This Bhapa Bengali Dish Celebrates Winter Vegetables

In Bengali cuisine there are many cooking methods to explore. One of them is known as bhapa, which translates to steaming. There are many dishes that utilise banana leaves to create neat packages in which the food in them is cooked with steam and this Niramish Sobji Paturi created by Pikturnama celebrates Bhapa cooking in all its glory.

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This is designed to be a celebration of the season and uses all the traditional winter vegetables cooked in two separate stages. The key to unlocking the true Bengali flavour of this dish is the Panch Phoron Spice. This is a typical Bengali spice blend that is usually tempered in oil and contains equal portions of nigella seeds (kala jeera), fennel seeds (saunf), black mustard seeds (sarson), cumin seeds (jeera) and little less than half the quantity of fenugreek seeds (methi).

Ingredients

• 100 gms pumpkin
• 100 gms broad beans
• 100 gms ridge gourd
• 150 gms brinjals
• 50 gms radish
• 150 gms potatoes
• 1 small bunch of Spring Onion
• 1 tsp Panch Phoron spice
• 6 nos green chillies
• 2 tbsp Mustard Paste 
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• ½ tsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Mustard Oil
• Salt To Taste
• 1 or 2 nos Banana leaf

Method 

• Cut all the vegetables into equal-sized cubes. Cut the spring onions into inch-size pieces.
• Bring together the mustard paste, grated coconut and a little bit of water into a thick paste (preferably in a grinder or mortar and pestle)
• In a frying pan, heat 1/2 tbsp of mustard oil. When the oil starts to smoke, reduce the temperature to medium and add panch phoron and 1 green chilli. Let the spices temper.
• Then add the potatoes and stir to coat the spices around. Sprinkle some salt and add turmeric powder.
• After 3 - 4 minutes, add the radish and the ridge gourd. Mix them all up and then cover and cook over low temperature.
• After another 6- 8 minutes, add the broad beans, pumpkin and brinjals. If you prefer, you can fry the brinjals separately add them towards the end.
• Cover and cook the vegetables in their own juice. When all the vegetables are almost cooked, add the spring onions, mustard and coconut paste.
• What we need is for the potatoes to be almost done and the rest of the vegetables halfway done.
• Add sugar and check the seasoning. Add more salt if required.
• Turn off the heat.
• Take the banana leaves and heat them over a flame to make them soft without burning the leaf. Cut the leaves into five equal parts.
• Now divide the vegetable mixture on the banana leaves. On each portion, place one green chilli. Drizzle a little bit of mustard oil on top. You can skip the mustard oil if you wish to.
• Make small parcels and seal them using strings or toothpicks.
• Finally, place these parcels in a steamer and steam them for 20 minutes.
• Serve them hot with steamed rice.