Always a Hit, Alu Kumror Chokka

At my home, a kumro always swings between a Chenchki and this Chokka. Both are traditional Bengali ways of cooking pumpkin with other ingredients.

A Chokka is usually made with Alu (Potato), Potol (Parwal) and of course, the Kumro (Pumpkin). A handful of Red Gram (Lal Chola) is added to give it more personality.

A Chokka pairs well with porotha or phulko luchi, I chose to serve it with the latter today, since P favors them over the triangular parathas.

Ingredients for Alu Kumror Chokka are:

300 grams pumpkin/ butternut squash, cut into two inch cubes
2 medium size potatoes, quartered
Handful of red gram, soaked overnight
1 medium size ripe tomato, coarsely chopped
2-3 green chilies, slit
2-3 dry red chilies
1 teaspoon panch phoron
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
Generous pinch of asafoetida/ hing
Quarter teaspoon garam masala powder
Half teaspoon ghee
3-4 tablespoons mustard oil
Sugar
Salt

Heat the mustard oil in a deep pan. Add the panch phoron, dry and red chilies and hing in no particular order. Sauté them for a minute before adding the diced potatoes.
Toss the potatoes around in the oil for a couple of minutes and see them getting slightly golden yellow at the edges. Throw in the handful of red gram then. Stir continuously for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

Now add the pumpkin. Sauté for a minute or two before adding the turmeric and red chili powder. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, mix all the ingredients. Add half a cup of water, cover and cook till the potatoes are done. The pumpkin gets mushy quickly so it helps to add them a little later than the potatoes.

Finish the Chokka with quarter teaspoon of garam masala powder and a spoonful of ghee.

The sweet, fragrant Alu Kumror Chokka is ready to be served now.

And its no coincidence that Soma of eCurry too made the Kumror Chokka today. Its an abundance of the mishti kumro.

Kumror Chenchki and a Cut Above the Rest

“Cut the kumro and the potato into thin matchsticks,” that was the instruction my Mother gave me over the call I had with her to brush up my Kumror Chenchki recipe.

Now, chefs and cooks all over the world will tell you that cuts in cooking matter. Those who say cut/chop any which way you want to, have no inkling how dicing is different from chopping, and chopping from slicing, and juliennes from slivers.

For each style of cutting and slicing, the world of vegetable weaponry has also contributed well.

Some of which could even possibly feature in the top 10 most useless kitchen gadgets. Including a certain garlic peeler I have.

We Bengalis love to separate and categorize our vegetables by the different styles of cutting. The dalna will have diced vegetables, while the jhol should have them cut lengthwise. The alu bhaja ought to be little juliennes while the eggplant for beguni should be sliced thick, thick enough to be deep fried crisp. The lau for lau chingri should be kuchi kuchi, while the same lau which goes into making chholaar dal should be cubed!

While most of us now rely on our obedient kitchen knife, traditionally the bothi was the weapon of mass destruction in a Bengali kitchen. It could peel, dice, julienne, slice, shred, roll cut, parallel slice, you name it!

That ubiquitous bothi stayed on the cutting edge for many generations. The last to use it in our family is of course my Mother, who would peel the paka kumro with it first, then cut thick slices of it to cut into think matchsticks for the Kumror Chenchki. Next the potato was angled in a way that even peeling it with eyes shut seemed doable. From a long distance only.

I did not inherit bothi workmanship from my Mother. So I think I am more like my Father, who couldn’t do fine things. Except for the times when he was taking a catch in fine leg. He was a fine cricketer in the 1970s, who went on to captain his University and play Ranji Tropy matches. The story is that he used to go my Mother’s home (before they got married) to eat Luchi and Kumror Chenchi cooked my by Mother’s Grandmother.

Ingredients for Kumror Chenchki are:

250 grams paka kumro/ pumpkin
2 medium size potatoes
4-5 green chilies, slit
4-5 whole dry red chilies
2-3 tablespoons mustard or Canola oil
Sugar
Salt

Peel the skin of the pumpkin, and cut it into matchstick shapes. Do the same with the potatoes too.
  Mine of course were far from being “matchstick-like”. But this really is my upper limit. Pushing me further would have resulted in a chenchki disaster and a very teary-eyed 30-something.

Heat oil in a wok, add the green and dry red chilies. Let them pop and splutter for a few seconds. Add the pumpkin and potatoes, season with sugar and salt. Mix well, cover and cook till the vegetables are tender.

My kumro cooked in pretty much no time. It was a tad too paka for a chenchki, so when you pick your pumpkin, make sure you don’t use an over-ripe one.

I served my Kumror Chenchki with Phulko Luchi. Something which would make a great breakfast for Mahalaya.
What is your most useful and your most useless kitchen gadget?

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.