Gota Sheddho Revisited

I am a fourth generation Bengali to grow up in Bihar. I also went to a convent school. Such socio-cultural dynamics are not strange or unheard of in India. But they clearly contribute largely in raising a sufficiently confused young girl.

Tomorrow is Saraswati Puja in India. Growing up, it meant an extra holiday in school. I do not remember myself doing any prayer ritual on this day; although something that lingers on from this day is the taste of Gotta Sheddho, literally translated from Bengali as “whole boiled”.

I am told, Gota Sheddho is a Ghoti thing, where Grandmothers and Mothers cook at least five types of whole vegetables with lentils on the day of Saraswati Puja, and eat it the next day, when its cooled down. The day of Sheetal Shasti.

Saraswati Puja in the part of Bihar I lived in, meant young boys and men setting up pandals in the neighborhood and praying to the Goddess of Knowledge. It often translated into muted nuisance where the more boisterous boys would visit every home in the neighborhood to collect donations or chanda, which sadly was more forced than voluntary. These were also the boys who probably never went to school. So their association with “learning and knowledge” remained questionable.

But I do not want to undermine the credibility of their efforts in making arrangements for just one day only (though “celebrations” often stretched to a week). Loud music - most often the raunchiest songs of that year made a perfect set up to tease and torment scared girls who ventured out on the streets that day. Another reason for me to stay in and prepare for the final exams coming up the next month. Though traditionally, its a pen and paper down day in India for all students.

But watching young girls and boys in their finest dresses made a great celebration from home. Some girls as young as 12 or 13 would wear saris.

On this day, it is traditional to wear the color yellow (or mustard yellow) to welcome the Spring/Basant season in India. My memories of girls wearing yellow cotton saris, their hairs washed and smelling of Head & Shoulders, making a wet patch of damp at the back of their blouses where their hair ended are quite vivid. Each girl giggling, walking nervously in their little heels when they saw a group of boys coming their way. This day also made for a great desi, pre-Valentine’s Day celebration. All in the name of knowledge!

With all the Saraswati Puja gung-ho around me, I would shift between bending over the cast iron railings of our terrace to people watch, run to the kitchen to see how Mum was making Gota Sheddho and sprint back to a very visible spot where people could see me “studying”. Clearly I was the only one who was not letting the Goddess of Knowledge down.

Now back to the taste of tradition – Gota Sheddho. There is no one recipe for this vegetarian stew, packed with hearty vegetables. Each family pretty much does it their own way. I will of course share how its made in my family. I had previously made Gota Sheddho on a regular day and the recipe is here.

Ingredients for Gota Sheddho are:

Half cup whole urad dal
Half cup whole green moong
2 small sweet potatoes (either whole or cut into quarters)
Handful of whole green peas, remove the stringy part
Handful of broad beans/sheem, remove the stringy part
6-7 small eggplants
Few green chilies, slit
1 1/2 tablespoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoon mustard oil
Sugar
Salt

Wash the two dals and begin to boil them in a pressure cooker or a thick bottom saucepan – for about 25-30 minutes.

When the lentils get to a rolling boil, add vegetables, ginger, green chilies, turmeric powder, salt and sugar and pressure cook on medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes or until vegetables and dals are cooked. Just when you think all the vegetables and dals and well cooked but not too mushy, drizzle the mustard oil, remove from heat.

The Gota Sheddho is the right balance of sweet and savory, so do a test taste and adjust accordingly.

Nolen Gurer Payesh

Friday is Sankranti, which means its time to get Nolen/ Notun/Khejur Gur and keep a flickering tradition alive. The winter sun is at its glorious best today, it reminds me of my younger days in India, when my parents would get this famous date jaggery, Bengalis lovingly call Nolen Gur.

We would wait in anticipation when my Grandmother and Mum would get busy in the kitchen, breaking the gur down for sweet winter delicacies - pithe, puli, and payesh. All that is a thing of the past for me now.

What remains now, is just a taste in my mouth, and thankfully its not bitter. Its the smoky, sweet taste of Khejur Gur.

All I have today is a bowl of Nolen Gurer Payesh sparkling in the afternoon sun to remember my past and some forgotten traditions. And I’d like to share it with you…

Ingredients for Nolen Gurer Payesh:

1 liter half and half cream/full cream milk
3 tablespoons Basmati rice, washed and soaked in water
6-7 tablespoons of grated date jaggery/ nolen gur

Begin by doing this test. Boil half a cup of milk and add some nolen gur in it. If the milk curdles, you cannot use that jaggery for your dessert. If it doesn’t you are in for some treat.

In a thick bottom saucepan, boil the milk on low-medium heat, stirring continuously. When its reduced to half its original quantity, add the Nolen Gur. I grate my jaggery and then add it to the milk. It helps to quickly break it down in the hot milk.

Keep cooking the milk and gur by adjusting the heat from time to time. You literally have to babysit the cooking process. The last thing you want is to burn the milk and your precious gur.

When the milk starts to thicken, add the washed and drained rice.

Keep the heat on low and keep stirring all the time. Scrape the sides of the pan into the milk, if a skin forms on the top, mix that in as well, the real taste lies there!

Do a taste test and add a little more gur only if necessary. Remember all food tastes less sweet (or salty) when they are piping hot. Do not overdo the sweetness in the payesh, no one likes a sinfully sweet payesh.

When the rice in the payesh gets cooked, turn the heat off. The milk would have turned thick and adorn a color so rich, only Nolen Gur can flaunt!

Its now time to escape to the taste of tradition with a bowl of Nolen Gurer Payesh.

Its also legal to make Payesh with plain white sugar. Here is the recipe if you don’t have Nolen Gur this winter.

Thakumar Chhanaar Dalna

The Chhanaar Dalna (Bengali Cottage Cheese Curry) is a makeup recipe for all my vegetarian readers. I also want to remind the rest of you about the huge possibilities of vegetarian cooking in Bengali cuisine. This is an old-school recipe with paneer (Indian cottage cheese), a welcome shift from the matar and palak paneer dishes of the mainstream world.

Sad but true, in olden days, widowed Bengali women had to live on vegetarian food after their husbands passed on. They had to denounce worldly pleasures, wear whites, chop off their manes, and sometimes even live separately from the main family house.

Whoever invented a Chhanaar Dalna probably did a whole lot of good to such women. This way they got their share of calcium from the paneer, and a whole lot of flavor in the aromatic sauce of cumin-ginger-garam masala it is cooked in.

I love the old fashioned touch to this recipe, although I am not too pleased about certain stereotypes attached to vegetarian food in Bengali culture. Thankfully, a lot of it is a thing of past in urban families. There is no greater pleasure for me to see my own Thakuma (Grandmother) slurp on chicken soup. I have a feeling my Dadu (Grandfather) too is pleased as punch to watch his wife living a “normal” life from up there.

Ingredients for Chhanaar Dalna are:

500 homemade paneer, cut into cubes
2 medium size white potatoes, cut into cubes
2 medium size ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 inch knob of ginger
4-5 green chilies
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
One-fourth teaspoon garam masala powder
2 black cardamoms
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
4 tablespoons mustard oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt

Grind to a smooth paste two tablespoons cumin seeds, ginger, and the green chilies. Keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a large sauté pan or wok. Toss in the cubed potatoes till they are browned on the edges, remove with a slotted spoon.

In the same oil, add the pieces of paneer, give a quick sauté and remove.

Throw in a teaspoon of cumin seeds and the black cardamoms in the leftover oil of the wok, let them crackle for a few seconds before you add the chopped tomatoes. Stir well, add two tablespoons of the cumin-ginger-chili paste. With the back of your ladle, press the tomatoes to release all their juices. Add red chili powder, turmeric, sugar, salt and garam masala powder. Keep cooking this mixture on medium heat till the raw taste of the ingredients goes away and little bubbles of oil appear around it.

Pour about two cups of water into the tomato and spices. Let it boil for 7-8 minutes and then toss the sautéed potatoes.

Cook the potatoes till they are done, add the paneer, bring to a boil and turn the heat off. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed.

The Chhanaar Dalna makes up for a great main with some steamed rice. Serve it while its piping hot with fresh flavors.

Fourteen for the Forefathers

On the eve of Diwali and Kali Pujo, Bengalis remember their ancestors by lighting 14 lamps, prodip in Bangla. It is also customary to have Chhoddo Shaak, 14 varieties of greens on your plate this day.

Since greens make a pocket in my throat, I settled only for the lights.

Traditionally clay lamps lit with oil or ghee are lit in the evening to remember the dead. I am challenged though, cannot remember the names of my ancestors beyond my Grandfather who is no more. I quizzed my husband and he too did not fare too well. I had to know, as I am part of his family too.

What do you do on the eve of Diwali?

I am joining the Diwali party @ The Key Bunch’s Diwali Dhamaka.

More Diwali-related photos from PreeOccupied are here.

Purabi Mashi’r Purbhora Kankrol

It is the story of the lovechild of Mister Patōl and Miss Uchche, the unsung Kankrol. And its creator Purabi Mashi.
There is something about Kankrol and Pritha Dutta’s Mother - Purabi, I will fondly call Mashi* from hereon. Remember that adhunik by Kishore Kumar Tare ami chokhe dekhini, my feelings for Kankrol and Purabi Mashi can be summed up in its first two lines…

When I posted a recipe request and information on Kankrol on Facebook, one of the readers Pritha Dutta, shared a recipe which is her Mother’s. I had hit a pot of gold.

I had never eaten Kankrol until today. So I went back and forth with her on questions which would be rather obvious to certain more advanced cooks. But an intermediate cook like me has her challenges and blonde moments.

The much needed hand holding from Pritha had me doing this Stuffed Kankrol for lunch today, and I adequately named it after her Mum- Purabi Mashi’r Purbhora Kankrol. Say the name out aloud and you will hear poetry in food.

Ingredients for Purbhora Kankrol are:

8-10 Kankrol, preferably of the same size
2 tablespoons posto/poppy seed paste
Half tablespoon yellow mustard paste
1 small red onion, very finely chopped
4-5 green chilies, very finely chopped
Half cup all-purpose flour
Quarter teaspoon Nigella seeds
Pinch of baking powder
Mustard oil
Sugar
Salt

Cut off the tail of the Kankrol and cut them into equal halves. Blanch the Kankrol for about 3-4 minutes and drain the water. Quickly throw them in cold water to retain the bright green color!
 
With a little teaspoon, gently scoop the insides of the Kankrol out, without damaging the outer shell. Retain the insides for the “pur” (stuffing).

I am sure the original recipe creator, Purabi Mashi would have done a much neater job, but not bad for a first time Kankrol “handler”.
Make the stuffing with the “steamed” Kankrol insides, poppy seed paste, mustard paste, chopped onions, green chilies and a seasoning of salt and sugar (just a pinch!).
Mash all the ingredients with your hand. Start filling the hollow insides of the Kankrol with this pur. Keep the stuffed Kankrol lined up to go into a batter!

 

Make a thick batter with all purpose flour (maida), Nigella seeds (kalojeere), a pinch of baking powder and salt. Whisk well to avoid lumps.
Dip each stuffed Kankrol in the batter and shallow fry in hot mustard oil. You can use Canola oil if you don’t have mustard oil.

Keep the stuffing-side up in the oil and first fry the “base” for about 1-2 minutes on low-medium heat.
I took a spoon and started dripping the hot oil over the top of the Kankrol, just to keep everything intact. With a slotted spoon, turn the Kankrol halves to the stuffing-side down. Fry again for 1-2 minutes on low heat.

The Kankrols should look crusty and golden fried at the end of their cooking time. Its important the frying is done in a wok on low-medium heat so the insides are cooked. If the oil cools down, adjust accordingly.

I did what is done by Mashi, I served it with Mushuri'r Daal and gorom bhaat. A combination only a Mother can come up with! Or a Mashi.

*Mashi is Bengali for Mother’s sister.