Mochar ghonto or Bengali Banana Blossom Curry is a popular vegetarian dish from Bengali cuisine where banana blossom is cooked in some special spices along with potato. This is a no onion no garlic recipe (known as niramish in Bengali) and ideal for Bengali vegetarian platter.
In Bengali, banana blossom is known as 'mocha' and 'ghonto' refers to mishmash curry. Therefore, the mochar ghonto recipe is nothing but banana blossom mishmash curry.
Mocha always reminds me about the childhood days. Whenever baba used to bring it on weekends, we all will sit together and do the cleaning of florets by removing the inedible portions. Other than niramish mochar ghonto, maa used to prepare mochar chop, mochar dal, bora, kofta curry, etc. I also like mocha chingri.
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Mochar Ghonto Ingredients
Banana Blossom: It is the key ingredient of the recipe.
Potato: Many people do not use potatoes in this banana blossom curry but I love adding potatoes which gives a good binding texture to this vegetarian curry.
Whole Spices: Bay leaf, dry red chili, cumin seeds.
Spice Powders: Regular spice powders including turmeric powder, coriander powder and cumin powders are used in this mochar ghonto recipe.
Oil: I always use mustard oil for cooking any Bengali delicacies and I would recommend the same to get the authentic taste of the dish.
Others: Salt, Sugar, Grated Coconut, Ghee, Green Chili, etc.
Instructions
If you are looking for easy mochar ghonto recipe, then follow the instructions below to learn the recipe.
Though the cooking instructions for this recipe is very easy, preparation of this recipe requires patience, time and effort. Cooking takes less time, but preparation takes more.
Cutting and Preparing Banana Flower
Let's learn how to cut and clean banana blossom or banana flower aka mocha.
Before beginning the preparation, rub oil into your palms in order to prevent the sticky sap that comes from the banana flower. Spread a newspaper and keep the banana flower, a big bowl of water with the addition of little turmeric power, and oil.
Banana blooms are cone-shaped and covered in tightly arranged bracts that range in color from red-orange to dark purple-red. Small, elongated florets in a cluster sit inside each bract. Remove the outer bracts one by one and collect the florets.
Start peeling away the purple-red color bracts one by one to collect florets. After removing quiet a few, you will notice the core of the banana blossom and now color of the bracts changed to yellow-beige and they are tightly stacked together and size of the inside florets turned smaller.
Now it's time to clean the collected florets. Each floret contains two inedible parts - one is stick like stigma (looks like round-headed pin) and other one is translucent outer covering of the floret. Slowly remove these two from each floret and chop the florets.
Soak the chopped florets in turmeric water which will prevent them from turning black. Now take the core of the banana blossom and also chop it.
Next remove the chopped banana blossom from the turmeric water and take them in pressure cooker. Add required and wait for 1-2 whistle. Drain the water and keep the boiled banana blossom aside. After cooling them, mash them with your palm.
Cooking of Mochar Ghonto
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet and cook the potatoes with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt.
Once the potatoes are golden brown, remove them from the pan and set aside.
Now, heat the remaining oil and add the cumin seeds, dry red chili, and bay leaf.
Once they start to crackle, add the boiled and mashed banana flower to the oil.
Stir fry the banana blossoms for a few minutes before adding the spice powders, which include salt, turmeric, cumin, and coriander powders.
After 5-7 minutes, add the fried potatoes and green chiles and cook for a few minutes more.
Add 1 cup of water and cover the pan to cook for a few minutes. Season curry with salt and sugar.
Once the water has evaporated, remove from the fire and top with ghee and chopped coconut.
Serving Suggestions
Bengali banana blossom curry is always served with steamed rice along with other Bengali delicacies.
Variations
You can add fried urad dal dumplings aka daler bori to your banana blossom curry and it gives a crunchy texture to the curry. My mother sometimes adds soaked blacked chickpea in mochar ghonto. Instead of adding fresh grated coconut, you can also add fried coconut pieces in the curry.
Make Ahead & Storage
You can cook and store the curry in a dry airtight container after cooling and store in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
As the preparation for this recipe is lengthy, you can do the preparation ahead and store the boiled and cooled chopped banana flower in refrigerator for 3-4 days.
When you plan to cook the curry just take out the banana flower (boiled) from the fridge and directly start cooking. You can save your time and also enjoy traditional Bengali delicacy.
Top tips
- While buying banana blossom always taste one raw floret and if it is too bitter then avoid buying it. Otherwise, the curry will also turn bitter in taste.
- Always apply oil in palm, knife and cutting board to prevent the sticky sap that releases from banana blossom.
- As the banana flower has high iron content, after cutting immediately add them to turmeric water to avoid turning black.
- Use desi ghee at the end for the better outcome.
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Mochar Ghonto
Materials
- 2 cups Banana Blossom chopped and boiled
- 2 nos Potato, medium dice
- 1 no Dry Red Chili
- 1 no Bay Leaf
- ½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 no Green Chili
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- ¼ cup Mustard Oil
- 1 tablespoon Coconut grated
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and fry the potatoes adding little turmeric powder and salt.
- Once potatoes fried golden, take them out from the pan and keep aside.
- Now heat the remaining oil and add cumin seeds, dry red chili and bay leaf in the oil.
- Once they start crackling, add boiled and mashed banana blossom in the oil.
- Stir fry the banana blossom for few minutes and next add spice powders including salt, turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder.
- After 5-7 minutes, add fried potatoes and green chili and stir for few more minutes.
- Add 1 cup of water and allow to cook for some time by covering the pan with a lid.
- Season the curry with salt and sugar as needed.
- Once the water dries up and turn off the heat and add ghee and grated coconut on top.
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