Tuesday, February 05, 2013

The Bengali Labra again -- a vegetable medley

I am not sure if Bengali Labra has anything to do with this time of the season but I find myself making it more during these months than any other. I do try cooking a mixed vegetable dish at least twice a month, throwing in a variety of veggies and thus ensuring that my veggie intake is avergaed out but most often it gets done with a bag of frozen vegetables from Costco which is largely dominated by broccoli and zucchini. And then I throw in some pumpkin, some carrot a dash of kasundi to sweeten up the deal.



For the labra though I specifically buy the vegetables with "labra" in mind. This is an antithesis to my Mother's labra cooking where the dish would be made with bits of pieces of vegetables left over in the veggie basket from the day before.

But me ? I made a list "To make Labra" and on Saturday even went out of the way to get something like mulo, which I categorically hate, to be put in the labra. Now the good part of having the blog to post the recipes is there is always some reader or the other telling me how a dish could be done better, or different or their version of the same thing. This time taking cue from the comments in my last Labra post, I made sure to keep the cauliflower leaves and stems to be added to the dish.



The cooking of the dish is very very simple as you all know. All it does is tries to utilize the best of the seasonal vegetables using a bit of this and bit of that. There is minimum of spices like paanchphoron, hing and ginger and majority of the  flavor comes from the vegetables alone. The dish tastes better when some time is allowed for the flavors to mingle and is served traditionally with Khichuri on Saraswati Pujo or a light dal, rice and slice of lime for a homey meal.

For the Labra follow the old recipe -- Labra for Saraswati Pujo  --  which is now updated with more pictures.

Instead in this post, I will take you for a tour around the vegetable market in my neighborhood in Kolkata which are shimmering with orange, purple, red and green at this time of the year.

Photographs by my Dad @Kolkata

Oranges better known as Clementines are a winter fruit in Kolkata. They come to the plains either from orchards in Nagpur or from the hills of Darjeeling

Rec Carrots, Methi Greens, Sweet Peas and Cauliflower are some of the winter veggies that entice you with their beautiful colors



Cauliflower with their large leaves, the kind perfect to put in a Labra

For more pictures of Indian market see my previous posts

Haat e Bajaar e -- to the Market(I)

Haat e Bajaar e -- to the Market (II) 

21 comments:

  1. I just made khichuri today. I was thinking about Labra but there was no kumdo at home. Sigh!

    Looking at the pictures from the Haat, I am reminded about all those years growing up in Bihar and going to the Haat every Sunday.

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  2. Uff, labra je amar ki pochonder!! I am craving for some now.

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  3. Will try somwtime,,,will be perfect with dal chawal,..

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  4. WOW...I have not seen these carrots ever since I left North India 35 years ago. The carrots in the south are orangy, the sort available here in the USA. I still think of them as "anemic" when compared to the ones in north India, the ones that we used to go to the khet & pull out, rinse by the tubewell & eat straight away.

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  5. Hi,
    Where do you get the Kasudi from (& which is your recommnded/favorite brand)? Or do you make it at home? I live in NJ. Please do share the info regarding Kasund.

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    Replies
    1. My kasundi is from Calcutta, haven't bought any here. Did you check the bangladeshi store in Oak Tree ? they might have

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  6. I agree with you; I also do try cooking a mixed vegetable dish as often as I can, throwing in a variety of veggies and trying to not use frozen vegetables. (I always prefer fresh vegetables that the frozen, nutritional quality is unmatched)
    Regards,

    Photorecipe

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  7. Sandeepa, your dad's market pictures are the best. It captures the vibrancy of the vegetables and the people so well.

    In the third picture what is the vegetable between the purple carrots and tomates, turnips?

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  8. I made kaoner chalaer khichuri yesterday for dinner and thinking about labra too. I will make it on the Saraswati pujo weekend for sure. Do you put uchche in the labra? Bawro bawro korey kata badhakopi goes well in the labra too.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, in the recipe there is cabbage, though it is not there in this picture.
      No, no uchche in labra but again there is uchche in the pic :), I sauteed them and threw them in at the end though it is not a labra thing

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  9. Your Dad is so sweet - taking all these pictures, emailing them to you and being a part of your blog. I imagine he goes out, baajarer-bag in one hand and camera in another :)

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  10. how can you wash veges after cutting them?

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    1. Why not ? I rinse a lot of my veggies after cutting them. With veggies like cauliflower broccoli etc., I find it hard to wash before and only wash after.
      With tomatoes etc. you cannot wash after. But with some like eggplant, potatoes, I wash both before and after

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    2. Hi Sandeepa,

      Rinsing some vegetables, especially ones that have to be peeled (such as potatoes, carrots, etc.) washes away many of the water soluble vitamins. Therefore, it is probably better to wash them well before peeling and cutting. I usually try to follow this. With others such as cauliflower, it should not matter.

      I love your blog BTW,
      Suparna

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  11. I keep aside a couple of all veggies to make a mix veg or labra. Love cauliflower daata in any dish ... sorshe diye korecho kokhono? Besh hoye. :-)
    Fresh kopi ar motor bajaar theke uthe geche ... winter shesh. Another thing that I much love about this place ... fresh seasonal veggies.

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  12. I followed your link to the labra and made a huge batch with green banana, pumpkin, sweet potato, capsicum and peas. It ended up tasting sweet because of the pumpkin and sweet potato but I liked it.

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    Replies
    1. Sra

      You know Bengalis like sweet. We add little sugar to the dish even with the pumpkin :) Good idea to add green banana too. Also add some leafy green next time.

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  13. Wow,

    I loved the pics of the fresh vegetables in your neighbourhood market, Its very addictive to see such fresh veggies as I want to buy all of them. Labra sounds delicius and I am guessing its a very forgiving dish!!
    Shobha

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  15. I tried this recipe today (like you, I specifically shopped for labra). It came out well and was really enjoyed by the family. I microwaved some of the "sterner" veggies before adding them to the pan, as I was in a hurry - is that not very kosher?

    Last year I made charchari for my father-in-law who insisted it was labra, wonder what he'd call this dish!

    Nice way to eat a variety of veggies. Will definitely make again. Thank you.

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