Bengali Ghugni | Instant Pot Ghugni Recipe

Bengali Ghugni | Instant Pot (IP) Ghugni Recipe

Ghugni or Ghoognee is a very very popular snack in Bengal and in parts of Bihar and Orissa. It is made with dried white peas and cooked with myriad spices including Bhaja Masla. While the Northern India has its Chhole, Bengal has its Ghugni. An authentic Ghugni is made only with Motor or White Peas(sold as White or Yellow Vatana in Indian grocery stores), not chickpeas. Garnished with onion, green chilies, and the very Bengali addition of coconut, it is a mouthwatering snack.

My original recipe of Ghugni was posted several year ago following Somnath's directions. I have made Ghugni in Instant Pot using the same recipe. The Instant Pot version is easier and little quicker.

Original Ghugni Recipe non Instant Pot | Jump To IP Ghugni Recipe

Two amazing things happened this weekend!

1. My IP did not scream Burn on me. It did not give up on me. I successfully made Ghugni in my IP. This has been my life long dream. To make Ghugni in IP as my Pressure cooker is not large enough for a week's worth of Ghugni. Small victories in a big gadget filled world.

2. I went to my first every stand-up comedy show. Given that I have a special fondness for all things funny and eagerly watch the stand-up comedy shows on Netflix , it is surprising that I had never been to a live one. So when we heard Vir Das is in town,  a bunch of us eagerly got our tickets for his show.  And it was truly an amazing experience. 

I have loved his  shows on Netflix but being right there in the audience, just 6 rows away from the stage, in a theater throbbing with energy and laughter was something else! HILARIOUS.

Maggi Shakshuka | Shakshouka with Maggi

Maggi Shakshuka | Shakshouka with Maggi

Shakshouka  is a Maghrebi dish from Northwest Africa, of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. According to Joan Nathan, shakshouka originated in Ottoman North Africa in the mid-16th century after tomatoes were introduced to the region by Hernan Cortés as part of the Columbian exchange.We love and make Shakshuka often. It works out best as a quick brunch just by itself.  Since I love Maggi, in this recipe I have added  my favorite Maggi to my another favorite Shakshuka.

Jump To Recipe

For us, children of the 70s who had never heard the word "fast-food" , Maggi was  a revolution. Before that, fast food was food that you ate fast, quickly so that you didn't get caught -- like that whole pack of Bourbon biscuits, or half of that Tamarind pickle left out in the sun, or that two tablespoon from the Amul Milk Powder tin. Anything that had to be cooked took time and was slow!

And then Maggi came with its promise of 2-minutes and smiling faces on telly -- the happy Mom and the happier kids. Fast cooking was their keyword.

A collection of Maggi Ads that boosts my mood.

Maggi soon became a special treat in our grocery list. However my mother, totally skipped the key word 2- Minutes. 

Instead she chopped carrots and green beans, sautéed onions and tomatoes, cooked Maggi,  then fried the cooked Maggi with the vegetables, scrambled eggs, mixed the egg with the Maggi. In total it took at least 20-30 minutes!! This was at least better than some of the other Kakimas in the neighborhood who added curry leaves, potatoes, peanuts, turmeric and everything but eggplant to Maggi.

None of that reduced my love for Maggi though. It was not a regularly allowed treat and so I think the love kept increasing. And of course it was the first thing I learned to cook. Even my kids love Maggi and Maggi cooked in microwave was the first food they were allowed to on their own.

There are many different ways we eat Maggi. My kids like it in its most basic 2-minute from. Like my Mother though, I always make Maggi a greater than 2 minute noodle.

Now, Shakshouka  is a Maghrebi dish from Northwest Africa, of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. According to Joan Nathan, shakshouka originated in Ottoman North Africa in the mid-16th century after tomatoes were introduced to the region by Hernan Cortés as part of the Columbian exchange.

Both me and the husband-man love and make Shakshuka often. It works out best as a quick brunch just by itself, even no bread is needed. 

Since I love Maggi, I thought why not add my favorite Maggi to my another favorite Shakshuka. At least I am not adding curry leaves or eggplant. Wait! Maybe next time I will do that.

Joynagar er Moa | a winter Bengali treat from Bulbul Majumder

Joynagar er Moa | a winter Bengali treat

Joynagar er Moa is a famous but rustic sweet of Bengal. Made from khoi , kheer and nolen gur, it is a rare winter treat made in the small town of Joynagar about 50 kms from Kolkata. What makes Joynagar er Moa so famous is the Kanakchur Khoi(Bengali: কনকচূড়) ,made from Kanakchur rice, an aromatic variety of rice from West Bengal, India. The popped rice or Khoi prepared from Kanakchur retains that aroma. This Khoi and locally harvested Nalen Gur(Khejur Gur) is used to prepare the Jaynagarer Moa. When one says local and seasonal, Khejur Gur and Joynangarer Moa are the first things that come to my mind! The Joynagar er Moa recipe I have shared here is with ingredients I get here in the US.

Jump To Recipe

A few years back, Baba had sent me these pictures from the local sweet shops in Kolkata which also sell this sweet during winter. This was not the case when I was growing up. You could not just go to a store and buy it. 

In our small, sleepy, town, quiet winter afternoons were frequently nudged out of slumber, by the soulful cries of "Moa chai... Joynagar er Moa" as hawkers from the village, went from home to home, selling this delicacy. The syllables rounded into soft o's and a's morphing into the sweet balls themselves with such potency that we often imitated the "Moa chai...Joynagar er Moa" cries during evening play. They would come on bicycles, loaded with plain white paper boxes tied with yellow or blue strings, the boxes labeled as "Joynagar er Moa" in Bengali scripts. 

There was a certain longing in those cries, a clarion call, it stirred an intense desire within you and even if my Mother was taking a nap I would nudge her that the Joynagar er Moa guy is here. Some of those sellers were authentic, some not. Mother had an uncanny instinct and she would know. After the usual bargaining over price and quality a box was bought. Those plump round balls of khoi and kheer, with raisin at the center and sweetened with  patali aka khejur gur were the treats we looked forward to every winter.

Here is the Joynagar er Moa or rather "Amar Nagar Moa" recipe. Now let me be clear, that the very unique taste of Joynagar er Moa, comes from ingredients(kanakchur khoi and poyra gur (liquid khejur gur))  specific to that area. Since you don't have access to those, yours will be close but never the same. Nothing can beat the taste of quality, local ingredients❤. But the unfortunate ones, living far away, can try to make a close second, or third.

I got this recipe from Bulbul Majumder last year and since then have made it a couple of time. Bulbul who is a Software Engineer by profession and a watercolor artist by passion. She believes that if we wish to achieve something from the heart we can always make it real. She lives on the side of the globe which is far apart from Bengali dishes but her strong wish and her Bengali taste buds inspires her to create the magic in her US kitchen.

Bulbul is an artist par excellence and her paintings are truly mesmerizing. 

When I asked her, when she is feeling low, what is the one thing that makes her happy; her answer as expected was painting. It is a rare gift to have a passion that can bring so much happiness.

#happinessproject