Bori Chechki / Simple Bengali Bori Stew / Boiled Bengali Sundried Dumplings

Quick dishes comes handy when you have a rough day and even the small distance between your toilette and bedroom seems infinitely far!! Musurir Dal and Alu Sedho Makha with simple rice is an ultimate comfort food...but it is not a quick food. Cooking masoor dal takes time and so does boiling the potatoes to perfection. Then you have to chop the onions, green chillies....mix them up with mustard oil and salt and give those mashed potatoes a nice firm round shape. And then you have to temper and simmer the masoor dal with caramelized onions, garlic, ginger and cumin seeds / panch foron. After going through all of them....you can have your own silent time with your favourite Bengali Comfort Food.

But seriously!! That used to be my favourite when Ma used to cook them for me, and all I had to do was to eat. Sadly time has changes...and now I have to cook my own food (thank god doing the dishes is not a part of my job right now). So when I got to know about this very very quick and simple Bori Chechki...I cringe to it like it�s my long lost brother in a fair!!

Heat the oil.

Add the boris to the oil.

Lightly saute the boris until they are lightly coloured.

Add water to them and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the boris soften.

Finally add salt as required, mustard oil and slitted green chillies.

And its ready!!

The only requirement of this recipe is a good quality Bori. If you have that...then you are saved my dear!! Thankfully one of my in-laws gives delicious Boris on her rooftop...and she is the sole supplier of Boris in our family!! So blessed be her...and quickly before she says I am out of stock, I whispered in her ears about my need. My sudden love for Biulir Bori / Urad Dal Bori and Bhaja Bori / Crispy small boris, surprised her but she assured me that although she is currently out of stock she will give me some. Finally just before one day of our fight, she handed me over 1 kg Biulir Bori and 500gm Bhaja Bori. Should I thank my guardian agels?? Oh....I should...and I did!!

 Bori Chechki / Simple Boiled Bori / Bengali Sundried Dumplings

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

Enough bori for 3 people

� cup mustard oil

Salt

4-5 slitted green chillies

Method:

Heat 2tbsp of oil in a kadai and lightly saut� the Boris / Bengali Sundried Dumplings in that oil.

Do not brown the boris and make them crispy because the dish requires them to be soft and a little soggy.

Now add 2- 3 cups of water, salt to taste and let the water come to a boil. Add more water if you need because this dish should have a runny watery stew like gravy, where the oil will float on top of it. Since the boris will soak water the dish may turn dry midway. So add water accordingly.

Once the water starts to boil, drizzle the rest of the oil and the slitted green chillies.

Mix them well and simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until the boris are soft enough to break in just a touch.

Put off the flame and serve hot with some plain white rice and mashed potatoes.

Always serve the Bori Chechki right away because if you keep that aside for a long time the boris will soak most of the water making the dish almost dry.

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Niramish Lau Ghonto / Lau Bori / Bengali Style Pure Vegetarian Bottle Gourd Curry

The more you move out of Kolkata and enter deep into the suburb and village area..you will see a stark change in their food habitat and and of course cooking style. I have seen my in-laws being very heavy handed with mustard oil, mustard seeds and poppy seeds. In their breakfast they are more likely to eat muri or puffed rice with some potato curry and sweet. Sweet is a must for my husband and in-laws. They are crazy for the particular �makha sondesh� that is available in most of the sweetmeat shops in that area.

Breakfast with muri (puffed rice), potato curry, omelette and sweets.

DDLJ anyone??

One day in the afternoon 4 monkeys came through our main door!! Thank god they came, they saw and they left!!

The sweet is quite dense and rather coarse in texture. It does not come in any shape and rather looks like a giant mash of cottage cheese, jaggery and sugar. The price comes at per kg basis and it varies from village to village and the taste differs as well. The best I have tasted so far is from my husband�s village shop.

Apart from cooking fabulous Sorshe Maach and Alu Posto, my mother-in-law cooks some of the best pure vegetarian dishes I have ever had. Today�s recipe is just one of them. Earlier I tended to eat bottle gourd only with prawns but she made this beautiful niramish lau ghonto and I was just blown away. Although the taste is a little too much on the sweet side...but it tastes awesome!!! And after adding crunchy boris...it became the tastiest veg dish I have ever eaten. I just love this dish!!

My mother-in-law's specialty Sorshe Maach

Abandoned Kartik idols beside Ganga- Ghat.

Heat the oil.

Fry the boris and keep aside.

Heat some more oil and temper with panch foron, dry red chilli and hing / asafoetida.

Add the ranga alu / sweet potato, potato, turmeric powder and salt. Fry until golden.

Now add the boiled bottle gourd.

Add sugar and salt as per taste and cook until all the water evaporates.

Now add the fried bori and green peas.

Simmer on medium flame until the peas are cooked and finish off with a little ground dry roasted cumin powder.

Niramish Lau Ghonto / Lau Bori

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 small / 1 medium bottle gourd

1 medium potato � peeled and cubed

1 medium sweet potato / ranga alu � washed and cubed

A handful of green peas

A handful of bori / sun dried dumplings

1 � 1 and � tbsp mustard oil

1 tsp panch foron / Bengali Five Spices

1 dry red chilli

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp ground dry roasted cumin powder

A pinch of hing / asafoetida

Salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

Method:

In a pressure put together the grated bottle gourd, 2 cups of water and some salt. Cook them until the cooker blows 2 whistles. Put off the flame and keep aside to release the steam naturally.

Then open the cooker and pour the boiled bottle gourd in a bowl. Keep aside.

In a kadai heat the oil and add temper it with the panch foron, dry red chilli and hing / asafoetida.

Saute for a minute or so and then add the cubed potato and sweet potatoes to them.

Sprinkle the turmeric powder and salt over them.

Fry them for 2 minutes or until they become a little golden.

Now pour in the prepared boiled bottle gourd.

Stir them in and add in the sugar.

Put cover and cook until the potatoes are done.

Once the potatoes are nicely cooked from inside wait for  all the water from the bottle gourd to evaporate.

In a separate pan heat some oil and fry the bori / sun dried dumplings until golden.

Add this fried bori / sun dried dumplings and green peas to the bottle gourd.

Taste and adjust the seasoning. The taste should be more on the sweeter side.

Simmer on low to medium heat until the green peas are cooked nicely.

Finally sprinkle the dry roasted and ground cumin powder over them.

Put off the flame and serve hot with some lentils / dal and rice. 

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