Aloo Potol er bhaja / Stir fried potatoes and pointed gourd

 I have often noticed on social media that every time the Bhaja is mentioned, it attracts a lot of shocked 'whoah!'s or a very predictable reaction to the 'oil' used to make it.
At first, I used to wonder why.
I mean, what has the bhaja to do with a lot of oil, quite did not make sense to me then.
And then I slowly realised that most of the people who reacted this way are non Bengalis and the actual meaning of the 'Bhaja' is lost in translation.

It made me think of what Devdutt Pattanaik had said in one of his programs on the tv ... how the intricate details of our culture and ancient writings could not be explained or named by the English with their limited words .... hence they categorised everything under one word - 'mythology'.
The same way, non Bengalis have no idea of the word 'Chanka' and categorise eveything under the name 'fry' ... the straight literal translation of the bhaja.

Except for the brinjal / Begun / aubergine, every other vegetable that is called a bhaja or fry is stir fried.
And that is possible with a very limited amount of oil too.
And nowadays, it can be almost oil free too ... thanks to non stick cookware.
I, however, do not use non stick cookware at all and stick to the good iron kadahis ... which are excellent to stir fry in, with very little oil, once they are seasoned well.

The brinjal / Begun is deep fried because it has a tendency to soak up oil. So when deep fried, it can be drained well and does not hold back the oil.
Similarly, the Luchi, every Bengali's favourite, is deep fried, while the Porota is not.
So we say "Luchi chanka hocche " and "Porota bhaja hocche".

And every Bengali will have at least two or three vegetables bhaja on their plate for lunch or dinner. Or for the jolkhabar / breakfast or along with in-between meals too.
And no, they are not soaked with oil and neither are they unhealthy too.

So go ahead and enjoy that bhaja. They are a great way to get some veggies into you.
Are quick to make and the lightest of way to enjoy vegetables.

I have the Aloo Potol bhaja for you today.
I have got some very good Potol / Parwal / Pointed gourd this summer.
While I am usually happy with the Potol bhaja / Potolo pithau bhaja  (this one is my favourite ) along with some dal and rice, I did make some Chenchki, aloo diye bhaja and also a Potoler Rosa / curry with gravy.
And yes, the Potol posto too.
I did not make the Potoler chop this time but if you want to try it, the recipe is here.
Also it has the recipe of the Aam Kasundi that I had made for the very first time.

I had clicked these snaps so thought of making a quick post on this.
And also share a good news - just saw this morning that Kitchen-e-Kichu Khonn has been listed among the top 100 food blogs on the planet by Feedspot.
And I get a badge too , to display on the blog! 😊
You can check it out on the right column.

So could not wait to hurry over and thank all of you for your love and encouragement and comments and interactions ... all of which give me that push to keep blogging and posting.
Makes all the efforts of cooking, clicking, cleaning up, making the time to sit down and write to you here .... very very worthwhile.
I am so glad to be able to share this blog and little parts of my life with you !!


Now, to make the simple Aloo Potol er bhaja.

Need :


Aloo / Potatoes - 2 medium sized, cut into medium thick slices
Potol / Parwal / Pointed gourd - 5 medium sized, cut into slices
Onion - 1 big, cut into thick slices
Mustard oil / any oil - 1 tbsp
Haldi / Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp or less
Salt - to taste


How to :

Heat a kadahi well.

Add the oil and spread it all over.

Add the onions and stir fry on low heat till they turn pink.

Now add the potatoes, the pointed gourd , haldi powder, red chilli powder and salt.


Cover and cook till the vegetables are done.
Do remember to check and stir them once in a while.

Remove cover and fry them in the open till the potatoes turn slightly brown.

Remove and serve hot.

This bhaja goes very well on the side with dal and rice or when paired with rotis or parathas.

Enjoy!!

Potol ar Pakoda Torkari / Pointed Gourd and Fried Lentil Dumplings Curry

There were some long forgotten Potol / Parwal / Pointed gourd lying in the refrigerator ( see the crinkly edges ... that long forgotten .... ).

Set about to make the usual Alu Potol curry .... familiar to any Bengali. Saw some soaked black chana in the fridge. And some left over Besan batter from some pakoras made a couple of days back.

Made some more small sized pakoras ... threw in everything together .... and as usual, without too much masalas this turned out to be a very good dish.

I had clicked the snaps as soon as I made it ... so you can see the thin jhol / gravy. Don't worry ... it gets soaked up by the pakodas.
And I like that slightly mushy dryish torkari even better.

And yes, when I let it sit ..... the parwal got rid of the crinkles too and got all plumped up. :-)



Need : Potol / Parwal .... skin scraped lightly, ends cut off and each cut into two widthwise, potatoes [optional] cut into the same size as the parwal,

soaked kala chana / black chick peas [ optional] , sliced onion,
chopped tomatoes ( I did not have any ... so did not use ) ,

haldi / turmeric powder, Paanch Phoron, dry red chillies, cooking oil,
water, salt and sugar to taste.

The Besan batter had red chilli powder, ajwain, salt and water.

How to : Heat enough oil and fry small sized pakoras / dumplings from the besan paste. Keep aside.

Heat a little oil in a different kadhai / wok. Add the paanch phoron and the whole chilles.
When they start to splutter, add the sliced onion and fry well.

Add the potatoes and parwal and stir for some time on high heat. Add the kala chana.
Then add haldi powder, salt, sugar and water. Cover and cook till the vegetables are done.

Remove cover and add the fried pakoras and the tomatoes. Cover and simmer for some more time.
If you want to, you can add a pinch of garam masala and a spoonful of ghee just before serving. Goes great with hot rotis / parathas.

And don't judge me by the shape of those pakoras ... I am yet to master the art of dropping a perfectly round blob of any paste or batter. :-)