Kumro Alur Tarkari

20 November 2008 1,812 views 8 Comments

Bengalis have a tendency of putting potato in any kind of recipe. It feels as if potatoes are an integral part of all the recipes. You can guess from the average health of all Bengalis, barring some exceptions, generally every Bengali signifies that potato look, a little more fats here and there. I too am not an exception. I like to add potatoes in different curries, though because of peer pressure the quantity has reduced with the passage of time.

Everyday after coming back from office, it’s always a pain staking job to think what to cook for dinner. Last night I was only left out with a piece of pumpkin and some potatoes. In my flat I don’t have a mixer grinder so couldn’t think of experimenting any other curries with that pumpkin. I took to cooking a simple potato pumpkin curry.

This preparation uses a masala that is a widely used spice in Bengali cuisine. As the name suggests (“Five Spices”), panch phoron is a combination of 5 spices, namely mustard seeds (sarse), fennel (mouri), nigella (kalo jeera), cumin (jeera) and fenugreek seeds (methi), you canknow more at Wiki.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Pumpkin (Kumro): 100gms
Potato (Alu): 2 medium sizes
Onion (Peyaj): 1 small
Green chili (Kacha Lanka): 2
Turmeric powder (Halud Guro): ½ teaspoon
Mustard oil (Sarser Tel): 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a wok
Sauté the onions in the heated oil and throw in the panch phoron
Stir for 30 seconds before adding the vegetables
Put in turmeric powder, salt and the chilies
Stir for 2 -3 minutes, and add ½ cup of water for the vegetables to get cooked properly
As the vegetables get cooked properly, take out from flame and serve with roti, paratha or rice

Check for more updates on this blog, till then Happy Cooking and Happy Eating

8 Comments »

Manasi said:

Not just bengalis, the oriyas love their potatoes too! The hunny would put taters in tea, if he could! Bet, he would love this recipe

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# 22 November 2008 at 10:01 PM

shaeri datta said:

hello
thanks for the recipies.i try cooking bengali stuff but mess up most of the times.will try bandhakopir torkari too. i stay in dubai ar ekhane ekhono panch foron dekhini. so made them at home thanks forwriting what they consist of. i missed out on dubai

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# 13 April 2009 at 10:57 AM

meetsudeshna (author) said:

@Shaeri,
It great to hear that my posts help people in need. yeh here in Bangalore, where I stay I dont get panch phoron, so had to get it from Kolkata.

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# 13 April 2009 at 11:18 AM

bonginzurich said:

great recipe. i love the kumro and alu combination. amazingly we get panch phoron in zurich switzerland.

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Sudeshna Banerjee Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 9:37 AM

Oh, this is a great news, becase I never got it in Bangalore, had to prepare it myself mixing up the spices. Wish you a great new year.

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# 4 January 2010 at 11:19 PM

Chhanda said:

Hey Sudeshna,

This site is very helpful, I have become a regular visitor. I use to ask the bengali preparations from my mother over phone but nowadays I just open your site. Thanks.

I have made the panch phoron at home by mixing all the spices.

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Sudeshna Banerjee Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 2:57 PM

Chhanda,

It’s so good to hear that from you, thank you so much for the comment. Please do let me know if you require any help for any particular recipe still not in the website. I’ll mail that to you

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