A deshi treat on Pahela Baishakh
Khichuri
Ingredients
1 cup chinigura rice
½ cup masur daal
½ cup mung daal
1 medium size onion (chopped)
5 green chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
5 or 6 cardamoms
4 small cinnamon sticks
4 pieces bay leaves
½ tbsp ginger paste
½ tbsp garlic paste
3 tbsp mustard oil
Salt to taste
Method
Wash rice and daal together and strain the water properly. Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions, cardamom, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Sauté them around 1 minute. Then add rice, daal and the rest of the ingredients. Stir them in medium heat around 4-5 minutes. Now add hot water, around 4 cups. Cover it with a lid. Cook in medium heat. When fully cooked, turn the heat to low. Serve hot.
Mashed bottle-gourd skin
Serves 5-6
Ingredients
Bottle-gourd skin (peeled from one-and-a-half-gourd)
3 green chillies
2 tbsp onions (chopped)
1 pinch turmeric powder
½ tsp cumin powder
½ salt (to taste)
1 tbsp coriander leaf (chopped)
½ tbsp mustard oil
Method
Take some water in a pan. Now put the bottle gourd skin, green chillies and salt, and boil them until the skin becomes soft. Then turn off the heat and keep it aside to cool down. Then make paste of the boiled skin and green chillies using a mortar and pestle or a chopper. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the chopped onion and sauté them until they become soft. Then add the paste, cumin powder and stir them to mix. Sauté the whole mixture until the water evaporates. Spread the chopped coriander leaf on top and turn off the heat. Enjoy the mashed bottle gourd skin with white rice.
Muri ghonto
Serves 2-3
Ingredients
One fish head (ruhi or katla; medium size)
4 tbsp mung daal
Two large potatoes, cut in cubes
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp ginger paste
Salt to taste
Water, as required
Mustard oil, as required
1 dry red chilli
1 bay leaf
2 cardamoms
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
Method
Cut fish head, as required; wash and then strain. Marinate the head with turmeric powder, salt and keep aside. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Fry the fish well till it turns brown. Re-heat oil, add onion and sauté till brown. Add potatoes and keep stirring. Now add mung daal and stir for some time. Add garlic-ginger paste; spices and salt.
Mix well and stir for some time. Add water - just enough to cover everything in the karai. Cover and cook on a slow fire till daal and potatoes are cooked. Finally add fish and mix well. Simmer for few minutes.
Shrimp with puishak and kumra
Serves 2
Ingredients
200g puishak (Malabar spinach)
1 cup pumpkin (cut in cube)
7-8 shrimps (medium size)
½ tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp chopped onion
4 pieces green chilli (split in the middle)
¼ tsp whole cumin , ½ tsp turmeric powder
Salt, to taste, 2 tbsp mustard oil
Method
Wash and chopped puishak; and set aside. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and let it temper for few seconds. Then add the chopped garlic and onion, and cook until the onion becomes soft. Add shrimp, pumpkin pieces, turmeric powder and salt; and sauté for around 5 minutes on medium heat. Then add chopped puishak, green chillies and mix well. Cover the pan and cook till pumpkin becomes soft. Turn off the heat and enjoy with plain rice.
Recipe: Erfan Hossain, Executive Sous Chef
Photo courtesy: Radisson Bay View Hotel Chittagong