Kumror Chokka
Ripe sweet pumpkins and potatoes braised together, and finished with toasted spices and ghee.
- Cooking time1 hour
Calorieskcal
If you have never tasted kumror chokka you will be shocked by how good this tastes. Just ripe sweet pumpkins braised slowly with potatoes, and a few other garnishes like Bengal gram and grated coconut produce a dish that is certain to find a place in your regular repertoire. The vegetables really shine in this recipe, but the other key flavours are those of bhaja moshla, and ghee. Luchi with kumror chokka used to be a fixture on wedding menus until a few years ago, but has slowly fallen out of favour. But it shouldn't!
Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients
Serves
5 servings
- 600 g mishti kumro (sweet pumpkin)
- 300 g potatoes (waxy Jyoti variety)
- 20 g chhola (Bengal gram, soaked overnight) or roasted peanuts
- 20 g freshly grated coconut
- 50 g mustard oil
- 2 pcs dried red chillies
- 2 pcs bay leaves
- ½ tsp panch phoron
- 12 g ginger paste
- 6 g cumin powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp red chilli powder
- 1 pinch hing (asafoetida)
- 2 g green chillies
- 12 g total salt
- 9 g sugar
- ½ tsp bhaja moshla
- 1 tbsp ghee
Method
- Wash and soak the Bengal gram overnight in sufficient water.
- Peel and dice the pumpkin and potatoes into 3-cm cubes.
- In a bowl prepare a thick paste of ginger paste, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and hing with a little bit of water.
- Heat mustard oil in a korai until it starts smoking and turns pale yellow.
- Add the pumpkin and 3 g of salt to season, and fry on medium heat with the lid on. The sugars in the pumpkin will start caramelising, and the edges will start to turn brown. This should take about 5 minutes. Take out the fried pumpkin from the oil and set aside.
- Lower the flame to cool the oil a little bit. Then temper the oil with dried red chillies, and bay leaves. Once the chillies turn dark add the panch phoron. Don't let the spices burn.
- Immediately add the potatoes to the oil along with 3 g of salt and fry until golden on medium heat. This will take 5 minutes.
- Next add the soaked chhola (Bengal gram) and fry for another two minutes on low heat.
- Add the freshly grated coconut and fry until golden—about two minutes.
- Add the spice slurry we had prepared, and braise with the lid on until the raw smell of the spices is gone (six minutes). Add a splash of hot water in between if required. The potatoes should be as cooked as the fried pumpkin.
- Now introduce the fried pumpkin to the korai. Add the sugar, green chillies and the remaining salt (6 grams) stir and cover with a tight lid. Cover and cook until both the potatoes and the pumpkins are perfectly cooked. You may need to add hot water, a little at a time, as needed.
- Now turn off the heat and finish with bhaja moshla and ghee. Stir and cover with a lid.
