Peper Ghonto is a purely vegetarian (onion-garlic free dishes are considered pure veg) Bengali dish. It’s an age old delicacy, which tastes great with rice. Often cooked by my mother, it was our family favourite. Like many other dishes, I’ve learned this also from her. After tasting this vegetable dish, you’re guaranteed to become a fan of it! So, below is how to cook it-

Peper Ghonto/Raw Papaya Sabji

• Pepe/Raw Papaya- 1 medium sized
• Potato- 1 medium sized (Peel and cut into cubes)
• Yellow moong dal- 2 tbsp
• Bori/Bodi/Vadi or Sundried Lentil Dumplings – 10-12
• Green chilli- 2 (broken into pieces)
• Mustard oil- ¼ cup
• Salt
• Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
• Sugar- 1 tbsp
• Ghee/Clarified butter- 1 tbsp
• Garam masala powder- ½ tsp

For tempering

• Cumin seeds- – ½ tsp
• Bay leaf- 1
• Dry red chilli- 1

Method

Peel the papaya. Cut into 4 equal pieces length wise. Wash well. Now grate them using a grater. Keep aside.

Dry fry yellow moong dal in a frying pan until light brown in color. Wash and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai/deep frying pan. Fry all the bori until golden in color. Remove and keep aside.

Peel the potato and cut into cubes. Wash well. Fry the potatoes until golden brown in color. Remove and keep aside.

Now in the remaining oil (we need 2 tbsp oil for making the sabji, if there is no oil in the kadai, add some at this stage) temper with the ingredients mentioned ‘for tempering’. Add grated papaya, potatoes, salt, turmeric powder, roasted moong dal and green chillies. Mix well, and cook on medium flame for 2 minutes. Keep stirring in between. Add ½ cup of water into this. Mix again, cover and cook further on low flame until papaya and potatoes are cooked thoroughly. If you feel that the sabji is drying up too much in between of cooking, add some water. But, keep in mind that it’s a dryish sabji. So, add water carefully.

Now add sugar, fried bori, ghee and garam masala powder. Mix well and cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes more. Remove from the heat.

Serve hot Peper Ghonto with steamed rice.