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Friday 3 August 2007

Eastern Delights

The eastern states of India like Bihar, Bengal and Orissa, have a very rich culture. And coming to their cuisine, Rice is dominant over Wheat. Fish is also a favorite of the people of eastern India, apart from these plenty of vegetables are also grown which form a substantial part of Eastern Indian meals.
Steaming and frying are popular methods of cooking and Mustard oil is commonly used for frying and cooking.
The spices used in their cuisine are also markedly different from those used in the other parts of India. They majorly use Mustard seeds and paste and also, as they call, a magic spice mix 'Pancha-phutana'. It is also called as Panch-phoron or Panch-puran in Bengali.

Besara3
Chhatu Besara



In Oriya Besara are kind of dishes which are cooked in Mustard. I got a few recipes from here.

Chhatu Besara (Recipe adapted from here, with some modifications)

Ingredients:

Mushrooms : 400 gms
Potatoes : 3, peeled and diced
Amchur Powder : 1 tsp
Panch-Phutana : 1 Tbsp
Mustard paste : 3 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Mustard oil, for frying
Salt, to taste
Water : 100 ml

Panch-phutana:
Mustard seeds
Fennel seeds
Kalongi
Fenugreek seeds
Cumin seeds
Method: Grind all in equal quantities to fine powder, you may add fenugreek seeds in less quantity.
You can know more about this here

Mustard Paste:
Mustard seeds : 3 tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 3
Garlic : 2 cloves
Method: Grind all the ingredients to fine paste using little water.

How I did it:

  1. Make quarters of the mushrooms put them in water with some turmeric powder. Then squeeze the mushrooms from water and keep aside.
  2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a frying pan and fry the squeezed mushrooms in medium flame.
  3. Heat some oil in a separate pan and add punch-phutana, after the spice splutters, add the potatoes.
  4. Add turmeric power and salt, according to taste, and then add the mustard paste.
  5. Add water, and cover the pan and let it cook for about 15 mins, till potatos are done.
  6. Add the fried mushroom and amchur powder. Fry till the water evaporates.
  7. Adjust salt.
  8. Serve hot with Rice or Rotis.

Besara5
Chhatu Besara, with Rotis



And the Verdict:
It was in a different taste, but delicious.
Not spicy, so according to me, it goes better with rotis than rice.

Food Event:
This is my entry for the RCI: Oriya Cuisine event being hosted by Swapna of Swad.

23 comments:

Srivalli said...

looks real yummy...great that you tried this....

btw...I adapted your chicken fry and it came out excellent....thanks a ton...

Srivalli
www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

Coffee said...

WHAT!!! Oriya cuisine has mushrooms as well!!! Thats mighty surprising! Looks fab !

sra said...

Yes, I remember seeing this on the menu when we went to Orissa, not sure if I had it, though!

Laavanya said...

That's a nice entry Cinnamon. Looks very good.

Unknown said...

Hey Cinnmon,
Thats a different kind of a recipe! Am planning to try out some Odiya recipes for RCI - it's fun to be trying out some new tastes :)

Sharmi said...

waw that was informative. thanks for the links too. the recipe does not look so tough as I thought.

Jyothi said...

Hi Cinnamon, great and useful information. Even I am trying to do some recipes for RCI-Orissa. Eastern Delights looks fabulous and yummy. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Thanks all... though I was not sure hearing the name, the output turned out quite good :)
Valli, Good to hear that the chicken came out well.. it was my pleasure sharing!
Coffee, Yeah, even I was a lil bit surprised seeing mushrooms in oriya cuisine.. so thought of trying it.
Sra, It is quite good, do try it!
Laavanya, Thank you.
Nandita, ya it is indeed fun tring out new recipes and tickling our taste buds :)
Sharmi, ya it is not tough if u have done ur prep work with spices.
Jyothi, Thanks, waiting to see what ur recipe would be :)

FH said...

Looks great! I love that site too,so many authentic recipes.Great entry.Glad you posted it!:)

sunita said...

The dish looks very appetising !

Tee said...

ooh...mustard paste and mushrooms and panch phoran...this must be tasting really good! your dish looks amazing!

bha said...

Seems you have done enough research before coming up with this...nice one

Richa said...

hey, that looks amazing :) would like to try this recipe. mustard seed paste tastes so good, a little pungent though, once u develop the taste it gets addictive :)

Poonam said...

That looks so different...never heard of it before..

SeeC said...

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Thats a great entry. Looks fabulous. Thanks for the link too.

BTW I have added your blog into my blogroll. Hope it is fine with you.

Unknown said...

Asha, ya, the site has many other interesting recipes :)
Sunitha, Thank You.
Tee, Thanks, it was indeed delicious!
Bhags, yeah, had to do a lil research, as oriya cuisine was not known to me :)
Richa, yes, the taste is a lil strange at the beginning, but starts to taste good after sometime :)
Jeena, you have got interesting blog too!
Poonam, Thanks, even I have not heard it before, had to do a lot of research before I got it :)
SeeC, Thanks for adding to ur blogroll!!!

Raaga said...

I am doing my research too... and will try and post something. In the meanwhile, move out of the way and allow me to drool a bit will you? :-)

archana said...

Nice and simple recipe something similar to Bengali cuisine. God entry :)

Unknown said...

Raaga, u can with pleasure :)
Archana, Thanks :)

Dhana said...

I have never cooked an Oriya dish before! This sounds easy and oh soo good!!

Padma said...

that looks awesome! I love mushrooms but I cook with limited recipes in hand, adding yours in the lot! Thanks for sharing........

Shah cooks said...

aunthentic oriya dish is new. what is punchphutana? nice looking subji.

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