Since last week, a pack of beetroots were lying in my fridge. Every day, whenever I am opening my fridge in the morning to take out the vegetables for cooking, I am silently keeping those beetroots aside and telling myself tomorrow I will prepare something with these for sure. But you know, tomorrow never comes :). Last week when I went to the grocery store for weekly shopping, I literally couldn't find any vegetables to buy. Same Cauliflower, Cabbage, Potatoes, Carrots and some Asian greens were kept in the vegetable section as always and I was utterly bored by eating those vegetables continuously. I happened to notice some fresh beetroots in the shelves and kept in my trolley. Since that day they were rolling in my fridge. I thought of preparing some mixed veg with these but somehow I failed to convince myself to eat. And when I started looking for a suitable recipe for beetroot, I stumbled upon this recipe and it's worth trying it. It's surely the most delicious recipe of beetroot I ever tried.
"Beet Bata or Mashed Beetroot" needs very few ingredients and you can make it without any fancy item. I have taken this recipe from the book "Thakurbarir Ranna" by "Purnima Thakur". A must have book in a Bengali kitchen. The Tagore family has a massive influence in Bengali heritage. They were at the forefront of the Bengal renaissance. The family was not only known for their contribution in art, music and literature but food also. The experiment with food was a trait of the Tagore’s kitchen. The recipes were borrowed from diverse cultures and the family indeed loved to do experiments with the food. A quick glance at "Thakurbarir Ranna" by Purnima Thakur is a proof of that. In this book, while you can find the recipe of pure Bengali Chicken Curry, you can find the recipe of Phillippines Chicken Curry too.
Today I present you the recipe of "Beet Bata or Mashed Beetroot".
Tips:
Grinding small amount of poppy seeds or mustard seeds to smooth paste is a very difficult process if you don't soak it in water for at least 2-3 hours earlier. So to speed up the process, first grind the poppy seeds and mustard seeds together without water. It will break them in tiny pieces. After then, grind it with small amount of hot water. You can get a smooth paste.
Mashed Beetroot (Beet Bata):
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 5 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Ingredients:
4 small sized Beetroots (250 gm)
10-12 Green Chillies (10 gm) - you can modify it according to your level of spiciness
1 1/2 tbsp Poppy seeds (15 gm)
1/2 tbsp whole Black Mustard for cooking (10 gm), 1/2 tsp (2 gm) for tempering
1 1/2 tbsp Mustard oil (can be replaced by oil of your choice)
Salt and Sugar as per taste
Recipe:
Wash, peel and cut the beetroots in small cubes.
In a pressure cooker add 1 cup of water, 1 tsp of salt and diced beetroots, cover the lid, cook over high flame until the pressure builds and then reduce the flame and cook till 4-5 whistles come out to boil the beetroots completely. You can boil the beetroots in deep pan also, but it will take more time to boil.
Switch off the flame and cool the beetroots completely. Strain and discard the water. Keep the beetroot pieces aside.
Now take the green chillies, poppy seeds, black mustards and a pinch of salt in a grinder jar and grind it without water. Then add small amount of hot water and grind it till smooth. Keep it aside.
Take the boil beetroots in a grinder jar and grind it too until smooth. Keep it aside.
Now heat up a pan, add 1 1/2 tbsp of oil. When the oil become hot, add 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds.
As the seeds start to sizzle, add the beetroot paste to it along with the poppy seed- mustard paste.
Sprinkle over some salt and sugar. Stir well to mix and put the lid on. Keep the temperature in moderate low.
The beetroot paste will ooze out water, so there is no need to add water to cook it. It will take 6-7 minutes to ooze out all the water. Stir it in the middle.
When the moisture evaporates, stir continuously so that they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
After 4-5 minutes of stirring and cooking the beetroot, you can notice that the beetroot paste will start coming off the pan and it will take the form of a lump. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Finally when you see the oil separating from it, switch off the flame and serve it with hot steamed rice as a starter.
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