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Stuffed Pointed gourd - traditional Bengali Potoler Dolma

‘Dolma’ is a Turkish word meaning ‘stuffed’ relating to Ottoman cuisine. It is generally made with a filling of meat, seafood, rice, and fruits or combining them together stuffed inside a vegetable or leaf. Historically stuffed vegetable dishes have been part of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. But it is unknown how and when this cuisine entered the Bengali kitchen. If we look back at our culinary history, we find its mention in Bengali kitchens much before the independence of India in 1947. ‘Dolma’ in Bengali kitchen is mostly done with the pointed gourd or ‘Potol’ as it is known in Bengali. The ‘Potol’ is scooped out of its inner seeds and contents, keeping the outer layer intact. A filling cooked with prawns or minced meat or fish is stuffed inside. Then it’s cooked into a gravy, which is called in Bengali as ‘Potoler Dolma’. Presented today is the ‘Potoler Dolma’ prepared traditionally in Bengali kitchens. Ingredients: Pointed Gourd ‘Potol’ large ones – 400 g washed an
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Prawns baked with Taro leaf - kochupataye chingri




Simplicity is the essence of traditional Bengali cuisine. It gets more evident with this dish from the history of the Bengali kitchen. Cooked with the simple leaves of the non-descript ‘Elephant ear yam’ and shrimps or prawns, this dish tastes delicious. In the olden days, our grandmothers sourced the basic ingredients of this dish from their surroundings and they still grow uncared in rural areas of Bengal. But this dish is now a signature dish available in premium Bengali restaurants where people flock to taste the richness of Bengali cuisine, while we ourselves have conveniently forgotten these cuisines. Such is our apathy for our own culinary culture.

Elephant ear yam leaf


Ingredients:

Elephant ear Yam or Taro leaves – 2, washed cleaned and chopped.

Prawns/shrimps – 10-15 cleaned, washed and deveined

Mustard seeds – 2 tbsp

Poppy seeds – 2 tbsp

Coconut – ½

Green chilli – 7

Mustard oil – 4 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Sugar – ½ tsp

 

Ingredients:

Make a paste of Mustard seeds, poppy seeds, coconut and 3 green chillies.

Take the prawns in a large tiffin box, add the chopped yam or taro leaves, add the paste made above, turmeric powder, salt to taste, mustard oil, sugar and 4 green chillies.

Mix it all rubbing them well.

Cover the tiffin box with the lid.

In a deep skillet add some water, submerge the covered tiffin box and boil the water. Be careful that the boiling water does not get inside the tiffin box (do not let the water level reach the tiffin box cover)

Let it cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take out the tiffin box from the water and let it cool.

The dish is ready to eat, serve with steaming rice only.

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