Adaa BaNga (Eggplant with Hilsha Fish Head)

Treasures are those traditional recipes which flowed directly from generation to generation. Each family prizes the honour of such handful of recipes, so do I.  Today I blog on food, I experiment dishes using various spices, sauces every day the hyper marts luring to us. But whatever it is or how may fancy dishes I cook, nothing can beat the taste of the dishes that I have tasted/learnt from my mother or grandmother or great grandmother. The usage of fewer spices was always the key ingredient at my grandmother’s house and the must usage of the freshly ground homemade spices. For me my maternal Grandmother, my Aunt who is much older than my mom and my mom are actually the culinary goddesses from whom I have learnt to cook pure Bengali dishes with the minimum ingredients. I have also learnt to enhance the taste by adding a dash of pure ghee in the dishes just before taking them off the flame.  What is an authentic dish or what is the originality of the recipe, these are very controversial concept to me. Some dishes evolved somewhere then by twists and turns these have reached to our hands. Some have some documents some have not. But what exactly traditionally known to us are the recipes that we have learnt from our ancestors. 

Aada BhaNga is one such dish that I have solely learnt from my mom's family and at the same time I also consider it as one of the signature dishes among the other inherited Bengali traditional recipes. My parents and their family originally are from East Bengal now known as Bangladesh. My grandmother was the daughter of the Sushong Rajbari, Bangladesh which was considered as to be the staunch Brahmin family. In their cooking there was never been any usage of garlic, onion and chicken.  Only the red meat, that was also after offering to the god, was allowed to the kitchen. The meat used to be cooked without garlic and onion and the cooking style is/was widely known as Veg- meat curry. Coming to the Aada Bhanga recipe, I have seen this dish only cooked with the Ilish/ Hilsa head with the Brinjal/Eggplant at our home. But in Rajshahi. Bangladesh it is quite famously cooked with the Aar/Artamim/Sperata aor Fish blocks but the Brinjal and ginger are the common ingredients. In West Bengal this dish is also known as Tottora.   So there must be many names, many ways to cook a dish. But here I will share the way how I have learnt from my grandmother and how I cook at my home. As the name suggests, Aada means Ginger and BaNga means to break.  In this dish the main ingredients are the ample use of the ginger paste, Ilish/Hilsa fish head and brinjal/eggplant, where the incorporation of all enhance the taste and elevate the aroma. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Brinjal/Eggplant-  2 medium size

Ilish/Hilsa fish head - 1 medium (cut in to four halves)

Mustard Seed- 1/4 tea spoon

Ginger Paste- 1 table spoon heaped

Turmeric Powder- 1/8 tea spoon + 1/4 tea spoon

Salt as per taste

Green Chilli- 2-3 (more or less)

Mustard oil- 2 table spoons (+ 1 table spoon if required)

Method:

1. Cut the Brinjal length wise one 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. Reserve.
2. Rub the Ilish/Hilsa head with 1/8 tea spoon turmeric powder and salt.
3. Heat oil in a Kadai/ Pan. The oil should be heated properly.
4. Fry the both side of the Ilish/Hilsa head pieces till they turn semi brown.
5. If there is enough oil remaining then don't add extra oil. Add extra oil only if needed.
6. Add mustard seed and let them sputter. Add the Brinjal pieces and fold nicely along with the oil and the mustard seed. Keep on frying for couple of minutes and then cover it with a lid. And cook for 3-4 mints in a low flame.
7. Take off the lid. Add salt and the turmeric powder, fold nicely so that each piece of brinjal gets seasoned. Again cover it with the lid and cook for 3-4 mnts.
8. Take off the lid and add the Ilish/Hilsa Fish head pieces and break them in more small pieces with a turner. Along with the brinjal pieces too.
9.  The Birnjal will keep on getting soft and with the turner  keep on stirring and folding all together nicely.
10. As much dry you will make it the taste will enrich more. So keep on sautéing the stuff till it starts to leave a frying smell. Add the ginger paste and sauté nicely for 3- 4 mints. Let the aroma of the ginger spread with the frying smell of the brinjal and hilsa head.
11. Add green chillies and then serve hot with white rice. 

Eggplant/Brinjal/ Aubergine Satay

At my early learning stage, I was shown to a picture of a big egg shaped fat, purple coloured vegetable  with a stem poking out from its head and was introduced that as 'BEGUN' in Bengali, 'BAIGAN' in Hindi and 'BRINJAL' in English. Who thought that after growing up in a lady and owning a kitchen to rule, I had to scratch my head after getting encountered with more names of that fat, purple veggie. Yes, you read it correctly. I did scratch my head when I first stepped in to the vegetable market in USA and saw that the my very well known Mr. Fatty Purple Brinjal was sitting on an isle with a name tagged on its head as "EGGPLANT". Newlywed then, I was not able to relate how could an EGG  be called as a PLANT and why Brinjal was tagged as an EGGPLANT. Too much confusion for the budding cook I decided to rush back home to investigate about it. Cheers to Wikipedia I found this:

"Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a species of nightshade commonly known in British English as aubergine and also known as brinjal, brinjal eggplant, melongene, garden egg, or guinea squash. It bears a fruit of the same name (commonly either "eggplant" in American English or "aubergine" in British English) that is widely used in cooking, most notably as an important ingredient in dishes such as moussaka and ratatouille. As a member of the genus Solanum, it is related to both the tomato and the potato. It was originally domesticated in India from the wild nightshade, the thorn or bitter apple, S. incanum." (Source: HERE)

I was introduced another name of Brinjal - "Aubergine". Now I don't have any confusion. Do you have?? I guess No..:)

I think Brinjal/Eggplant/ Aubergine is one of the most versatile vegetables that can be cooked in so many different ways.  Some has some allergy problem with this veggie but apart from that, taste wise it is unbeatable. I love to experiment with food. And from a long time I thought of making vegetable Satay with Brinjal/Eggplant/ Aubergine . Satay is actually now became famous as a Thai cuisine. But originally it came from Java, Indonesia, though there are confusions hovering around about its originality:

“Although both Thailand and Malaysia claim it as their own, its Southeast Asian origin was in Java, Indonesia. There satay was developed from the Indian kebab brought by the Muslim traders. Even India cannot claim its origin, for there it was a legacy of Middle Eastern influence.”

—Jennifer Brennan (1988), Kitchen Daily

If we delve deep in the history of Satay, the true meaning of Satay is: "Three pieces of Meat" which derived from the word "Min Nan words sa tae bak (三疊肉)". So in true sense Satay should be made with meat only. Non veg , mainly Chicken Satay is widely famous among the Satay family, though pork, mutton, beef and following with many other wild fleshes are its big competitors too.

I took a plunge to go for a vegan Satay and experiment it in a new way. I was not too confident about the result. But when it was served and tasted by the family it was a hit. My hubby became little skeptical after hearing the menu and was not able to hide his grimaced face. Thankfully after tasting with confusion he within a minute called for the next one. Devoured happily by everyone, I ended my day with a peaceful sleep. So here is the recipe of Eggplant/Brinjal/ Aubergine Satay : 

Ingredients:

Eggplant : 2 medium (Long)

Peanut Butter: 2 tbspns (room temperature)

Soy Sauce: 3 tbspns

Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce: 2 tbspns (more or less)

Garlic paste: 1 tspn

Warm Water: 1-2tbspns

Salt and Sugar : as per taste

Method:

1. Thinly slice the Eggplant lengthwise. Rub them with salt and  leave for few minutes. (See Notes)
2. Take bowl. Add all the ingredients except the water. Mix it well in to a smooth paste. If you think its too thick then add water in drops. The sauce will be semi thick.
3. Take a baking pan.  Cover it with aluminum foil. Grease it with oil.
4. Take each Eggplant slice, brush the sauce nice on the both sides and line up on the baking tray.
5. Bake for 7-8 mnts first at 200 degree C. Then turn them carefully so that they should not get broken and bake for another 5mnts.
6. Take each slice and put in the skewers and serve with salad and sauce/dip. 

Notes:

1. When you will thin the Eggplant make sure it should not cut too thin. If it is too thin then it might get a chance to get broken while putting them in the skewers.

2. I always wrap the baking pan with aluminium foil. It helps to get a burnt free and clean pan.

3. You can make it with Potato and other vegetable too.

4. Too make a dip you make some extra sauce same we did for marinating the eggplants.