Hill flavours at home: boiled vegetables, green chilli bharta and wild bean mash

People on the plains are drawn to the food of the hills. In Samakal, cook Afroza Khanam Mukta gives three recipes that can be made at home.

Mixed boiled vegetables: take one cup each of potato, carrot, okra, pointed gourd, brinjal, bitter gourd, yardlong bean and sweet pumpkin, with salt to taste and enough water. Cut each vegetable lengthwise and wash separately. Salt the water when it boils and cook the firmer vegetables first. Drain in a steel or bamboo strainer rather than a plastic one, keeping the colours fresh. Serve with hot rice and green chilli bharta.

Green chilli bharta: you need 10-15 green chillies, three onions, two garlic, a handful of coriander leaves, salt to taste and one tablespoon of lemon juice. Boil the chillies, onion, garlic and salt together, add the coriander and boil a little more, then grind fine on a stone. Grind again with the lemon juice, which keeps the colour bright green.

Bon shim bharta: you need 250 grams of bon shim, 10-12 dried chillies, two garlic, three to five large onions, salt to taste and a handful of coriander leaves. Cut the beans, boil covered in salted water until it dries, and set aside. Grind the dried chillies with salt, and the garlic separately. Grind the beans fine, discarding the white inner skin. Grind everything together, then lightly work in crushed onion and coriander leaves.

Source: Samakal