Kumro Phool Bhaja, Pumpkin Blossom Bengali Tempura

Where else will you find pumpkin blossoms in Toronto?

Chinatown!!

From that same old Chinese lady who does not understand English. But she and I still talk. Since I cannot understand what she says in Mandarin, I resort to Bengali with her, “Didima, kumro phool koto kore?” (Grandma, how much for the pumpkin blossoms?)

“One dow-laar,” she’d say aloud and gesture by raising her index finger. She’d shake her raised finger a few times, till I nod and give her a loonie.

Our transaction is complete. I walk away. By now, I know that she doesn’t like people loitering around or taking photographs of her sitting on her folding chair by the Spadina sidewalk. They invariably get hit by the handle of her umbrella. And if you think I am making all this up, try dilly-dallying the next time around a very, very old Chinese lady in a sedge hat.

Six freshly plucked Pumpkin Blossoms for a dollar! I do not recollect having Kumro Phool Bhaja in my adult life. When Mum made it during those rare days that she did find them in the bajaar or some neighbor gave her a bunch, I’d ignore these pedestrian fritters darting for her chingri or fish dishes only.

But my sensibilities have changed now. For the better I think. I had never handled pumpkin blossoms, so I quickly got to work and requested for suggestions around them on Facebook. But looked like India was sleeping, as was my Mother. I relied on what was available next – my common sense.

I cut the stems off each blossom, removed the “stigma” from inside each blossom. I soon realized that the pumpkin blossoms have fine little hairs, which can become a little prickly. But overcoming them is not a big deal.

Give them a good wash in a colander and drain. They are now ready to become deep-fried wonders!

Ingredients for Kumro Phool Bhaja or Pumpkin Blossom Fritters/Tempura are:

6 pumpkin blossoms
Quarter cup besan/gram flour
1 tablespoon rice flour
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Pinch of baking powder
Half teaspoon turmeric
Salt
Oil for deep frying (Mustard works well, but you can use vegetable or Canola)

Make a batter with the besan, rice flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, turmeric and salt.

Heat oil in a wok.

Dip the blossoms in the batter and straight into the hot oil. Fry them until crisp. The rice flour adds a crunch to the fritters, which besan alone cannot do.

Listen to the seductive sound of deep frying while you are on with these blossoms. It does not take more than a couple of minutes on each side to get these fritters/bhaja ready.

Remove the fritters with a slotted spoon. Drain excess oil on paper towels and serve immediately!

These fritters are excellent on their own or served with a Bengali meal. It goes well with rice and daal.

Dimer Devil or Bengali Deviled Eggs

I stumbled upon this hilarious limerick, which was once doing the rounds in the cyber world. May I request you to read it with some passion and empathy for the poet. It apparently is written by a some inane Bengali school teacher, who has chosen to remain anonymous. And I can understand why!

Through the jongole I am went
On shooting Tiger I am bent
Boshtaard Tiger has eaten wife
No doubt I will avenge poor darling's life.
Too much quiet, snakes and leeches.
But I not fear these sons of beeches.
Hearing loud noise I am jumping with start
But noise is coming from damn fool's heart
Taking care not to be fright
I am clutching rifle tight with eye to sight.
Should Tiger come I will shoot and fall him down,
Then like hero return to native town.
Then through trees I am espying one cave ,
I am telling self - "Banerjee be brave"
I am now proceeding with too much care
From far I smell this Tiger's lair
My leg shaking, sweat coming, I start pray
I think I will shoot Tiger some other day.
Turning round I am going to flee
But Tiger giving bloody roar spotting Bengalee
He bounding from cave like footballer Pele
I run shouting "Kali Ma tumi kothay gele"
Through the jongole I am running
With Tiger on my tail closer looming
I am a telling that never in life
I will risk again for my damn wife!!!!

But what all wife-loving, o-phiss-going Bengali dutifully does is bring back deep-fried Dimer Devil for his wife for the evening jol-khabar.

Dimer Devil or Deviled Eggs (Bengali style) is minced meat (sometimes even vegetables) stuffed with boiled egg. The word "deviled" is applied to a multitude of spicy dishes. The culinary world defines "deviled" as “food grilled or fried after coating with condiments or breadcrumbs”. Which is close to this traditional Bengali recipe.

To get some egg on egg action happening, I will try and write down this recipe in steps so that its easy for your to understand.

Ingredients for Dimer Devil are:

4 hard boiled eggs, cut into halves

For the mince meat coating:

250 grams mince meat (beef or goat meat)
2 medium size potatoes, boiled
Half cup crispy fried onions (I used readymade)
Handful of chopped coriander
4-5 green chilies, very finely chopped
1 heaped tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
Half teaspoon garam masala (clove, cinnamon, black and green cardamom powdered together)
2 bay leaves
Quarter teaspoon of black pepper powder
Quarter teaspoon red chili powder
Salt

Cook the mince meat with little water, bay leaf, ginger-garlic paste, black pepper and red chili powder. Dry up all moisture and discard the bay leaves. Leave to cool.

Mash together the boiled potatoes, fried onion, coriander, green chilies, garam masala powder, and salt.
Add to the mixture the cooked mince meat and mix well. Use your hands, they work the best. 
 
For the final step:

2-3 tablespoons corn starch
Enough bread crumb
1 egg, beaten
Oil for deep frying

Take each halved egg between your hands, dust it with a little corn starch and start shaping the mince meat mixture around it, giving it a natural oval shape. They should be reasonably sized, enough bite to get satisfied with a couple of them for each person.
Roll each first on the corn starch, then dip in the egg batter and lastly on the bread crumb. Dust any extra bread crumb. Keep aside. You could prepare this and keep in the fridge and deep fry just before serving.

Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry each Deviled Egg till golden brown.
It is rumored that the Dimer Devil is top in the world of chop-kat-let! Its time you too took eggs where no egg has gone before and make this very seductive symphony of eggs and mince meat.

Serve your Dimer Devil with thin slices of onion and tomato ketchup. I served mine today with some chopped salad and rustic fries or like they say in Bengali – finger chips.