Palang Shaak Borir Ghonto - Spinach Bodi Medley

'Ghonto' means medley or an assortment of different things cooked together. The list of ghontos cooked by my mother is pretty long including muri ghonto, palang shaker ghonto, lau ghonto, mochar ghonto, chingri phulkopir ghonto and so on. This palang shaak borir ghonto is one such preparation my mother cooks often at home and is one of my favourites after I started eating vegetables, mainly eggplant.

The taste is synonymous with methi or fenugreek greens cooked with eggplant, but yes with a different zing. Bodis are little difficult to get if residing outside Kolkata. In Kolkata, it is available at your neighboring grocery shop. Outside Kolkata, you have to find a market that sells Bengali fishes like in Bangalore we used to get bodis from the Hal market. In US, I have not yet started looking for bodis as I have brought plenty of them from India with my luggage.

Ingredients:                                              Cooking time: 10-15 minutes ü  2-3 sprigs of spinach (chopped) ü  10-12 bodis ü  1 eggplant (cut into small cubes) ü  1 tsp turmeric powder ü  1 tsp ginger paste ü  Salt to taste ü  1 1/2 tsp of sugar ü  White or mustard oil for cooking Method: 1) Wash spinach cleanly under running water before chopping them coarsely. 2) Heat oil in a pan. Brown the bodis. Take them off the flame. 3) Into the same oil, add ginger paste, salt and eggplant. Add turmeric powder and Stir well. 4) When eggplant softens a bit, add spinach and sugar. Mix in. Cook covered for couple of minutes. 5) Finally when done, spread the fried bodis on top and mix in. 6) Serve hot with rice.