Mochar Ghonto is something that has been cooked in my kitchen here some 3-4 times if you want me to be honest with you and that too when Maa was visiting us. But this is one thing I have watched being cooked a hundred times. Both my family and Sam’s family love Mocha. Just in case you did not know what mocha is, it is the banana blossom.
Bengali Mochar Ghonto Recipe – Banana Blossom Curry
Growing up in Kolkata and later Shillong, I grew up in places where bananas grew in abundance. And the mocha or the banana blossom was something that occupied prime real estate in the Bengali vegetarian menu. Our families would eat vegetarian on Saturdays and it being the weekend, Maa would take on the labor-intensive mocha to help her daughters survive the veggie lunch! LOL!
Mocha is a delicacy, which requires a lot of TLC. And if you have a fetish for manicured hands I suggest you get those gloves first. Mocha is very high in iron content and handling it would often mean being left behind with unsightly marks on your palms and fingers. It isn’t for the amateur to cook. You need some kind of a brief crash course on it before you unleash the mocha ninja in you. Yes, “mocha ninja”! I could never be one for sure.
As you know that now I have family visiting (mom and Sam’s parents) and all the traditional Bengali recipes are making an appearance in my kitchen here. And it being Durga pujo, I am relishing everything even more. Luckily, in California, we get almost all ingredients that are required to make traditional treats like mocha. During the week when I had gone to the Asian market to buy fish, I had picked up the banana blossom and Maa & Maa (mom-in-law) got working on it and the result was delicious.
Now as I was telling cleaning and prepping mocha requires a little bit of know-how. It is really well explained here. Look through it if you are doing it for the first time.
Along with the Mochar Ghonto Recipe, You may also like the recipes below:
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Mochar Ghonto – Banana Blossom Curry
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 65
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
A traditional Bengali banana blossom curry that is the star of the Bong vegetarian menu. Try out this Bengali Mochar Ghoto Recipe at home today.
Ingredients
For preparing the mocha
- Mocha – 1 big
- Salt – To taste
- Turmeric Powder – 2-3 tsp
For the curry
- Mustard Oil – 2 tbsp
- Potato – 1, large, peeled and cubed
- Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
- Bay leaf – 1
- Cinnamon Stick – ½ inch
- Ginger – 1 tbsp, grated
- Coconut – 1/3 cup, grated
- Turmeric Powder – 2 tsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tbsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp
- Tomato paste – 2 tsp
- Red chili powder – 1 tsp
- Garam Masala – 2tsp
- Ghee – 1 tbsp
- Sugar – To taste
- Salt – To taste
Instructions
- After the mocha flowers are cleaned and chopped into small pieces, you have to keep it submerged in water along with salt and turmeric.
- Pressure-cook the mocha along with the water, salt and turmeric for 15 mins. If you were using an Indian pressure cooker, it would mean 2-3 whistles.
- In the mean time, heat the mustard oil in a pan.
- Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf and cinnamon stick.
- Once the seeds splutter and you get the toasted aroma of the spices, add the potato cubes.
- Add salt and turmeric and fry the potatoes for 2-3 mins.
- Add the ginger and fry for 2-3 mins.
- Then goes the coconut and fried for another 2-3 mins. By this time the potatoes start to look golden brown.
- In a bowl take ½ cup water and add the cumin, coriander and red chili powder. Mix well.
- Add it to the potatoes along with the tomato paste. Mix well and cook on a low flame. If required ¼ cup of water can be added.
- Now drain the boiled mocha and add it to the potatoes. Add salt and sugar to taste and mix everything well.
- The curry is dry, so you should wait for it to come together and continue to cook on a low flame.
- Once done, remove from heat and add garam masala and ghee. Mix well.
- Serve along side white rice.
Notes
- You may use 1 medium fresh tomato if you decide to skip the tomato paste.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 0
- Fat: 0
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 0
- Protein: 0
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: Mochar Ghonto Recipe, Banana Blossom Curry Recipe
I saw my mom, and later my sisters make mochar ghonto, always tasted delicious. Now after retirement I have a lot of time to cook and offer this deicacy to my wife and daughter. Wife has tasted a Bengali dishes as she is Bengali herself, but never undertook this difficult venture of cleaning and preparing Mocha. I found soe freshlooking Mocha yesterday in a shop in Fairfax, VA and decided to go for it. I could not remember how my mom or my sisters recipe, so I looked up and found your recipe. Never my cooking would my cooking be like what I ate at home, but thanks to you, end result was really good. We all enjoyed Mocha, particularly my wife did feel very good. Gave me 8/10. I didn’t expect a big pproval from my American born child, but it is OK. My wife loved it, and me too. Thanks for the Post.
★★★★★
Thank you for letting me know that the recipe turned out good! Wish you a happy festive season!
I have prepared Mochar ghonto learning from you tube. In the recipe the flower to be dressed after removing each of the stylus. Go on peeling THE cover till when we get only yellowish White BLOSSOM . It’s to be finely chopped so also the dressed FLOWER. then steamed ,water drained and MASHED. then ready to BE added to cooked potato CUBES . And rest of the recipe is same as one here. But adding tomato is new to ME. ! is it because it’s CURRY. ?
★★
Thanks for reading! I have linked the post to a video where cleaning the mocha is explained. Re: tomato, my family and I use it and it turns out pretty good.