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Kumro or pumpkin is one of the most used vegetables in Bengal. From just boiled pumpkin with a dash of mustard and salt with warm white rice or chachori (type of Bengali curry) – it has its grand position. Generally pumpkin is used in vegetarian curries, but exceptions make the rule. A post in BongMom Cookbook website compelled me to try this recipe.
If you are somewhere outside India, I think getting hold of a nice sweet pumpkin is little tough unless you visit an Indian store. So, you can try the same with butternut squash. I was trying to search for the difference between squash and pumpkin. Though they fall under the same family in the plant kingdom, the difference is in how the stalk is attached to the fruit. The pumpkin has a bright orange skin with woody stem, while the squash is lighter and stem is soft and spongy. Coming to the taste, they are almost similar.
The word boti is probably a borrowed word in the Bengali dictionary. It means while preparing the dish you need to chop the vegetable in small bite sized cubes. Any other comments on how the “boti” word evolved, do share it with us.
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Kumro Chingri Boti
- 200gms buttenut squash or pumpkin, cut to bite size pieces
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ½ cup shrimps (10-15 pieces)
- 1 teaspoon panchphoron
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2-3 green chilli, slit from the middle
- 2 tablespoon mustard oil
- Salt to taste
- Clean and devein the shrimps, you can use the video below for help, mix these with a pinch of turmeric and salt
- Heat a skillet and pour about half the mustard oil. Fry the shrimps till lightly pinkish in color, Strain out the excess oil with a kitchen towel and keep for later use
- Heat the other half of oil, throw in the panchphoron and onion, fry till the onions are translucent. Add the pumpkin or butternut squash cubes
- Add the turmeric powder, green chilli and season with salt. Fry for about 2-3 minutes. Pour in about 1 cup of lukewarm water. Cook covered till the pumpkin is almost cooked, pour extra water if required
- Add the shrimps and cook uncovered for a few minutes more. Serve with warm white rice.
Hot Tips – here’s a video on how to clean prawns or shrimps
From other blog – You can try the kumro chingri boti from BongMom’s site.
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It is not my first time to visit this website, i am visiting this website dailly and get pleasant information from here everyday.|
This sounds yummy! I’m definitely going to try it out, thanks, Sudeshna!
I make this with onion & garlic paste with lots of green chillies. Yum!
That sounds great. will it sometime.