JHINGE-ALOO POSTO

The majority of Bengalis are religiously non-vegetarians, yet we prepare a wide variety of vegetarian dishes with perhaps anything available; from colocasia roots to bottle gourd to even raw banana skin. This is specially in case of those who hail from East Bengal. Before you say a big 'NO', I would like to invite you at my place, taste them and then say a yes or a no. We need to have at least one serving of vegetable everyday. A regular Bengali meal consist of  a fish curry, a veggie, a dal[lentil], some pakoras and chutney to end with. We indeed have elaborate meals.

Going back to the olden days and our custom, girls were married off at a tender age of say 8/10 with grooms aged 60/65. The resultant factor, they were widowed as early as say 12-15 and denied of all joys for the rest of their lives. No question of remarriage, they were forced to have vegetarian for the rest of their lives. There were separate vegetarian kitchens for the widows of the family who had to  bathe if they saw the shadow of fish. To  know more about the plight of our women you need to go through various books / journals / articles. Things started changing when some enlightened souls interfered and we are here today; get to study, get the right exposure. Conditions are still worse in remote areas though but improving.

It was from these widows' kitchens that exotic dishes made with the simplest of ingredients came up. I feel an urge to revive those lost recipes, irrespective of the likes / pluses  I get. JHINGE ALOO POSTO  is made of ridge gourd, potato and poppyseed paste. Believe me these three things are mainly required to prepare this recipe. We usually pair it with Black Gram Dal , Rice and my favourite; a green chilli & a raw onion;  uff do you need anything else?

INGREDIENTS :

Ridge Gourd [jhinge] : 3
Potato : 2
Poppy Seed : 3 tbsp[use white sesame seeds if you r in Dubai or Singapore]
Dry Red Chilli : 2
Green Chilli : 1
Salt : As per taste
Turmeric : 1/4 tsp
Sugar : 1/4 spoon[optional]
Oil [preferably mustard] : 2 tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the poppy seeds through a strainer and soak in hot water for an hour. Make a paste of it with the green chilli in the blender. Transfer into  a small bowl and add little of salt.

Peel and wash both ridge gourds and potatoes. Cut them separately into cubes. Add salt and turmeric powder and mix well.

Heat oil in a wok. Fry the potato pieces until light brown. Take out and keep aside.

Add halved dry chillies to the oil. Add the poppy seed paste. Fry until golden brown.

Add the ridge gourd pieces to the tempered oil. Stir for a minute at medium heat and cover.

Remove the cover after 2-3 minutes, add the potatoes. Stir well and cover cook at medium to low heat for 4-5 minutes or until all of the water dries up. Add the sugar and switch off the gas stove.

It goes extremely well with steamed rice and dal / lentils!!