Mocha chingri

Mita Mondal’s Mocha Chingri is a dry Bengali preparation of banana blossom, prawns and potato in a mustard-oil masala. The selected recipe includes its own blossom-cleaning notes and a ghee finish.

The blossom’s outer layers are removed before a salt-and-turmeric water soak. Its stamen is then removed, and the blossom finely chopped and rinsed. The listed blossom is boiled with salt and turmeric until just tender; the cut, cleaned prawns are marinated separately with salt and turmeric.

Mustard oil fries the supplied peeled potato cubes with salt and turmeric, and they are set aside. The same oil lightly fries the prawns before they are set aside too; additional oil then tempers cumin seed, bay leaf and dried chilli, followed by chopped onion cooked until light brown.

The supplied ginger-garlic paste containing the listed green chillies cooks into the onions. A little water and turmeric, chilli, coriander and cumin powders form the masala, then the same fried prawns return and the boiled banana blossom follows with another small water portion and turmeric.

Salt is added for covered cooking under a lid. Garam masala and the selected ghee finish the preparation, followed by the author’s brief resting stage. She describes serving her Mocha Chingri hot; steamed rice is the selected accompaniment.