MOCHAR GHONTO [BANANA BLOSSOM VEGGIE]

Banana Blossom Veggie is a regular dish among us...specially on an all vegetarian day. Cooking it is simple but the processing time is a bit lengthy....we need to have a bit of patience for this. What you get at the end is a less spicy veggie with a hint of sweetness that we get from the sugar & coconut used.The peanuts used gives it a nutty flavour along with the Bengali garam masala powder used! It may be prepared in almost all regions of India, I am posting the very authentic recipe of the Bengali Homes. I cannot have a mocha ghonto that has no sugar used in it! But yes, I wish to have "banana blossom poriyal" some day! I wonder how they cook banana blossom this fast when it requires a lot of time in our kitchens even after boiling the chopped vegetable in a pressure cooker! I do like the simplicity of a poriyal!

I have chosen this recipe today for a reason. The busy life that we lead today, such time consuming, traditional recipes are vanishing. This generation girls would rather go for a quick fix paneer dish than cooking this one. I don't blame them, the kind of the crazy life given, it is really hard to follow traditional recipes. They can always counter argue...'Did my grandmother go out for work?' Such arguments are needless. As far as I am concerned, I am not contemporary but primitive, love to follow tradition. I believe, if our tradition had been wearing sarees, it should not be done away with. Vegetables and curries that had being made traditionally, should not get wiped away just because they are time consuming. At least, to show respect to our tradition, we must keep them alive.

Some people close to my heart can be almost veggies. I do have a bone of contention with them, I would accuse them for lifetime for not treating me well, some of their associations I have always hated! Though there is no reason to do anything for them, as a food blogger I would want to believe I have a social responsibility of gifting recipes to people! They may live far away, unlikely to meet and cook a nice meal for them. May be they are busy professionals and away from their own place for a long time. Today's post is for them. 

Perhaps on a leisurely weekend, they find a banana blossom in the market, which reminds them of  how much pain their mother took to process it and with how much love and care she cooked it. Posting this recipe with hope that one fine morning , while exploring through the internet, they might stop by my recipe of Mochar Ghonto, cook it in their kitchen. Beyond this, I would not want any proximity with these people, they have caused me pain & insult! My contemporary Bengali readers may remember how they played with the maroon coverage of the blossom using it as a boat whenever it rained. I regret that our son never got acquainted with such little pleasure, they wouldn't know or look back at what we call "Bengali Nostalgia"! But the son eats "Mochar Ghonto", I should be happy about it! People change or not, relationships do change, it depends largely on our behaviour.

INGREDIENTS :

Banana Blossom [mocha] : 1
Potato : 1[big]
Ginger Paste : 1tbsp
Cumin Powder : 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As required
Garam Masala Powder[Bengali] : 1/2 tsp [an equal amount of cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves toasted lightly and ground into a powder]

Coconut Piece : 1 tbsp [cut small]
Roasted Peanuts[halved] : 8-10
Bayleaf : 1
Cumin seed : 2 pinches
Dry Red Chilli :  1 [halved]
Oil [preferably Mustard] : 2-3 tbsp
Ghee[clarified butter] : 1tbsp [skip to make it vegan]
Sugar : 2 tsp

Garnish with shredded coconut [optional]

METHOD :

Rub your palms with oil so that while peeling and chopping they do not turn black. Let us start with peeling off the maroon outer cover and take out the flowers. 

At one point, the coverage is cream in colour and cannot be peeled off. That portion has to be sliced & chopped off and put in a bowl of water. Our mother would slice & batter that portion! I would blog about it some day!

Discard the maroon coverage. We have to clean each flower at a time by removing the transparent case  and the hardest stigma from each flower. Chop the flower in batches and put in the bowl of water. Then, pressure cook up to 3-4 whistles at low heat adding water, turmeric and salt. 

Peel, wash and cut the potatoes into cubes. Marinate with little salt & turmeric.

Once cool, open the lid, strain the boiled blossoms and discard the water. 

Heat the oil in a  wok. Fry the potato pieces and keep aside. Temper the remaining oil with cumin seeds, halved dry red chillies and the bay leaf. Add the  coconut pieces & stir fry for sometime!

Once they turn light brown, add the ginger paste. Fry till the raw smell goes. Add the cumin powder, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder. Fry for a minute and add the squeezed boiled banana blossoms. Mix well. Cover. 

After 4-5 minutes,  remove the cover and add a cup of water. Stir and cover again. Keep the heat at low.

After 3-4 minutes, add the roasted peanuts and fried potatoes. Mix well and cover cook for 4 minutes. Remove the cover and add the garam masala powder, sugar and ghee. Mix well and cook for 2 more minutes.

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with shredded coconut.

Serve warm on a bed of piping hot steamed rice! It should go well with chapatis too!