Pur Bhora Komroni

These are stuffed Pumpkin Fritters. Normally in Bengal we have pumpkin pieces dipped into gram flour batter and deep fried. Here I have added a stuffing between the two pumpkin pieces, then dipped it into the batter and fried. I have added prawns in the stuffing but prawns can be omitted... for vegetarians. This dish goes well with hot steaming rice.

For the Stuffing
Ingredients
* 10 pieces of Prawns
* 2 tbsp Mustard seeds
* 1 1/2 tbsp Poppy seeds
* 1 tbsp Fresh or Desiccated Coconut
* 1 Garlic
* 1 or 2 Green Chillies as per the requirement
* Salt to taste

Method
Add all the above ingredients into a grinder. Avoid water, if required then add a tbsp of water and continue to grind. Grind it into a coarse thick paste.

For Komroni
Ingredients
* Pumpkin cut into 30 square thin pieces
* Stuffing
* 3/4 cup Rice flour
* 3/4 cup Gram flour
* 1/4 tsp Nigella seeds
* Salt to taste
* Mustard Oil for deep frying

Method
Take a bowl, add rice flour, gram flour, salt and nigella seeds. Add water little at a time and whip into a thick dropping consistently. Keep the batter aside. Heat the oil in a pan. Meanwhile take a pumpkin piece. Apply the stuffing onto the pumpkin slice. Take another pumpkin piece and cover the stuffing. Press the pumpkin slice from top, so that while frying the pumpkin pieces don’t open up. Repeat the process with other pumpkin pieces. Take the pumpkin pieces, deep it into the batter and fry it until golden brown from both the sides. Eat it hot with hot steaming rice.

P.S. I have not peeled the pumpkin, but you can peel it. Try to cut it into a thin slice.
Fresh Coconut is preferable, if you don’t have then use desiccated coconut.

Spicy Pumpkin Orange Jam

Spicy Pumpkin Orange Jam

Ingredients
1 big bowl or 1/2 kg of Pumpkin peeled, deseeded and cut in to thin slices
Juice of 2 Oranges
Juice of 2 Lime
1 tbsp Ginger juice
1 stick Cinnamon
1 Star Anise
2 Pinch of Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Chilli flakes
Pinch of Salt
3 cups Sugar
2 cups of Water

Method
Add the pumpkin and water into a large pot. Cook the pumpkin on high flame until the pumpkin slices are soft, mushy and the water has almost evaporated. Add the sugar, orange juice, lime juice, ginger juice,  cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, salt and chilli flakes. Cook on low flame on a large burner, stirring it occasionally in the beginning and then continuously as the jam begins to thicken and reaches the setting point. To check, take water in a small plate, add a droplet of the jam, if the droplet settles in one place and does not spread then it is done. Remove the pot from the heat. Take the clean glass jar. It has to be completely dry. While it is still warm, pour into the jar. It can be preserved upto  2 months.