly to mix well. Let it cook for a bit, a couple of minutes.

Now add enough water to just cover the potatoes.

Bring it to a boil and cook uncovered till the potatoes are done and the water nearly dried up.

This dish doesn't have a gravy, but don't let the water dry out completely. The gravy should be barely there, just coating the potatoes.

Serve with hot luchis.

Here's the recipe for Bengali luchi.

This torkari goes well with porota and with regular everyday rotis too. Mom made it for dinner paired with rotis quite often. On days when you'r short of ingredients this torkari can be a lifesaver. For me, this torkari is something I associate very strongly with my mother - memories of Sunday breakfasts and special dabbas for for school. Such a simple torkari, but so much more than just a torkari.

Aam Daal - Bengali Daal with Raw Mango

I spent a lot of time in Kolkata last year and the urge to learn more about everyday Bengali food became stronger and stronger as I spent time there. On previous visits I had bought many recipe books written in Bengali, some dating back to the late 1800s even, and the food I ate at my aunt's table motivated me to return to those books when I was back home in Mumbai. My list of dishes to try out grew and grew. Many of these I've never eaten before but they seemed interesting and I decided to try them out one by one as I read more and more about Bengali cuisine and its recipes in books, magazines, blogs and websites.

Since mango season is on and raw mangoes are still available I made Aam Daal, something ideal for summer. I also liked the idea of cooking with something in the correct season instead of randomly cooking without thinking. I felt I was, in a way, cooking like our grandmothers did.

Aam Daal

250gms masoor daal
1 tsp turmeric
1 large unripe mango
2-3 dried Kashmiri chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
mustard oil
salt
water

Wash the masoor daal well and then pressure cook with enough water and the turmeric powder.

Wash the mango well and cut into large chunks or slices.

Heat mustard oil in a wok or kadhai and temper with the kashmiri chillies and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds have finished popping add the raw mango pieces and fry on a medium flame till the mango pieces begin to soften.

Put the boiled daal (still in the cooker) on the flame and add the sauteed mangoes and spices to the daal. Add water as required and bring it to a boil and add salt. Stir well and let it simmer till the mango is cooked but still firm.

Serve with plain steamed rice and a vegetable.