Fish Curry with Eggplant and Lentil Dumplings

Begun Bori Diye Macher Jhol

I've made variations of this dish and blogged about them in the past. Today I combined eggplants with dried lentil dumplings or bori in this Maacher Jhol. There was an abundance of eggplants in the fridge, of the Japanese variety, which are my favourite. Bori are little nuggets of "deliciousness" which add another dimension to anything they're added to. They are salted so make sure not to add salt without first tasting the gravy.

Bori Diye Bandhakopi - Stir-fried Cabbage with Lentil Dumplings

Bori Diye Bandhakopi

Boris or lentil dumplings add flavour and crunch to vegetable and fish dishes. Each is shaped like a little pagoda with a rounded base and a tiny pointed steeple. Just like garam masala powder, boris vary widely depending on each region in India. 

Lentil Dumplings

Bengali boris are small and delicately flavoured predominantly with asafoetida/hing and are made from a wide variety of lentils and/or vegetables as pictured above. This picture which I was lucky to find on the BongHaat website on the internet (http://zozu.site/media/1796977486733311584) features Til/Sesame, Posto/White Poppy Seed, Hing/Asafoetida, Fulkopi/Cauliflower, Chalkumro/Ash Gourd, Motor Dal/Split Pea, Kalai/Split Black Gram and Masoor/Red Lentil. Wadis from other parts of India are much larger and heavily spiced, predominantly with chili powder.

Cabbage is one of those vegetables that's available year-round here in North America. My favourite preparation with cabbage is to make it with shrimp, but we have recently developed an allergy to shrimp which we now try to avoid. On its own, cabbage is tasteless so adding boris is a great idea!

Bori Diye Doodh Lau - Bottle Gourd/Chayote Squash Simmered in Milk

Bori Diye Doodh Lau

Doodh Lau (Milk Bottle-Gourd) is a simple way of cooking squash which is suitable for people suffering from stomach ailments. This dish uses no spices and the seeds from the peppers can be removed, if need be. Bottle-gourd is widely available in most parts of India whereas chayote squash is found in the hilly regions, namely Darjeeling, which is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains.

Chayote Squash

Lau or Bottle Gourd

Chayote squash, sourced from Mexico (I think), is more readily available in North America and can be found in supermarkets across the US. Lau or bottle-gourd can only be found in the Indian markets and some Asian markets where I live. Both chayote squash and lau have no taste of their own and absorb the taste of the gravy in which they are cooked. Lau tends to break down more easily than chayote squash and reduces to practically nothing because of its high water content. I use chayote squash interchangeably with lau and have cooked it in all the ways that I've seen lau being cooked, most notably with shrimp, in a mustard sauce and in milk and bori.

Sona Mung Bori

Bori are lentil dumplings that are spiced heavily in North India, but more delicately in West Bengal. Made from mung beans, Bengali bori are small and round with a pointed crest. They are dry and hard because they are traditionally formed by hand and dried in the sun. I like to fry them to a golden brown and soak them in boiling hot water and left to soak until ready to use. I drain the bori and save the water for flavouring the lau or chayote squash. 

Plain milk can be used to make the gravy for doodh-lau, but I prefer to use the shelf-stable variety called evaporated milk, from which 60% of water has been removed from fresh milk. It differs from sweetened condensed milk which contains added sugar.

Squash Simmered in Milk

Palang Shaak Begun Bori Diye - Spinach with Eggplant & Lentil Dumplings

Palang Shaak Begun Bori Diye
Spinach with Eggplant & Lentil Dumplings

Spinach is always available at their peak of freshness in supermarkets and Indian marktets but, for this dish, I prefer to use frozen spinach that is already chopped. 

Lentil dumplings, known as 'bori' in Bengali, are mashed lentils that are formed into small tear-drop shaped dumplings which are sun-dried. Boris are flavoured with asafetida and seasoned with salt. They are deep fried until golden brown and soaked in hot water to soften. Since some of the flavour leaches into the water in which they are soaked, the soaking liquid should be saved and added back into the dish that is being prepared, to maximize on the taste.

Zucchini & Potatoes with Lentil Dumplings

Zucchini Alu Bori

This dish is usually made with bottle gourd (lau/lauki) but since it is only available in the Indian markets, I used zucchini which is similar in texture and taste.

Lentil dumplings, known as 'Bori' in Bengali, are small stupa-shaped mashed and sun-dried lentils flavoured with asafetida and seasoned with salt. They are deep fried until golden brown and soaked in hot water to soften. Since some of the flavour leaches into the water in which they are soaked, I save this soaking liquid and add it back into the dish that is being prepared, to maximize on the taste.

Fresh Fenugreek Greens with Eggplant & Lentil Dumplings

Methi Shaak Begun Bori Diye

Fenugreek greens are frequently available at their peak of freshness in Indian grocery stores in my neck of the woods. I picked up two bunches that had roots in tact which had to be rinsed thoroughly in water to get rid of the grit that were clinging to the roots. The roots were removed, the greens chopped and the whole lot dumped into a sink half-filled with cold water. Once the sediment settled at the bottom of the sink, the greens were collected from the surface and stir-fried immediately. 

Lentil dumplings, known as 'Bori' in Bengali, are small stupa-shaped mashed and sun-dried lentils flavoured with asafetida and seasoned with salt. They are deep fried until golden brown and soaked in hot water to soften. Since some of the flavour leaches into the water in which they are soaked, I save this soaking liquid and add it back into the dish that is being prepared, to maximize on the taste.

Fish & Potatoes with Lentil Dumplings in Ginger-Tomato Gravy

Tengra Maach Alu Bori

Tilapia Maach Alu Bori

This recipe was inspired by one I saw on Facebook. I've made very few changes to the original recipe which was made with Rohu fish or carp which is not readily available in my neighbourhood. I soaked the boris in hot water to soften them up, just because this is how it's done in my family. To make the gravy, I heated the water along with the boris in the microwave and added it to the pan. 

Why two kinds of fish? The top one's for me. Made with whole bone-in fish it has cumin and chili powder in the gravy. The other fish is for Hubby, made with tilapia fillets and without chili and cumin powders. Both are cooked in a ginger and tomato gravy with potatoes and lentil dumplings (bori in Bengali).

The tomato gravy is made with Campari tomatoes which are of medium size and so sweet that it's not necessary to add any sugar to the gravy. Campari tomatoes are grown in Mexico, shipped to Ontario, Canada (for packaging I think) and then reach our markets in Michigan. Kind of a circuitous route, don't you think?