Kanchakalar Khosha Bata / Raw Banana Peel Chutney....

Kanchakalar Khosha Bata / Raw Banana Peel Chutney.... 

 

We Bengalis have a habit of cooking all parts of the vegetables... May be in olden days people lived in joint family needed to cook food in bulk, so making a dish from the skin of the vegetable gives in an additional side dish to a meal. Khosha Bata can be made from some  of the vegetables like Bottle gourd (Lauer Khosha Bata), Raw banana( Kanchakalar Khosha Bata), Pointed gourd ( Potoler Khosha Bata), Peas skin (Koraichutir Khosha Bata).... Recipes of these various vegetable Bata will differ... So today I am making...Kanchakalar Khosha Bata which is s very traditional Bengali dish. Though the dish does not look appealing, it is rich in Iron and is extremely delicious to have it with hot steamed rice.

Ingredients

Peel/ Skin of 4 Raw Bananas 

3 cloves of Garlic

1 Green chilly

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Mustard oil

1/4 tsp Nigella seeds / Kalonji

For seasoning

1 tsp Mustard oil

1/4 tsp Nigella seeds / Kalonji

1 Dry red chillies

Method 

Pressure cook the peels/ Skin. Take a pan. Add 1/2 tsp Mustard oil. Heat it till smoking hot. Reduce the flame. Add Nigella seeds/Kalonji. Add the garlic cloves. Sauté the garlic till brown. Add the peels/ skin, salt and turmeric powder. Cook for 5 minutes. Take it off the flame and cool it. Blend the banana peel and the garlic in a blender in to a course paste. In a small pan add the mustard oil. Once the oil is heated, add in the Nigella seeds and the dry red chillies. Sauté on medium flame until the red chillies are roasted and browned. Add the peel paste and sauté on low heat for 5 minutes until the raw smell disappears. Have it with hot steaming rice.