Chapor Ghonto Recipe – Bengali Mix Vegetable With Lentils Patties

Chapor Ghonto, a vegetable mishmash gets an elevation by addition of lentil patties. Ghonto refers to any vegetable mish-mash. Why the name 'chapor'? The lentil patties added in this dish are purposely irregular in shape and pressed with hand while shallow frying.  Course : Lunch Ingridients : For the Vegetables 1 tablespoon Mustard oil 1 tablespoon Mustard seeds (Rai/ Kadugu) 2 Bay leaves (tej patta) 2 Green Chillies , finely chopped 2 Potato (Aloo) , peeled and diced 1 cup Kaddu (Parangikai/ Pumpkin) , peeled and diced 4 Small Brinjal (Baingan / Eggplant) , cut into wedges 1 Carrot (Gajjar) , peeled and diced 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1 tablespoon Panch Phoran Masala Salt , to taste 1 teaspoon Sugar , to taste 2 tablespoons Fresh coconut , grated as required to garnish (optional) For Chapor 1/2 cup Yellow Moong Dal (Split) 1/4 cup Chana dal (Bengal Gram Dal) 1 inch Ginger , grated 2 Dry Red Chillies , broken 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1 tablespoon Mustard oil Instructions To begin making the Chapor Ghonto recipe, prep all the ingredients and keep readyTo make the chapo, soak the lentils for 2 hours. Once soaked drain the excess water and just keep about 2 tablespoons.Add the soaked dals along with red chilli, ginger, turmeric powder and salt to a jar of a mixer grinder. Blend to make an almost smooth thick paste. Try not adding adding more water as we want this to be a thick batter.Next step is to shallow fry the dal mixture to make Chapor's also called as lentil patties.  You can either make small patties or make one large one in the pan by adding all the batter and then cutting it to add into vegetables to make teh Chapor Ghonto.Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottomed skillet. When the oil is smoking hot add the lentil paste and flatten it with your fingers to spread it evenly onto the pan. These chapor/ lentil patties will not have any definite shape.Cover the pan and allow the lentil patties to cook on the top. Once you can notice that the top is cooked, open the pan and flip over to cook on the other side. These 'Chapor'/ lentil patties are done, when you notice light brown spots and they are cooked. The next step is to cook the vegetables. Heat mustard oil in a deep pan or kadhai, when the oil is hot add the eggplant pieces, sprinkle a little salt and saute till brown, keep aside.In the same pan add more oil if needed, when the oil is hot add panch phoran masala or bengali five spice mix, green chilies, bay leaves. As the spices release nice aroma add the potato with little salt and turmeric powder, cover and cook. After 10 minutes, add other vegetables and the grated ginger cover and cook it till the vegetables are done.Once the vegetables are soft, stir in the roasted brinjal, break the chapor or the lentil patties and add into the vegetables. Add salt and sugar to taste. If you like your dish to be spicy add green more chopped chilies. Give it a stir and turn off the heat.Garnish with grated coconut and transfer the Chapor Ghonto recipe to a serving bowl and serve hot. Serve Chapor Ghonto along with Steamed Rice and Dal Chenchki for weekday lunch or dinner. You can also serve Chaler Payesh after your meal as a dessert.