Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol – Bengali Style Vegetable Curry with Lentil Patties

The Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol is a delicious Bengali style vegetable curry made from fresh seasonal vegetables with potatoes, brinjal, pumpkin, carrots or any other vegetable in season. It is packed with flavours from the mustard oil in which is is cooked and the special bengali 5 spice powder the Panch Phoran and simmer. The addition of pan fried lentil patties makes this Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol absolutely wholesome, rich in protein and delicious too. Course : Lunch Ingridients : For Niramish Shobji Jhol 1 tablespoon Mustard oil 1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds (Rai/ Kadugu) 2 Bay leaves (tej patta) 2 Green Chillies , finely chopped 2 Potato (Aloo) , peeled and diced 4 Brinjal (Baingan / Eggplant) , cut into wedges 1 Carrot (Gajjar) , peeled and diced 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1 tablespoon Panch Phoran Masala 1 teaspoon Salt , or to taste 1 teaspoon Sugar , or to taste For Chapor 1/2 cup Yellow Moong Dal (Split) 1/4 cup Chana dal (Bengal Gram Dal) 2 Dry Red Chillies , broken 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1 tablespoon Mustard oil Instructions To begin making the Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol, prep all the ingredients and keep readyTo make the chapor, 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 the Shobji with Jhol.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 pressure cooker, add the mustard seeds and allow it to crackle, stir in the add panch phoran masala or bengali five spice mix, green chilies, bay leaves.As the spices release nice aroma add the all the cut vegetables with little salt and turmeric powder, and about 1/2 cup of water. Pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles and turn off the heat. Allow the pressure to release naturally.Once the pressure has released from the pressure cooker, break the chapor or the lentil patties and add into the vegetables. Add salt and sugar to taste and adjust the consistency by adding little more water and if you like your dish to be spicy add green more chopped chilies.Give the Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol a brisk boil for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat.Garnish with coriander leaves and transfer the Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol to a serving bowl and serve hot.Serve Niramish Shobji Chapor Jhol with Steamed Rice and Aloo Parwal Sabzi for weekday lunch or dinner.