They say, Bengalis are the food lovers. We are considered to be the expert when it comes to sweet dishes. There is vast Bengal or especially Kolkata beyond Rosogollas and Mishti Doi. Every family here has their own one or two traditional recipes. So being a food lover this month’s challenge really excited me. I ran to the kitchen to my grand mother who always surprise us with her little secret recipes. After numerous questions she gave me three recipes, which are very easy to cook but awesome in taste.
1st one is ‘Gokul Pithey’. It is a sweet dish, generally cooked during the winter season on the occasion of Harvesting Festival or ‘Poush Parbon’. It is the time when every houses of Bengal smells with mouth watring dishes like Payesh, Puli-Pithey, Rosh-Bada, Doodh-Puli, Gokul-Pithey etc. I picked up the recipe of Gokul-Pithey from them.
My 2nd recipe is a sweet and salty curry, which can be served with rice, also you can have as snacks. It is, ‘Dim Beguni’ or Eggplant with eggs. Sweet loving bengalis like to make this dish with sugar, though you can reduce the use of sugar and make it spicy. Dim Beguni is a traditional dish our family, invented by my great grand mother during her days of being a refugee of Bangladesh. Grand mother says, they had a little money to have fancy food, while my great grand mother used to create such wonders in her kitchen.
3rd recipe is again a sweet dish. It is called ‘Narkel Naru’ or Coconut Ladoo. It is a special dish made during the Durga Puja time. It is the major prasad of Devi Lakshmi. Click this YouTube link to know the recipe of making Narkel Naru: � �https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPHgC10M7o&feature=youtu.be
Gokul Pithey
Ingredients:
- a coconut
- flour
- jaggery of date palm
- sunflower oil
- a cup of water
Procedure:
Grate the coconut properly then mix it well with jaggery by using hand. Blend the flour with water in a pot until it is condensed enough. Put a pan on the oven, make a condensed syrup of water and jaggery, put it aside. Put a pan on the oven, put oil in it for deep fry. Make oval shaped balls with the mixture of grated coconut and jaggery. Dip it in the mixture of flour then deep fry it in the oil until it is brown. Now put it in the sweet syrup over night so that sweetness can be distributed in the balls properly.
2. Dim Beguni
Ingredients:
- 2 Eggplants
- 2 eggs
- onion
- tomato
- raisins
- tej pata
- cumin seeds
- green chillie paste
- salt (accordingly)
- sugar
- turmeric�powder
- cumin powder
- ginger paste
- garam masala
- mustard oil
Procedure:
Chop the eggplants, onions and tomato in small pieces, mix it well with turmeric powder and keep aside. Put a pan on the oven put sufficient mustard oil. When the oil is hot enough, put cumin seeds, tej pata in it. now put the eggplants. Stir it until it gets brownish. Now put the chopped onion in it and fry well. Break the eggs in the pan. Now put turmeric powder, ginger paste, chillie paste, salt, sugar and cumin powder accordingly and stir again. When eggplants and the eggs blend and mix properly put raisins and tomato in it. Add a sprinkle of water to the mixture, stir again. When the mixture almost dry up and comes out from the sides of pan add pinch of garam masala. Dim Beguni is ready to serve.