CHINGRI TOMATO ALOO POTOL DIYE JHAL JHAL DALNA

I found this no fancy, regular, heirloom Bengali dish CHINGRI TOMATO ALOO POTOL DIYE JHAL JHAL DALNA to be a perfect share today .... I am not in a mood to be too elaborate today... neither can I after a fair dose of Turkish Yaniraki & Danish Vodka at a sis-in-law's place. This glamorous girl Gargi Neogy is an excellent cook, near perfect homemaker and a wonderful host. The entire period we stayed there..... we were on food .... succulent pieces of tandoori chicken, crispy fried fish, minced chicken & cheese stuffed mushroom, dates, chaats to start with and mutton, prawn, paneer kofta, pulao, chutney, kheer to end with.... and this greedy woman had f-o-u-r fish fries .... and she gives big talks to others. Well that is an inherent nature of some people to barge into people's lives and decide how their lives should be.... I have seen such irritating people since my school days who were more interested in ruling other's lives, alluring them to what and what nots.... that is fine if one does not use other people in the process.... What such people forget to do is minding their own business and life.... till date I can see they have not changed a bit and I personally prefer to avoid / ignore such people.... and the man who boasts of not been conquered by any does not go against his wife's wish in such matters... haha. 

Yesterday night or at each of these parties we were / are just free birds... thats when this lady expresses her concern to her not that bossing boss.... janeman when we go back from this island and arrange such parties... self proclaimed protectors of the society can barge into our homes and decide on our menu... drinks.... whatever..... Media is not entirely or always wrong and the news are pretty scaring.... anything in excess puts me off. Let me tell you a bit about this Yaniraki.... Last year while we went for the Europe tour.... Gargi's husband Kaushik told us to pick up a bottle from the Ataturk airport, given we do not get it anywhere in this island or may be even in India. We never thought of buying one for us.... oh my God... it went down too well with my taste bud.... the over powering flavour of fennel seeds took over me and I have to have it when we visit them. I was just beginning to get the right kicks.... thats when the danseuse Nibedita entered who publicly wants to share all her secrets with me, that I am not comfortable with! The thing is I stood straight even after four shots and reached home safely with help of the wise and sane Ipsita and now fit enough to blog about a family recipe from my side.... CHINGRI TOMATO ALOO POTOL DIYE JHAL JHAL DALNA.

So you get me there.... in a sentence.... I enjoy certain kisses and vehemently say no to others... and a no is a no forever to me... in a real life context. I call myself one whimsical woman who prefers not to be constant always.... I will serve a full proof Bengali lunch to my men, blog about a heirloom Bengali dish, will go for watching Doob this afternoon being a diehard Irrfan fan. Some of us may share more of Bengali recipes.... I do not know about others but I do it because I grew up eating them, I do not need to search Google for doing them.... and foremost we must contribute towards promoting Bengali Cuisine which however do not feature much in the world palette.... Leave alone the world, I doubt how many non-Bengali speaking people visit "Bhojohori Manna" located in other cities of India.... it definitely hurts. I also must say I severely dislike it when some in the known circle responds only to my Bengali posts... food or non-food.... I hate to smell regional... I take pride being a Bengali, comfortable in the language but I am equally friends with people from other states of India and abroad... my lunches are usually rasam-vadai or a dumpling or fish soups and I am pretty good at making aloo paratha besides macher jhol. I bake too but like a toddler.... wish to share a few during the xmas. 

I like it when my friend Bianca Castafiore shares pictures of perfectly made naan with  kebobs. Though I always doubt about the amount of chillies used but she grows a few variety in her farmhouse.... haha. Look at me, not a single vegetable survives on my balcony while some are growing them wonderfully on theirs'.... and I have to share our mother's winter blooms in a month or two ... though I have a feeling the brother does not like it. Only my orchids are growing without much care just as my hair.... that makes me happy. 

As usual I had to do a lot of "no-sense" talking before sharing this awesome Bengali curry recipe of CHINGRI TOMATO ALOO POTOL DIYE JHAL JHAL DALNA.... You will still find me tolerable more than I find certain overbearing people who had been such since ages. This authentic Bengali curry has a vegetarian version too that I have blogged about earlier. We Bengalis have a habit to throw in shrimps to the curries & medleys with various vegetables. At this home, doing that makes life easier for me as it helps me to feed them the accompanying veggies. Shrimps / Prawns are a regular at this home. An untimely and good supply of the summer vegetable called potol / parwal / pointed gourd made me feel  sharing this heirloom, regular Bengali curry called CHINGRI TOMATO ALOO POTOL DIYE JHAL JHAL DALNA  done with usual Bengali spices, tomato, potato, pointed gourd and shrimps. We have it with steamed rice, but you should not hesitate to dunk your hot chapatis in to it.

INGREDIENTS :

Shrimp : 400gm
Pointed Gourd : 10-12
Potato : 2medium
Tomato : 2medium
Ginger Paste : 2tbsp
Cumin Powder : 11/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 2tsp [adjust as per your preference]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Cumin Seeds : 1/4tsp
Cinnamon Powder : 1/4tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 3-4pinches
Cloves Powder : 2-3pinches
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Oil : 6-7tbsp [authentically mustard]

METHOD :

Peel, wash and cut each potato into four halves, apply little salt and turmeric and keep aside for 5-6 minutes.

Thinly peel the pointed gourds keeping a little gap in between, cut off the two ends and then cut half. Wash well and apply little salt and turmeric, keep aside for 10 minutes.

De shell and clean the fresh shrimps and wash thoroughly. You are preferably to keep the heads on as doing so enhances the taste, I cannot always. Frozen, already cleaned ones do not give you similar taste though I do it when my help is on leave... haha. Apply salt, lemon juice, little of red chilly powder and turmeric. Marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the potatoes till brown first else they will turn black. Take out. Fry the pointed gourds now in batches. Take out once they turn light brown.

Lightly fry the prawns discarding the marinade totally. Take out.

Temper oil with a bay leaf and cumin seeds. Take the remaining salt and turmeric, red chilli powder, cumin powder, ginger paste in a bowl, sprinkle a little water and mix well. Add it to the tempered oil. Fry the spice mix for 2 minutes.

Chop the washed tomatoes and add to the spice mix, fold in well. Once the tomato pieces melts totally, add the semi fried potato pieces and fold in well. Stir for a minute and add one coffee mug of water. and stir.

Let the gravy boil at low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the semi fried pointed gourd pieces and lightly fried shrimps. Stir and let cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes. If at any point you see the potatoes are getting to be overdone, take them out later to be added to the curry.

Add the sugar, cinnamon... green cardamom and cloves powder, mix well and let cook for a minute.

Switch of gas and serve CHINGRI TOMATO ALOO POTOL DIYE JHAL JHAL DALNA hot with piping hot steamed rice.... You can enjoy with your hot phulkas too.