Pui Shaak er Chochhori/Malabar Spinach with Veggies

There are many leafy vegetables (shaak) we cook at home. In fact, in our country, we get so many different leafy veggies and there are many ways of cooking them also. But in our family we have very few favourites; Pui Shaak is one of them. Pui Shaak er Chochhori is a Bengali way of cooking the Malabar Spinach. This particular shaak has its own unique taste, which turns more delicious if cooked with prawns or fried fish heads, especially the head of Hilsa. I’ll share that recipe some other day.

We got a fresh bunch of Pui from our local farmers market a few days back. And I had to cook this without adding any non-vegetarian ingredient because I had nothing suitable that time in my freezer. But the vegetarian version of Pui Shaak has its own charm, and one large portion of rice can be easily polished off with this only. Adding onion and garlic into this was our personal choice. Onion-garlic adds a nice flavour kick to the dish, but you can skip the onion-garlic part completely if you want to make a pure vegetarian version.

Pui Shaak er Chochhori
Pui Shaak er Chochhori

Pui Shaak er Chochhori/Malabar Spinach with Veggies

Pui Shaak er Chochhori is a Bengali style vegetarian dish cooked with malabar spinach and seasonal veggies. Serve as a side with rice and dal.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Keyword gluten-free
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 6
Author Chandrima

Ingredients

  • 500g- Pui Shaak/Malabar spinach
  • 1- Eggplant (medium sized)
  • 2- Potato (medium sized)
  • 1- Onion (optional) (medium sized)
  • 1 tsp- Garlic paste (optional)
  • 1 tbsp- Ginger paste
  • ½ tsp- Turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp- Cumin Powder
  • 1 tsp- Coriander powder
  • 2-3- Green chillies (broken into halves)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp- Sugar
  • Mustard oil

For tempering

  • ½ tsp- Paanchphoron/Bengali five spices
  • 1- Whole dry red chilli (broken into halve)

Instructions

  1. Chop Pui Shaak roughly, keep the leaves and stem parts separate. Transfer them to a colander, wash well under running water. Don’t mix the stems and leaves while washing, keep aside.

  2. Cut eggplant, potatoes, and pumpkin into cubes. Wash and keep aside. Cut the onion into thin slices.

  3. Heat ¼ cup mustard oil in a deep frying pan/kadai. Temper with the ingredients mentioned ‘for tempering’. Add sliced onion, sauté over medium heat until translucent. 

  4. Next to add eggplant, potatoes, stems of pui shaak, pumpkin, ½ tsp of turmeric powder, and salt. Mix. Cover and cook over a medium flame for 4-5 minutes. Keep stirring in between. 

  5. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, and green chillies. Mix well, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes over low heat. 

  6. Now add ½ cup of water into this. Mix, cover and cook over low heat. When the veggies are half cooked add pui leaves. Mix thoroughly, cover and cook until all the veggies are done. 

  7. Add sugar, mix and cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes more. Your Pui Shaak er Chochhori is ready to eat.

  8. Serve hot as a side dish with steamed Rice and Dal. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

  • The consistency of this dish should be semi-dry.
  • The veggies will break slightly during the cooking and that is completely fine with this dish
Pui Shaak/Malabar Spinach
Pui Shaak/Malabar Spinach
Pui Shaak er Chochhori
Pui Shaak er Chochhori
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5 Comments

  1. Hi ur description is nice n easy ,keep it up.looking frwd to alloo posto recipe although it’s quite an easy known dish but wud be delighted to get ur version .thanks.

     
  2. The way you have presented the relevant details in connection with the way of preparing Pui Shak recipe leaves me with an unforgettable impression that cooking is really an art. Thank you very much, long live, God bless you. Such an initiative, on your behalf, will be appreciated every moment in the era of Information Communication Technology(ICT) and it will prove effective in making all–who are directly or indirectly concerned with the art of cooking–confident about preparing the best of the good recipes.

     

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