Bandhakopi'r Ghonto -- a dry Cabbage Dish

Bandhakopi'r Ghonto |  Bengali Cabbage and Potatoes Sabzi

Bandhakopir Ghonto or Bandhakopir Tarkari, is a regular in Bengali homes during winter, the season when the best cabbage is found. This dry stir fry of finely chopped cabbage with cubed potatoes and sweet peas is served with both rice or rotis. The uniqueness of these vegetarian dish in Bengali homes is that they are easily turned into a non-veg side dish with addition of fried shrimp or even a fried fish head(Maacher Maatha diye Bandhakopi)

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What is a Ghonto ? In simple words it is a dry vegetable dish cooked in a Bengali Kitchen

But the simplicity ends there. All dry vegetable dishes are NOT Ghonto, ghonto is a mere subset of all possible dry vegetable dishes in the Bengali Kitchen. Incidentally there is also an area of intersection with dry non-veg dishes.

What is the unique feature which binds all ghonto ? No clue, except for use of some common spices. For some strange reason unknown to me, there is BandhaKopi'r Ghonto (a dry Cabbage dish), Lau Ghonto( a dry Bottle Gourd dish), Mulo Ghonto(with radish) but there never is a Dharosh(Okra) Ghonto.

After much brainstorming(yeah I need to storm my brain on such complex matters), it dawned on me that "Ghonto" is derived from the word "Gha(n)ta" in Bengali, which means to mix.While Charchari derived its name from the method of cooking which lets the veggies char a little, I guess Ghonto too derived its name from a cooking method where you basically, mix/stir and cook. So while you wouldn't stir a Charchari much in a Ghonto you would. Following that logic, you would need veggies that can retain their shape even on mixing and so you choose veggies like Cabbage, Bottle Gourd, Radish etc. for your ghonto and not softer ones like Okra. This is just my theory, if you have any idea on the nomenclature, please do share.

For carnivorous bongs, every veggie dish has a non-veg equivalent so though Ghonto is largely a vegetarian dish you also have Muri Ghonto with Fish head and you can add fish head or shrimp even to a BandhaKopi'r Ghonto or a Lau Ghonto.

Again for some strange reason though a Bong will add Fish or Fish head to a very vegetarian dish(as above) they will not even use onion or garlic when cooking the same vegetarian dish sans the fish. So a typical BandhaKopi'r Ghonto or Lau Ghonto or whatever will not have onions or garlic and same is true for any charchari

The recipe I have here is a niramish(veg) BandhaKopi'r Ghonto that my Ma makes. To make it amish(non-veg) she will just add fried shrimp to it or fried pieces of fish head. This is usually served with Rice and Dal for everyday Lunch, with Rotis for Dinner and sometimes with Khichuri in a comunity feast like Picnic etc. You can squirt a little lime juice and have a bowl of it, just by it self too, I like it that way.

I usually don't cook my cabbage to death, I like it crunchy but usually in this dish it is cooked till the cabbage loses all its crunchiness. The hubby says my Cabbage dish reminds him of the cabbage cooked during the neighborhood picnics that he went to as a kid. That doesn't sound like a compliment, I am guessing he says that because my cabbage has a crunch and not because he has bad cabbage memories from the picnics.

Mommy of 2 -- Lesson # 3

Your child starts reading, now you better stop.

Your child has started reading, now she is reading books, she can read an entire book by herself, you are one proud Mom or Dad, you have a feeling of déjà vu BUT wait don't get too elated. There is a downside to this whole thing which might not have crossed your mind when you were desperately trying to teach her the difference between "C" in Cinderella and "C" in Cat.

Pros of Reading:

• The child can read, reading is definitely a good habit, being a voracious reader myself I don't have enough words to say how reading can change one's life.
• You no longer have to read your child a bed time story and so can utilize that time for better things like maybe blogging
• If the older one reads, you might just get away reading a bed time story to the younger one. Yeah, delegate and so now the older one reads to the younger one. Yippeee!!!
• Your child can now read road signs and give you directions from the back seat.

Cons of Reading (not to be taken seriously) :

• You no longer can read whatever you want. If you are the kind of person who has hoity-toity coffee table books and cheap romantic trash in the bedroom, your life is doomed. You wouldn't like it if your 5 year old picks up one of those and reads a page aloud...ahem
• You can no longer take her and roam freely through all aisles of the Super Market, you never know what might spring up. I suggest keep away from aisles labeled "Feminine Hygiene" and such
• You can no longer write a blog where you exaggerate and basically write stuff which might not be exactly true to life, small deviations like "I made Chicken Curry yesterday" might make her comment, "No, you did not make it yesterday, it was 2 days back"
• She peers over your shoulder while you type and suggests that you put her stuff on the blog too, so your personal space is no longer yours now.

Since Big Sis S started reading fluently a year back, I have to be more careful around her at home. More than her own books, she is interested in reading my e-mail or the bills or even Toys R Us fliers and at times my blog. She does read to her sis, which is a good thing though

Last snow day, when we all were at home, she baked some cookies and wanted them to be put on my blog. I am no baker and we made the cookies from Betty Crocker Cookie Mix, it didn't matter she still wants it on the blog.

We also used up our time that day by making a book. I cut up some of her old daily sheets (we reuse all such papers by using them for printing, drawing, writing etc.) and she made a book with a story and illustration. The book was much liked by her teacher and classmates. When she had first started reading books, she would read every page from the cover to back, including the author, publisher, illustrator, etc. and in the right order. She has gotten over that now but she insists on writing "By S...." in the cover page and insists that she is an author.

Also here are some of her recent drawings. Check out Dora in high heels.
The little girl might object to some of the above things I have written, but come on there is something called the author's license

On another note, to get your kids interested in reading try these

• Start early (as in once they recognize alphabets) and ask her to read out aloud and sound out letters when you are at the store, on the road where ever
• Get those fridge letter magnets and form words with them which she can read. This can be done any time, all the time.
• You need to read to at least initiate her interest. If you don't have any books at home or a reading atmosphere, and ask her to sit and read that won't help a whole lot. Once she is into it, go watch your TV
• Go to the library or the bookstore and spend time browsing, borrowing, reading.
• Ask her to read and write your grocery list to show how reading is incorporated in daily life. She will get a kick out of writing and reading simple words like Milk, Egg etc.
• Ask her to read instructions of her new game, the card she has received, her school calendar which shows the "pizza day"
• And again each child will read, write, do whatever at their own pace, don't rush and be patient.

Happy Holi and Happy Reading !!!

Mushroom Olu & Taher

Lousy picture but heavenly Taste

(This was cooked last Tuesday(02/24/09) and drafted last Wednesday)

To go with the President's fiery speech yesterday, this is what I made. I am a big fan of that guy so I will refrain from discussing his dog, his wife and his stimulus here. But that man surely inspires, how else do you think me who has to be up by 5:30 in the morning after a midnight feeding break, would start cooking at 9:00 on a work week night. I would have normally just served leftover dal with an omlette but I made this fiery dish instead.

Anita's tcharvan-olu was reincarnated in my home but with mushroom & potatoes. I didn't have a goat tied in my backyard and so had to resort to mushroom. It was wonderful to say the least.

Next I wanted to have it with taher. Though mustard oil is a staple at Bengali homes I had never had rice infused with mustard oil. Many a days back in my grandma's home, when the refrigerator was not in vogue, left over rice would be saved for next day by soaking the cooked rice in cold water overnight. For morning breakfast my ma & Aunts would some times have that with Mustard Oil, Green Chillies, raw Red onions and maybe Kaancha Posto(poppy seed paste). This rice was called Paanta Bhaat. My Ma was not fond of this and would usually avoid having it and never let me have it. My Kakima/Aunt however loved this rice and would often have it for herself and during summer holidays I would get a share of that "Paanta Bhaat" on some days. That is the closest I have come to have rice flavored with Mustard Oil

Taher, therefore excited me and satisfied me and the husband's taste buds fully. To do this cook rice with a little turmeric. Once the rice is done fluff it with a fork so that you can see the grains. Heat Mustard oil to smoking and then mix it with a little salt with the rice.

This with the mushroom-olu was bliss. This Kashmiri recipe is there to stay in our Bengali home for sure. I would insist that you use Mustard Oil for both Mushroom-Olu and Taher. Both dishes are very simple and light if you consider the spices, it is the Mustard Oil that lends it the flavor, with any other oil it may taste flat. So go ahead and buy that bottle.

Aloo Mushroom

Quick Recipe Recap:

Heat Mustard Oil

Temper with a biggie Bay Leaf /Tejpatta, 3-4 cloves, 2 green cardamaom

As they sizzle add lots of green chillies finely chopped(I added about 4-5) and 1/2 tsp of finely julienned ginger (use ginger powder instead). The original recipe uses 1& 1/2 tsp of Red Chilli Powder and Ginger Powder

Add 2 peeled and cubed potatoes with a little turmeric and saute for a minute

Add 2 tsp of fennel powder, mix well with the potatoes and cover and cover and cook for a minute or so

Add the sliced mushroom, add salt, mix well and let it cook

Mushroom will release lot of water. Wait for all that water to dry up. Stir intermittently

Drizzle a little more mustard oil and you are done. At this point you are supposed to add 1/4 tsp of Garam Masala or a Kashmiri Masala. I gave this step a miss but still it was great.


Also see Anjali's Taher & Gucchi Olu