#Title

Celebrating Durga Puja with delicious recipes from West Bengal
Bengalis celebrate the Durga Puja in style and food is at the heart of all Bengali celebrations. Puja festivities are incomplete without the snacks, the desserts, the vegetarian dishes, and even the non-veg dishes made from mutton. Handed over from one generation to the next, the following must-try recipes are at the heart of the puja festivities in Bengal.
ECHORER DALNA (UNRIPE JACKFRUIT AND POTATOES BRAISED IN SPICES)
Ingredients
800g cleaned echor (1 kg whole unripe jackfruit)
75g prawns, cleaned, and deveined (optional)
400g potatoes
65g tomatoes
4-5 pieces green chilli
2 tsp ginger paste
80g mustard oil
3 pieces dried red chilli
3 pieces bay leaves
3 pieces cardamom
2 pieces cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
10g cumin powder
3g coriander powder
5g turmeric
18g salt
25g sugar
500g hot water
1 tbsp ghee
¼ tsp garam masala
Method
Peel and chop potatoes and divide them in 3 cm cubes. Roughly chop the tomatoes and slit the green chillies. Clean and chop the echor in 3 cm cubes. Keep soaked in water (make sure it does not turn black). Strain the echor and place it in a saucepan with 500ml hot water, 10g salt and ½ tsp turmeric. Cover with a lid and steam for about 8 minutes until slightly softened.
Drain the water and discard it. This will also get rid of the astringent flavour of the echor. Heat mustard oil in a pan and allow it to smoke gently until it loses its pungent flavour and turns pale yellow. If using prawns, smear them with salt and turmeric, and fry them for a minute before removing from the oil. Set aside for later.
Fry the echor with ¼ tsp red chilli powder and 3g sugar. Once it has fried for 4-5 minutes, strain it from the oil and set aside.
Now temper the oil with dried red chillies, bay leaves, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and cumin seeds. Add potatoes and fry for 4 minutes on medium heat until golden. You can add about 2g salt to season the potatoes.
Make a paste of spices by mixing cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric with little water. Add red chilli powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder directly to the oil and allow them to fry for 20 seconds. Now add the spice paste prepared earlier. Sauté the spices on medium heat for about 5 or 6 minutes, adding a splash of water whenever the pan dries out. Add ginger paste and fry the spices for another 3 to 4 minutes minimum.