Begun Pora
One can silently feel the emerging difference of taste and smell between classic Bengali dishes and modern art of Bengali cuisine. For example, the color or texture of the begun pora makha (char-grilled on slow fire – mashed eggplant) with the hint of the mustard oil and oven-baked eggplant prepared with other vegetable oils although both seems tasty, no doubt it will be a pleasure for your eyes, but your native taste buds will remain compromised if you use anything other than mustard oil and you would have to fantasize the original taste every time. So a classic Bengali begun pora (chargilled aubergine) recipe needs mustard oil and coriander leaves. No spice is needed only salt and green chilies, optionally a smoked red chili and a dash of julienne ginger.
Grilled vegetables
Aloo Begun Pora - Grilled potato (aloo) and aubergine (begun)
Ingredient:
- Aubergine - Begun 500 g
- New potato 2 to 3
- Asafoetida - Hing 1 big pinch
- Sliced onion - 1,
- Julienne ginger 1 teaspoon
- Green chillies - 2
- Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon chopped
- Mustard oil and ghee - each 1 tablespoon
Method:
- Pick a begun about 500 gm, wash and pat dry. Do not remove the stem. First dab some mustard oil to the begun. Now take asafoetida into the tip of a sharp knife and make small cuts into the begun (brinjal) with the knife. Grill the begun until it is completely charred on all sides.
- Wash and clean the potato. Put one grilling rod through each of the potatoes and dab ghee occasionally while roasting on low flame When potatoes became completely soft keep them for cooling.
- Now carefully remove the pulp of begun (brinjal). Mash both potatoes and begun together. Add onion, ginger, salt, chopped green chilies, coriander leaves, and mastard oil. Enjoy with roti or plain rice.
Tips:
Other similar roasted Aubergine recipes are named in Arab as Baba Ghanoush, Greek Melitzanosalata, the Indian and Pakistani dish is Baingan ka Bhartha or Gojju, Salatăde Vinete in Romania, and Ajvar in Croatia.
Begun Pora - Chargrilled eggplant One can silently feel the emerging difference of taste and smell between classic Bengali dishes and modern art of Bengali cuisine. For example, the color or texture of the begun pora makha (char-grilled on slow fire – mashed eggplant) with the hint of the mustard oil and oven-baked eggplant prepared with other vegetable oils although both seems tasty, no doubt it will be a pleasure for your eyes, but your native taste buds will remain compromised if you use anything other than mustard oil and you would have to fantasize the original taste every time. So a classic Bengali begun pora (chargilled aubergine) recipe needs mustard oil and coriander leaves. No spice is needed only salt and green chilies, optionally a smoked red chili and a dash of julienne ginger.
Begun Pora As I said there is an emerging gap between sophisticated Bengali cuisine of Kolkata or any other big cities of the world with classic Bengali dishes. Modern culinary art of Bengali cuisine introduced the names of the dishes to the world. Kolkata cuisine has become popular now, but Kolkata does not mean Bengal rather it means everything else but Bengal. From the very beginning the condition of life in Kolkata and the livelihood of the people living here and their manners are quite different from those Bengalees living in the any other part of the province. Simplicity is the key to the classic Bengali cuisine. Sometimes some ingredients are prohibited during cooking due to different issues and some must be eaten in the ritualistic way, but their creativity in the kitchen enriched timeless treasures in the Bengali cuisine. Bengali people provide knowledge and expertise in every distinguished flavor and taste to pleasure the taste buds and palate.
The urge of feeding tasty meal with restricted ingredients to the young widows, some innovative cooking options with less oil and less spices for the economically backward people of Bengal, encouraging the herbal thoughts during cooking for the acute and chronically ill person in the family due to toxic malaria or kala ajar (কালা জ্বর) typhoid, and cholera, go seasonal with the fondness of native Bengali people for observing rituals hence symbolized as 13 festivals in 12 months (baro mashe tero parbon) to gratify 33 crore gods as we know Indians are spiritually bonded to 33 koti devtas referred from Vedas. It sounds traumatic now, but ideally a kinship was started with a social harmony during the age of early social life. Some innovative dishes were made to please the land-lords or kings also. The experiments on simple food items gradually reached a high due to their artistic mind and ultimately food is portrayed as an art, "Randhan Shilpa".