Raw banana and banana stem cooked with coconut, mustard oil and herbs: Deliciously spicy Bengali vegetarian recipes

Any festivity or celebration typically demands a sweet treat or complicated recipe. This is true not only for Bengalis but for communities worldwide. However, today, I am sharing recipes of two simple vegetarian dishes made with Thor or banana stem and Kanch Kalar or green banana - both ingredients from our garden that is guaranteed to win over your guests.

Many who visit our home, are sometimes quite apologetic that I have to cook vegetarian dishes for them. Most have stereotypical notions of Bengalis being ardent fish and meat lovers, apart from having a sweet tooth.

The multiple preparations of Maacher Jhol, the fish curries and Kasha Mangsho, the slow cooked mutton and other non-vegetarian preparations are no doubt culinary conversation starters. Yet, there is a huge repertoire of Niramish or vegetarian dishes in Bengali cuisine.

Vegetarian dishes cooked at Bengali homes are delicate and sublime and can easily outweigh the non-vegetarian dishes. In fact, my childhood memories of both my maternal and paternal grandmothers whom I refer to as Dida and Thakuma respectively are associated with their signature vegetarian dishes.

A waft of the slight garnish of Bengali Garam Masala (a mix of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves in equal proportions) or Bhaja Masala (a fresh grind of roasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, bay leaf and dry red chilli) and Gawa ghee are still etched in my memories.

A family legacy

I often reach out to my mother and my mother-in-law, both of whom are excellent home cooks and are carrying their respective mothers’ and mothers-in-laws’ cooking legacy successfully. There are also two cookbooks that I often refer to, when it comes to simple Bengali cooking.

The NIAW cookbook curated by Calcutta's National Indian Association of Women is frills-free but an easy guide to many recipes that are slowly fading away. The other one is not a commercially published book. It’s called ‘Amar Mayer Haater Ranna’, or ‘My mother’s cooking’. It is a collection of recipes printed in the cookbook format, that my father’s closest friend Mridul Pathak has collected over the years to celebrate his mother’s home cooking.

Bengalis are equally passionate about their non-vegetarian dishes as their vegetarian dishes. The latter however, have gained more popularity only because Bengalis as a collective community don’t highlight these bespoke vegetarian dishes beyond their homes.
Bring on Shukto, a mixed vegetable ensemble with bitter gourd, either Mochar Ghonto where banana flowers are cooked mildly in spices, or Dhokar Dalna where fried lentil cakes is cooked in a light gravy. Even die-hard non-vegetarian Bengalis will go weak in their knees!

- Ishita B Saha

Bengalis are equally passionate about their non-vegetarian dishes as their vegetarian dishes. The latter however, have gained more popularity only because Bengalis as a collective community don’t highlight these bespoke vegetarian dishes beyond their homes.

Bring on Shukto, a mixed vegetable ensemble with bitter gourd, either Mochar Ghonto where banana flowers are cooked mildly in spices, or Dhokar Dalna where fried lentil cakes is cooked in a light gravy. Even die-hard non-vegetarian Bengalis will go weak in their knees!

Celebrating the cyclical nature of life

The recipes that I have selected celebrate the banana plant in its entirety. In fact, we have many banana plants in our garden, in our home in Chennai, India. I have learnt from our gardener that once a plantain tree bears fruits, it has to cut. It’s not completely uprooted but the main trunk is cut such that, a bit of the trunk is still in the soil. Saplings come up all around and within months, another banana plant is ready to bear fruit.

Initially, I was reluctant to chop off a banana plant just because it wouldn’t bear fruit anymore. I felt a sense of calm sitting under a familiar canopy. Soon I learnt that the tree wasn’t strong enough to stand on its own in the long term and eventually would collapse. Thor, or the pith and the stem enclosed within the main trunk of the banana plant could be used for cooking, if the banana plant was cut immediately after it had borne fruit. To honour the life that it had lived and the generosity that it endowed us with, it was best to let it go with dignity.

It is best to release all emotions and experiences that don’t serve us anymore. We must make space to embrace the new - a life lesson that I have learnt from the banana plants in my garden.

Here are two delicious recipes for you to try: Thorer Ghonto, which is made with banana stem and freshly grated coconut, and Kanch Kalar Kofta, a dish of green banana koftas or dumplings in a light gravy.

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