Niramish Mochar ghonto recipe – Mochar ghonto is a ghee garam masala flavoured Bengali banana flower curry accompanied with black chana and coconut. Chola narkel diye this niramish kolar mochar tarkari is one of the signature recipes of Bengal (West Bengal and Bangladesh both). Mochar ghonto aka banana blossoms curry is one of the popular traditional vegetarian recipe of Bengali cuisine.
Mocha means Kolar mocha in Bengali, means banana blossom or banana flower or plantain flower(called in English) and any mushy Bengali curry called ghonto. So in one word, a delicious Bong-style mushy banana blossom (banana flower) curry called mochar ghonto recipe. Cook with simple ingredients with a very simple method, however, little tricky to clean and cutting of mocha. This recipe is prepared without onion and garlic (called niramish in Bengali). So this bengali dish is best to eat at veg lunch menu with rice & daal.
Cleaned and finely chopped mocha or banana flower or plantain flower is cooked with diced potato and overnight soaked black chana with simple ingredients for making Bengali mochar ghonto recipe. In traditional Bengali recipe, grated coconut is used in mochar ghonto, but that is not mandatory. Though can use to impress your guest with a traditional touch. Hing is also used in making mocha to bring a good flavour like any other Bengali vegetarian dish.
Tips About Mochar Ghonto recipe
As Kolar Mocha is the hero of this Bengali recipe. So choosing the best kolar mocha is the main criterion to make this dish tasty. A ripe banana flower (misti kolar mocha in Bengali language) is the best choice that can only make this recipe tasty. Not a green banana flower (kaccha kele ki phool or Kacha kolar mocha), as that is bitter in taste. So if you choose the second one, after chopping need to soak your mocha in acid or alkaline suspensions for long hours (at least for 1- 2 hours) to get rid of the bitterness & make it edible. Milk of magnesia or Baking soda can help to fix that bitter issue as an alkaline substance. Whereas Vinegar works out the same as an acidic substance. Use anyone before cooking what you have at home.
Tips & Tricks to get rid of the bitterness of Mocha(Banana flower)
Tips 1 – To get rid of the bitterness of mocha, first choose the ripe banana flower, which means Misti kolar mocha known as pake kele ka phool in hindi. To differentiate the ripe banana blossom from the green banana blossom, take a bite of the bottom portion of a flower, if tastes not bitter means that are a ripe banana flower. That is perfectly edible & good to taste as well.
Tips 2 – If not check at the time of buying and get a kacha kolar mocha. Then another way of getting rid of the bitterness, after chopping the flowers, to soak them in water with 1 tsp Milk of magnesia (চুন in Bengali) or 2 tsp Baking soda (খাবার সোডা) for 1-2 hours. Or soak it in water with 2 – 3 tbsp Vinegar for 1-2 hours. later check the bitterness, if still exist, means that will have some more time to soak. I’ve seen my mom used to soak it overnight in Milk of magnesia.
Tips 3– If forgot to soak in acid or alkine before cooking. Then after pressure cooking, taste the water comes out from boiled mocha, if tastes bitter, completely drain that water, then cook. The chances of being bitter will be quite less, though that is not a healthy practice as vitamins & minerals also drain out along with water.
So better to check the banana flower while buying from the market.
Though mocha cleaning and cutting are a little time-consuming. However, many online vegetable delivery apps now deliver cleaned and even chopped banana flower. So you have to just wash the chopped flower thoroughly before cooking. If have any doubt about bitterness, soak it with milk of magnesia or vinegar or baking soda at least for 1 – 2 hrs and then wash it thoroughly and cook.
You can also buy cleaned banana flowers and use a vegetable chopper to chop them faster.
Banana flower is a good source of calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc. So Banana mocha helps you to boost such kind of minerals deficiency. That benefits to good to your health.
Let’s see how I make my mochar ghonto recipe in my kitchen with all Bengali tips and tricks. Hope you can easily cook this mocha recipe at your home with the help of my step-by-step description. let me know your review in the comment section below.
Have a look at my other Bengali style Banana flower recipe – Mochar Chop (a Breadcrumb coated Banana Blossom Cutlet recipe) from my website.
Get a few more popular Niramish Bengali recipes for lunch
Niramish Mochar ghonto recipe – How to make Bengali mochar ghonto
Course: Side dishCuisine: Bengali, Indian, BangladeshDifficulty: Moderate6-8
servings30
minutes30
minutes300
kcal1
hourMochar ghonto is a ghee garam masala flavoured Bengali banana flower (plantain flower) curry accompanied with black chana and coconut. This kolar mocha diye torkari is a signature Bengali dish of Bengali no onion and garlic (nirimasih) kitchen.
Ingredients of mochar ghonto
1 Medium Misti kolar Mocha / Sweet Banana flower
3 Medium Potatoes (Diced)
1/2 cup Soaked Black Chana / Kancha chola
3 tbsp Grated Coconut/ Narkel kora (Optional)
1/2 inch Ginger
1 Medium Tomato
2 Green Chillies
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/8 tsp Hing / Asafoetida
1 Bay leaf
1/2 tsp Whole Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Sugar (as per taste)
1 tsp Salt (asper taste)
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
1 ½ tbsp Ghee
2 tbsp Mustard Oil
How to make Bengali mochar ghonto recipe
- First clean up the banana flower or mocha, finely chop them, thoroughly wash and soak them in water until cooking.
- In a pressure cooker, put the chopped mocha with potatoes (peeled & diced into 4 pieces) with 1 ½ cups (≈ 375 ml) of water.
- Place the cooker on medium to high flame and wait for 2 whistles to blow. Then turn off the heat.
- Remove the lid when the cooker automatically releases all pressure.
- When the pressure cooker is cooling down, in the meantime, heat a pan, add mustard oil and let it gets hot.
- Add whole cumin seeds (gota jeere) and bay leaf (tej pata) in hot oil, and let’s crackle.
- Then pour a paste of ginger -green chilli – tomato, cumin powder, red chilli powder and hing in oil, a little sauté.
- Once the masala releases oil from all sides, add overnight soaked black chana (Bhejano kancha chola) in it. Mix it well.
- Then add turmeric powder, and grated coconut or narkel kora (optional), mix it well and add salt and sugar as per taste. Fry it for 1 min.
- Add the boiled mocha from the cooker to the pan. Mix it well. Cover the pan and keep the gas on slow to medium heat.
- Cook it until the water almost dries off and then mash a few potato cubes to make the curry mushy.
- Lastly, add garam masala powder & ghee. Mix it well. Cook it for more than 1 min by covering the pan. Then turn off the heat.
- Chola-narkel-ghee-garam masala diye Niramish mochar ghonto is ready, dish it up with rice and dal.
Notes
- To make any banana flower dish, must use a ripe banana flower, not the green banana (Kanch kala or kaccha kela) flower. Choose the right one by taking a bite at the end of the flower if tastes not bitter means that are a ripe banana flower.
- To get rid of the bitterness of mocha, after chopping, soak them with 1 tsp Milk of magnesia or 2 tsp Baking soda for 1 -2 hours. Then thoroughly wash and cook.
- Or after chopping the mocha, soak it in 2 – 3 tbsp Vinegar to remove the bitterness. Then thoroughly wash (4-5 times) before cooking.
- Grated coconut can be used to bring in an authentic touch, but not mandatory.
- Hing also used to bring a good flavour like in any other niramish recipe.
