Pepe muger ghonto

Chandrima’s Peper Ghonto combines grated raw papaya and potato with roasted yellow moong dal and fried dried-lentil dumplings. She attributes this Bengali preparation to her mother.

Papaya is peeled, cut lengthwise, washed and grated. The yellow moong dal is dry-roasted in a frying pan until light brown, then washed and set aside; the supplied bori are fried in mustard oil in the selected kadai and removed.

Potato is peeled, cubed, washed and fried until golden, then taken out. The remaining oil, with extra oil if required, is tempered with cumin seed, bay leaf and dried red chilli.

The grated papaya, same fried potato, roasted dal, broken green chillies, salt and turmeric are mixed into that tempering. Water is added for covered low-heat cooking until the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, with small extra water additions if the mixture dries too much.

Sugar, the same fried bori, ghee and garam masala are mixed in for a brief uncovered finish before the heat is removed. The source serves this ghonto hot with steamed rice.