Ilish Macher Matha Diye Pui-Saag Charchari (Hilsa Head with Pohi Greens)

The day we get hilsa, we end up making our entire course of lunch out of it. Starting with Hilsa fry with it’s oil, followed by charchari, then jhol, jhal and finally tak.

I have already covered most of the other receipes, today it’s the turn for the charchari.

Ingredients

1. 1 hilsha head washed and cut into halves
2. 1 bunch pohi saag washed thoroughly in running water and cut into 2-3" pieces
3. 1 medium Chinese eggplant (long brinjal) cut into big cubes
4. 200 gm. of pumpkin cut into medium cubes
5. 2 potatoes cut into thick wedges
6. 1 tsp. paanch phoron
7. 3,4 green chilies slit length wise
8. Turmeric powder
9. Chili powder
10. Salt
11. Sugar
12. Mustard oil

Procedure

Smear the hilsha head with turmeric powder and salt and keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a pan till it smokes and fry the head on medium heat till all sides turn brown. As hilsha's head is bony don't break the head much. Once fried remove from oil and keep aside.

Since we want to retain all the flavors of hilsha we won't discard the oil. Temper the same oil with paanch phoron and chilies. Once you get the pungent smell reduce heat and add eggplants. Fry on medium heat. Remove when it is cooked. We want all our vegetables to be cooked evenly; without making them mushy. That's why I removed the fried eggplants, which will be added later to the rest of the vegetables.

Add potatoes and pumpkins followed by turmeric and chili powder. Sauté on medium heat and cook it covered for 5 mins. Remove the lid and add pohi leaves and stems to it. Season with salt and sugar. Mix them well.

Cover and cook for about 2-3 mins. The greens will start wilting and releasing water by this time. Remove the cover and cook on medium high flame stirring occasionally.

When you see that the vegetables are almost cooked add fried eggplants and hilsha head to it. Mix everything together and wait till all the moisture gets dried.

Charchari is generally eaten with white rice.

Begun Chingri (Eggplant with Shrimp)

The name of this recipe is plain wrong. Chingri is not without any “গুন".

Keeping aside the regional joke :) this is a favorite recipe from Bangladesh. Eggplant is commonly paired with a variety of seafood, and this is a classic example of that. The mix of using whole prawns along with it’s paste brings out the flavor pretty well.

Ingredients

1. 1 large egg plant cut into medium cubes
2. 1 large onion thinly sliced
3. 1 tsp. garlic paste
4. 4,5 green chilies slit lengthwise
5. 1 medium tomato coarsely chopped
6. 15-20 medium sized prawns cleaned
7. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
8. 1 tbsp red chili powder
9. 1 tsp. nigella seeds
10. Coriander leaves
11. Salt
12. Sugar
13. Mustard oil

Procedure

Smear the prawns with turmeric powder, salt and keep marinated for 15 mins. Heat oil in a pan and fry prawns till they turn golden. Do not over fry the prawns.Otherwise they will turn rubbery. Remove and keep it reserved for later use.

Take half of the fried prawns and make a coarse paste of it.

Temper the same oil with kalonji and wait till it splutters. Add sliced onions and green chilies to it. Fry on medium high heat till they turn light brown. Add turmeric and chili poweder to it.

Add garlic paste and sauté for a while. Throw the eggplant cubes into the pan and mix well with spices. Add chopped tomato to it. Sprinkle salt and sugar to your taste and mix them well.

Cook it covered till the eggplants become soft but not mushy and then add fried prawns along with the prawn paste and mix it well. Wait till the oil starts oozing out from the sides. Remove from heat and finish it off with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

Dhaba style Baigun/Begun Bharta

Bharta is pureed or mashed vegetables fried on low heat with different spices. Baigan, Brinjal or Eggplant makes the finest kind of bharta. While in the traditional style the eggplant needs to be roasted over charcoal fire, I used electric oven to roast it. While in the past I have made my husband roast it on a camping stove in our balcony, I decided to spare him this time due to the bitter cold.

My father-in-law was a vegetarian and loved to cook. My husband use to rave about the bharta his dad made. So after getting married I asked him to teach me his recipe. When he was cooking it, he had a glass of heated mustard oil standing by. He finished cooking and as I was about to ask him, he pored the entire glass of oil on the bharta!!! Each time I make this dish I remember about this incident and ensure I deviate from at least this part of the recipe

Ingredients

1. 1 large eggplant (Brinjal)
2. 1 large onion slivered
3. 1 large onion coarsely chopped
4. 1/2" ginger minced
5. 6-8 garlic cloves minced
6. 3-4 green chilies finely chopped
7. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
8. 1 tbsp. chili powder
9. 1 tsp. coriander powder
10. 1 tsp. cumin powder
11. 1 tsp. garam masala powder
12. 1 tbsp. kasuri methi ( Dried fenugreek leaves)
13. A handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves
14. Salt
15. Sugar
16. Mustard oil
17. Ghee / clarified butter

Procedure

Wash eggplant and pat it dry. Make some incisions all over it to avoid explosion in the oven. Smear the surface with oil and place it on a baking sheet. Bake it in a preheated oven at 350F for 40 mins. In case you don’t want to use the oven you can alternatively roast it on a gas stove by placing it on a mesh and allowing the skin to char on all the sides. Frequently turn it around until fully roasted. You will see the eggplant is loosing its shape and the juices start coming up. On open gas stove it doesn't take more than 10 mins to get roasted..

Once done allow it to cool and either scoop the flesh out or remove the charred skin to get the flesh.  Mash it with a fork and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add minced onion to it. Fry till it turns light brown. Now add chopped ginger and garlic to it . Sauté till you get a nice aroma of fried ginger and garlic. You may add little water if the spices stick to the bottom of the pan. Now add all dry spices other than garam masala powder. Next add chopped tomato and fry well till the tomato becomes mushy.

Add mashed eggplant and season with salt and sugar. Keep frying mashed eggplant with the spice mixture till it blends well. Sprinkle kasuri methi and remove from heat.

Just before serving, Heat ghee in a separate pan  on low heat and add garam masala powder to it. Once it starts sizzling pour it over the bharta along with chopped coriander greens. Serve it with phulka or chapathi.

Begun Pora (Roasted egg-plant)

My initial attempts to make this simple dish failed at the very first step. Here in US we have electric coil cooking ranges which doesn’t give off any flames. While they maybe safer they fail miserable to roast the egg-plant. However, we did get to test out the smoke alarm (again and yes they work ).

The moment I raised the possibility to my husband he instantly headed out to the balcony in the sub-zero cold with his propane camping stove. Something like below (amazon link). However, we bought it cheaper (around $30)

Sure enough soon we had successfully roasted the begun

Ingredients

1. 1 medium brinjal/ eggplant
2. 1 medium onion finely chopped
3. 2,3 green chilies finely chopped
4. A few spring cilantro/ coriander leaves finely chopped
5. Salt to taste
6. 2 tbsp. of mustard oil
7. A pinch of sugar

Procedure

Wash the eggplant and wipe it with a paper towel. Now cut one or two slits into it. Rub some oil all over it and hold it over a low open gas flame. Rotate the egg plants every few minutes. After few minutes you will see the juices coming out of it. Gradually the skin will darken and you will start getting a smoky flavor. It takes almost 20 - 30 mins to roast the eggplant. When the skin is totally charred remove from the flame. Allow it to cool. Then carefully remove the burnt skin.

Mash the eggplant and add chopped onion, green chilies, coriander leaves, salt and sugar to it. Drizzle one or two tsp. of mustard oil over it. Now your begun pora is ready to be served with hot phulka.

Note: If you really don't have an open flame gas stove you can roast  your eggplant in oven. It generally takes an hour to roast inside the oven.

Begun Basanti (Eggplants In A Creamy Mustard Sauce)

Bong’s just need an excuse to use mustard in a recipe. This dish provides ample excuse for that. Inspired by all the Italian restaurants who make such delicacies out of eggplant, I thought I’d share one from our own cuisine.

I have some vegetarian friends, this goes out to them…

Ingredients

1. 4 long slender eggplant each cut into 2 length wise pieces
2. 4 tbsp mustard seeds
3. Half cup grated coconut fresh or frozen
4. 5,6 green chilies
5. Chopped coriander leaf
6. Half cup yogurt
7. 1 tsp. kalonji / nigella seeds
8. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
9. Salt
10. Sugar
11. Oil ( I prefer mustard oil. You can use canola or sunflower oil)

Procedure

1. Make a fine paste of mustard seeds with 2 green chilies, grated coconut and yogurt.
2. Smear the eggplant pieces with salt and turmeric powder.
3. Heat mustard oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the eggplant pieces till they are light brown in color. Remove from the oil and keep aside.
4. Take fresh oil in a cooking pan and heat it. Temper with kalonji/Nigella seeds. When the spices start dancing (yep the do that) add mustard and yogurt paste. Add little turmeric powder. Sauté till the oil separates out.
5. Add half a cup of water, salt and sugar to taste. Allow it to boil.
6. Once it starts boiling dip the fried egg plants to it. Cover and cook it for 2-3 mins. By this time the eggplants will be well coated by mustard yogurt sauce.
7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and green chilies.

Serve with steaming white rice.