Niramish Mochar ghonto recipe – How to make Bengali mochar ghonto

Niramish Mochar ghonto recipe – Mochar ghonto is a Bengali banana flower curry flavoured with ghee and garam masala accompanied with black chana and coconut. Chola narkel diye this niramish kolar mochar tarkari in Bengali 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 recipes of Bengali cuisine.

Mocha aka Kolar mocha in Bengali, means banana blossom or banana flower or plantain flower(in English) and any mushy Bengali curry called ghonto. So in one word, a delicious Bong-style mushy banana blossom curry called mochar ghonto. Cook with simple ingredients with a very simple method, however, little tricky to clean and cut of mocha. This recipe is prepared without onion and garlic (so called niramish in Bengali). So this dish is best to eat on Bengali veg day 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

Bandhakopir tarkari recipe

Shukto recipe

Sobji Diye Moong dal recipe

Chanar Dalna recipe

Phukopir Dalna recipe

Phulkopir Roast recipe

Aloo Potoler Dalna recipe