Kumro chokka
A delicious Bengali side dish for parathas and pooris made with pumpkins and potatoes that makes for a yummy breakfast/brunch
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pot
Ingredients
- 500 g kumro/ripe pumpkin diced
- 250 g potatoes diced
- 1 tsp paanch phoron*
- 1 dried red chili
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1½ tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp bhaja moshla**
- 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 2-3 fresh chilis slit
- ¼ cup black chickpeas soaked overnight or canned
- ¼ cup freshly grated coconut
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp mustard oil or any oil of choice
- 2 tbsp ghee
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat mustard oil until it smokes, then lower the heat and add the dried chili and paanch phoron. When they tun aromatic add, the potatoes and stir on medium heat until slightly browned
- Then add in the chickpeas along with the ginger, spice powders and 2-3 tablespoons of water. Mix well and cook for couple minutes
- Add the pumpkins, chilis, sugar and salt. Give it a mix and then add the turmeric, cumin and coriander powders. Stir well, cover and cook over medium flame, until the vegetables are completely cooked but still remain firm, so keep an eye
- Stir, intermittently, and add splashes of hot water so that the potatoes and/or pumpkins do not stick to the pot, while cooking. Mine took about 15 more minutes from here to cook through
- When done, turn the flame off and add the grated coconut, ghee and the bhaja moshla. Mix gently and keep covered for 5 minutes
- Serve the lip smacking and comforting kumro chokka with parathas, pooris and/or rotis. Enjoy!
Notes
- *Paanch phoron is a Bengali whole spice mix made up of equal quantities of nigella seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. You will need only a teaspoon of this for this recipe
- **To make the bhaja moshla, dry roast dried red chilis and cumin seeds together, until fragrant. Cool these down completely and then grind it to a fine powder
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon
- g - grams