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.

Two Simple Macher Jhol Just Like Mommy Makes It!

A Jhol has many avatars in a Bong’s kitchen – mangshor jhol, murgir jhol, macher jhol, dimer jhol…

If you haven’t got the drift yet, you can make a Jhol by pretty much adding any vegetable or fish and meat in a runny curry and call it Jhol!
I am particularly fond of these two Macher Jhol I am going to share with you today. They will stump you with the simplicity and ease with which they are made. You will also reckon that both these versions are pretty similar, ingredient-wise. Except for the key difference – the main spice that distinguishes a jeerer (cumin) jhol from a shorse batar (mustard paste) jhol.

Both these jhol should be served with steaming hot rice and a hearty squirt of lemon juice.

The jeerer jhol is light on the tummy. In olden days, it was  often given to “patients” recovering from a fever or some such diagnosed disease. Though I have used Rohu (fresh water carp), it isn’t surprising to see a jeeyol mach (or shingi mach) thrown in in this kind of Jhol. Essentially as this kind of fish is easy to digest and good for health.

The shorshe jhol is for more celebrative days. The pungent taste of mustard gets rightly balanced by the vegetables and the tartness of tomatoes.

(The photos in this post are from two days, two recipes. One with ground cumin and the other with yellow mustard seeds.)

Ingredients for Macher Jhol are:

4-6 Pieces of shallow-fried fresh water carp (preferably Rohu)
Seasonal vegetables like cauliflower, beans, eggplant, sugar peas (whole), raw/ green banana and potato diced or cut lengthwise
2 medium size ripe tomatoes
Few green chilies
Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 tablespoons cumin powder or paste of the same quantity of freshly ground yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
Mustard oil
Salt

The way to fry the fish is to rub salt and turmeric on it and shallow fry in hot mustard oil. Keep aside.

In the same oil, sauté the vegetables, the same kinds together.
Keep them aside.

Make a runny mixture with the cumin powder (or mustard powder), turmeric, red chili powder, slit green chilies, salt and coarsely chopped tomatoes, adding about two cups of water.

In the same pan/wok that you fried the fish and vegetables, add this mixture and bring to a quick boil.

Now add the hardy vegetables first followed by the ones which do not take much time to cook.

Once the vegetables have cooked (but not mushy), add the pieces of fried fish. Give it one good boil, check the salt and turn the heat off. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander.
Serve hot with plain rice and lemon wedges. Its okay to re-heat the macher jhol but be careful that the delicate pieces of fish don’t disintegrate.

That’s your jeere or shorsher Macher Jhol. Hearty, healthy and very wholesome.
You can drop out the fish pieces and make a vegetarian jhol too with this recipe.

Oven-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

There is nothing more fun than the times someone else cooks for you. This time it was my obedient oven.

I usually make oven-roasted chicken when all my other dinner ideas run dry. Its healthy and wholesome and doesn't need much supervision either.

I will first list out the ingredients for my chicken roast and then the steps.

Ingredients for Oven-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables are:

1 whole chicken, skin on, without giblets (about 1.5 kg)
Unsalted butter
Half teaspoon dried rosemary
Half teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper powder
Salt

1 medium red onion, cut into quarters
Handful of green beans, halved
Baby potatoes, skin on and halved
2-3 carrots, diced
Cloves of garlic

You can even use mushrooms, cauliflowers and seasonal root vegetables.

Truss your chicken. We don’t want Miss Chicken spreading her wings and legs while she is being roasted. That’s very unbecoming of ladies!

Mix the butter, dried herbs, pepper and salt. The idea here is to get under the skin of Miss Chicken. Take little portions of the rub, with your fingers, find edges, nooks and corners under the skin of the chicken and gently rub the butter mixture on. This will keep the chicken moist.

Once the insides are nicely stuffed, rub the same mixture all over the chicken from the outside.

Make a bed of vegetables on your baking dish and place Miss Chicken on top!

Pre-heat the oven to 425° F. I start with my chicken chest down, back up when I am roasting. Once the oven has fired up a bit, I reduce the temperature to 350!

I keep turning the sides after every 15 minutes. The idea is to get the breast side up when I finish. Its as if Miss Chicken is experimenting with different sleeping positions!

It takes about an hour and change to finish roasting the chicken. Poke a fork in the chicken to see if the juices run clear, that’s the sign of a cooked chicken. The melted butter and juices from the chicken will add a lot of flavor to the bed of vegetables.

Let the chicken stand for about 10 minutes before you carve and serve.

I served my oven-roasted chicken with the juicy vegetables and slices of fresh bread.

Black

Someone once said, “You've got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that's real.”

For me, black is not a color. Its a culture. The queen of colors. It charms, it makes you sin and it also makes you bow your head in humility. That’s the power of Black.

Let Black control your imagination and see how delicious shadows are created…

I love black so much, I almost want to take all my photos in Black! And when I am in doubt, I always wear black.

What’s your color?

See more photos here.