Alu Chorchori Memories

My Mother was brought up by her Grandmother. Mum called her “Didumoni”. The next generation of kids called her “Nani”. The rest of the world called her “Maiji”.

Nani always wore a white tanter sari with black or navy blue border, a thick gold chain around her wrinkled neck, two gold bangles, one in each blissfully fair arm, the blue veins of which had started showing by the time I was a pre-teen, and the house keys in a silver keychain tightly gripped in her trembling but strong hands. I remember Nani always on her wheelchair. She passed on when she was 94.

Having a great grand mother living in the same city as we did meant I got to see a lot of Bengali traditions growing up. Like this Alu Chorchori which when literally translated means a potato mishmash! The Alu Chorchori was always cooked in an aluminum karahi (wok) in Nani’s home, and served in a Kansa bowl. I don’t have a Kansa bowl here, but what I do have is a virgin aluminum kodai which is good for any slow cooking because of its heavy base.

My Mum carried forward a lot of traditional recipes she learnt from her Grandmother, and since then passed them on to my little sister and me. Though I cannot vouch for my sister’s cooking! Last I know, she had ordered pizza for dinner.

This Alu Chorchori was made in our home on a lazy Sunday morning when all of us had the time and the tummy to eat it with Phulko Luchi and some Sandesh. By the time we finished breakfast, Mum would already be prepping up for a Mishti Pulao and Mangsho lunch. Those were the days…

And this is a night. When the husband and I return from work, and I am left to wonder what’d be for dinner. He has more important things to worry about - like why Pepe got the red card in yesterday’s Real Madrid Vs. Barca game.

Ingredients for Shada Alur Chorchori with Koraishuti are:

4-5 medium size white potatoes
1 cup green peas
3-4 green chilies
1 teaspoon Nigella seeds
3-4 tablespoons mustard oil
Salt

Halve the potatoes and cut them into thick slices. Slit the green chilies. Heat the mustard oil in a thick bottom pan. Add the Nigella seeds and the green chilies in no particular order. Let them sauté for a minute before you add the sliced potatoes.

Mix everything well, cooking on medium-high all the time for about 3-4 minutes.

I used frozen peas tonight, but if you can get fresh green peas, please use that.
 
Add the green peas to the sautéing potatoes and give it a good stir. Season with salt, reduce the heat and cover for 2-3 minutes.

Uncover and add a cup of water. Crank up the heat and cook the potatoes till they are done. Its okay to overcook a chorchori.

Enjoy Nani’s Shada Alu and Green Peas Chorchori with some hot, fluffy Luchi and Mishti any time of the day. Or night.

How Pabda Got Discussed, Got Cooked, and Got a Life

I am amazed and humbled, both at the same time how one little question can bring a veritable treasure trove of family recipes tumbling down from nooks and corners of the world. I am talking about several Pabda (Butter Catfish) recipes that readers and friends of PreeOccupied shared today. All I can do is, assure you that it will take you many Pabda sojourns to be able to make all of these recipes. I am so glad I am able to share them with you today.
Mala Ray Chatterjee of Hyderabad, India, shared a simple jhol with kalo jeere (Nigella seeds), green chilies cooked in a gravy of turmeric, salt and some freshly chopped coriander. I had all the ingredients at home and so I went on to make Mala’s Pabda Maacher Jhol. The only change I did make was to add a little grated ginger to my jhol and added red chili powder too the thin gravy of turmeric and salt where the fish got dunked in.
Subharsee Basu of Bombay was confident that adding a clove of garlic to the mustard paste base would take the taste of the Pabda Maach a notch or two above the ordinary.

Purba Mitra suggested a phoron of Nigella seeds and green chilies in hot oil to start with, followed by the fish to be cooked in a sauce made of yellow mustard seeds and poppy seeds. Adding fresh coriander in the end is a necessity – both flavor-wise and aesthetically.
While Amarnath Chatterjee of Japan who calls his recipe of Pabda, Dum ki Machili typed out a detailed recipe I am copy-pasting here: Try a yogurt, green chili paste thing....sauté some cloves, one black cardamom with some caraway, add ground onion paste, brown, add ginger garlic, fry, add holud, red chili powder then add 1- 2 cups yogurt and 8-10 green chilies turned paste, cook till thickish, slip in the fish, simmer uncovered till done...
Pritha Dutta of Delhi who had once shared her Mother’s stuffed Kankrol recipe had another ace up her sleeve. She bowled us over with her Mother’s un-patented Tomato Pabda. Here is the recipe: Shallow fry the fish. For a kilo of pabda, you will need about two tablespoons of onion paste, one teaspoon each of green chili, ginger and garlic paste, two bay leaves, 3-4 cloves, 3-4 large ripe tomatoes, ghee and Bengali garam masala. Blanch the tomatoes in hot water, remove skin and grind into a paste. Heat ghee, add bay leaves and cloves, onion, green chili, ginger and garlic pastes. Once the masala starts to leave the sides, add tomato paste, salt and sugar to taste, garam masala and some water. Add the fish, cook covered for about 3-4 minutes. Gently turn the fish. Cook for another minute, remove from heat. Garnish with slit green chilies. Serve with steaming fluffy white rice.

Ronita Biswas adds that adding a little drizzle of raw mustard oil (kancha shorsher tel) to the cooked Pabda Maach curry adds a whole lot of zing to the dish. Point noted, Ronita.

Prem Chowdhury of Virginia, USA, recounted how his Dida taught him a Paturi recipe with Pabda. He adds that the recipe just has onions and red chilies and is lip smacking good. One day soon, we will have Prem write out his Grandmother’s gem. And cook it too.

Two ladies by the same name answered the Pabda calling, both painstakingly detailed out their respective recipes.

Sumana Sen-Bagchee of Edmonton, Canada, whose aunt’s bitter gourd recipe was an instant hit with the readers of my Blog has this to say: Pabda can be done very simply too--with kalo jeerey or panch phoron. Lightly fry the fish if they are frozen. Mix in a small owl halud-dhoney and lanka powder with some water. After adding phoron and kancha lanka to the oil pour in the liquid, carefully, thin it if needed, let it come to a boil, add a few pieces of chopped tomatoes, cook a while covered. Salt it, Slip in the fish when the gravy looks nicely cooked, the tomatoes married, add some grated ginger, cover and cook till fish are cooked. Sprinkle a little mustard oil, my mojo for all Bengali food, sprinkle with chopped coriander. My mom-in-laws recipe: Pabda from Pabna.

Sumana Raychaudhuri of Maryland, USA, says her favorite Pabda recipe is a simple curry made with ginger and green chili paste. Here is her recipe: pre-frying the fish is optional.
Soak two inches of fresh ginger (after peeling) and three red chilies (for 5-6 medium size fish) in water for few hours and make a coarse paste with the same water. Soak two large tomatoes in hot water and remove the peel. Now make a smooth paste with ginger-red chili-tomato. Heat oil, add kalo jeera, green chili and the ginger-red chili-tomato paste. Add salt and turmeric. Boil once, add the fish and wait till the fish gets cooked. Garnish with dhonepata.

The conversation around Pabda Maach had just begun…

With so many recipes shared and discussed over a period of less than a few hours, I was left confused and lusting for all of them. I chose one and got inspired by the rest of them. I shall leave you now with the pictures from my kitchen on this unique Pabda journey. I know you will get this silver-colored buttery fish the next time you are in a maacher bajaar, and cook at least one of these little gems shared by all the wonderful people.

Alu Chorchodi ‘R Luchi

I had to write this post. I owed this to the many people who read distorted Bengali recipes on the Internet.

This is the easiest thing you can do with some potatoes. A quick sautéing of Nigella seeds and cubed potatoes, cooked with slit green chilies. Nigella seeds or kalonji is surprisingly the only spice which goes into the making of the Alu Chorchodi (Potato Mishmash).

A Chorchodi is never quite the same in any Bengali home. Its essentially a non-intrusive side eaten for lunch. A toned down version of a one ingredient chorchodi also makes way for breakfast or jolkhabar (evening snack) in many traditional Bengali homes, mostly accompanied with luchi or porotha.

A Chorchodi can be made with fresh greens like pui shaak, palong shaak (spinach), or kumdo pata (pumpkin leaves), along with a fish head (rohu or ilish) thrown in.

A vegetarian chorchodi is a medley of roughly chopped vegetables like potato, pumpkin, radish, carrot, flat beans, eggplant, drumsticks, and cauliflower. Its often high on its nutritive value; albeit by Bengali standards.

Unlike some modern home-cook’s versions, it is NOT a curry and there shouldn’t be any runny gravy in it. The thing about a good  chorchodi is its thick consistency.

I made this Alu Chorchodi with two large potatoes, some green peas, slit green chilies and Nigella seeds, cooked in mustard oil. Some people usually garnish it with freshly chopped coriander, I left that out today.

2 large potatoes
4-5 green chilies, slit lengthwise
Half cup green peas (optional)
Half teaspoon Nigella seeds
1 tablespoon mustard oil
Salt

In a pan, heat mustard oil, sauté the Nigella seeds for a few seconds. Add the slit green chilies, let them pop before adding the cubed potatoes. Fry the potatoes but do not brown them.

Whether they are mashed, stashed or fried, all potatoes need two things – seasoning and moisture. Add salt to taste and pour enough water so that the cubes of potato are drenched. Add the green peas. Cover and cook till the potatoes get mushy between your fingers. And all that water has evaporated. I served this Alu Chorchodi with some hot Luchi and shredded mango pickle (sweet).
Homemade goodness on a plate. That’s why I believe that simple things make you the happiest. But please do not call an Alu Chorchodi a Potato Gratin. That Bengali in me will beat the *beep* out of you. I promise.