Mochar Ghonto

Ingredients to cook Mochar Ghanto:

Banana Flower                                                                                1 

One medium sized potato                                                                Diced

Cumin seeds                                                                                   ½ tea spoon

Bay leaves                                                                                      2

Cumin and Ginger paste                                                                 1 tea spoon each

Turmeric powder                                                                             ½ tea spoon

Garam Masala paste(cardamom, cinnamon, clove)                        1 tea spoon

Grated coconut                                                                               ¼ cup

Oil                                                                                                    3 table spoons
Salt and sugar to taste

The recipe:

1. Once the florets have been cleaned, chop them into small size. Boil this with little salt till almost cooked. Remove water and keep florets aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and bay leaves, and once the seeds start to splutter, add the boiled mocha. Add turmeric powder and salt, cover the pan with a lid, and allow it to cook for 10 minutes on a slow flame.
3. In another pan heat some oil and fry the diced potatoes. Set it aside.
4. Open the lid of the pan in step number 2, add the mocha and gently cook it by tossing and turning it several times.
5. Add ginger, cumin, and chili paste and mix them well. Also add a spoon of sugar to taste.
6. Add the fried potatoes and cook till all the ingredients are soft and the water has dried out.
7. Add the grated coconut now and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
8. Finally, add the garam masala mix.
9. Set it on a bowl and garnish with some more grated coconut on the top and a spoonful of ghee (clarified butter). This dish goes very well with rice.

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Tips:
1. This is the basic recipe but an interesting twist Saimoon puts on this sometimes is the addition of "daler bora" or lentil fritters. Since the mocha shrinks during cooking, adding daler bora to this dish does increase its volume and tastes good too.
2. When peeling the mocha, apply some cooking oil/mustard oil to your hands to prevent the sticky juices of the mocha from staining your hands.
3. If you are unable to get mocha where you live you can try this out with bean sprouts but you will agree it is a poor substitute for the uniquely Bengali flavors of mochar ghonto.