Pat shak er jhol

Debjani Chatterjee Alam’s Pat Shaker Jhol is a Bengali jute-leaf soup with a separate mustard-oil tempering. Her family preparation keeps the soup runny and uses garlic, panch phoron, dried red chillies and green chillies.

Fresh leaves are separated from the bunch and roughly chopped. They soak in water and are washed under running water; garlic is peeled and roughly chopped.

Water is brought to a boil with salt, then the chopped jute leaves cook in it. Meanwhile, mustard oil heats in a separate pan and is tempered with panch phoron, dried red chillies and the chopped garlic.

The whole tempering is transferred to the same boiling greens. Further boiling gives the leaves a slurry-like texture; more water maintains the runny consistency, and green chillies are added while the soup boils.

Debjani offers the finished jute-leaf soup with steamed rice. The selected version keeps the mustard oil and dried red chillies, which her notes also allow cooks to reduce or omit.