Tuesday, February 2, 2010

MULO PATA BATA ( RADISH LEAF PASTE)







I hope every body has enjoyed my absence from blog by not having to go through my food blogs and  comments which have more of non-food matters than food matters. This reminds me of a famous cartoon in Eco times. Ms Fonseka and Godbole were gossiping in the office. The boss entered with a big smile and said " I am sure you have thoroughly enjoyed my vacation abroad...now get down to work".
Staying out of the blog has been quite painful. I did not realize, I had become so attached to it.
Now I am back only to read blogs, I wont be able to cook for some time. People have come to know that I am sitting idle at home. The word has spread. The other day I got a call from an old Becante ( acquaintee).
" Am I speaking to Ghosh?"
Yes
( Then, I am ****,  how are you, I am fine etc etc )
Are you available to take up a challenging assignment  in the Caribians?
" WIth Harry BelaFonte and Matilda?" I asked with excitement 
No..No...
I am not interested.
"Why" what are you doing these days?
I am just clooking, watching soap, reading food blogs and once in a while post some recipe to remain in the loop, so that my great Chef friends dont forget me.
Hummm!!!! that's strange, are you Mr Ushnish Ghosh?
Yes....very much....I find cooking vegetables and meat  more interesting than cooking chemicals, petrochemicals, Oil, Natural gas etc. I love to use chemical engineering principles in cooking.
 " You mad cap, as usual "
To cut the long story short, I have taken up a small job because I could not say No to a friend. And also SOMEONE has warned , there wont be any pocket money for lazy people. ( Between you all and me " Given a choice I will never marry again).
Let me see if I can sustain long travels across the globe, else back to kitchen and to blog.
So I am setting sail in few days to have a date with Milano and for treasure hunt..

" Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Ya hoo hoo a bottle of rum"
Yours sincerely Long John Silver.
THE RECIPE
It is an old traditional Bengali recipe. Bata means paste or some thing which has been ground to paste like dal bata for dosa .
BATA itself opens up to numerous recipes loved by bengalis and certainly through out the country , only the ingredients vary. (Some kind of bata is there in daily food menu in south India.) For example one can make poppy seed bata as such or with fried tiny prawns, Cauliflower leaf bata, coconut bata , Man Kochu ( type of Arvi) bata, radish bata,  dry fish, coconut and poppy seed bata, raw banana peal bata, arvi sag bata   etc etc, there is no limit to the innovations. 
Most bata in Bengali recipe will have mustard, green chili and a dash of mustrad oil and coconut as a variation. Use of Coco nut is much recent for this recipe.
You can have a look at sangeeta's outstanding recipe on " Bathua Sag"
Time permitting and "No pocket money" willing , I will make all batas for you...someday.
INGREDIENTS.
Mulo sag  ( Radish leaves) torn from the stuck ( quantity will depend upon how much  Radish with leaves you bought for other purpose). Here I will take 1 cup of chopped, steamed, drained and squeezed leaves  Adjust other ingredients accordingly.
Coconut grated 1/2 to 3/4 cup 
green chili 4 ( more the merrier)
mustard seed 2 tsp
black pepper 8-10 number
Mustard oil 1 tsp ( Raw mustard oil eaters can add 2 tsp)
Salt 

PROCESS
Tear out the leaves from the stem and chop coarse.
Blanch in boiling water with salt for 3-4 minutes, drain, quench with cold water.
Squeeze the water out.
Grind the grated coconut.
Grind the mustard, green chili, black pepper.
Grind the leaves to very thick paste. ( The Mixi , I have, is no good). ( SOMEONE has strong muscles, so she grinds it on " Sil , NoDa" , (a contraption made of a flat granite stone and a  cylindrical granite piece.) and I act as a cheer leader to enthuse her. I recall I had to pay 7 Kg excess baggage when I carried this to Korea for my use) 
For grinding methods, I leave it to you to decide, at the end it should be  thick paste and not a slurry.
Mix all together and adjust salt.

Eat with hot rice.

THANK YOU
I never thought I would get so much involved in blogging, I never thought I would get so much support  from all of you to continue this blog. Actually reading food blog is my obsession , it is like reading a novel...and these are  genuine recipes. Each recipe comes from the kitchen of  great cooks for whom cooking is a hobby and serious  business too.
So, I may not be able to post but will spend my time enjoying reading the recipes , cook and eat virtually. Thank you so much and see you from Milano after 6th Feb, for next few weeks.

Flowers for my friends
Himalayan wild flowers


39 comments:

Kanchan said...

Oh .. so we would be missing your posts for more time now :(
Will totally miss you, but do be around with your lovely comments !

About the recipe as usual, I always find something new @ your space, so this one too is very new to me will try out next time I get raddish !

Sanjana said...

It;s so nice to read one of your posts again- Your stories always make me laugh! I'll try to find radish leaves so that I can cook this because it sounds wonderful. Have a fun and safe trip! :D

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Kanchan
This is not a great dish, so take your time.
I have joined flickr just to see the photos at your site..that will be a good time pass
Have a nice time

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Sanjana
Hey dont go around looking for radish leaves..just tag it and try it when you are on vacation. By then I will put more bata recipe.
I am sure you are going great guns with your studies, fully charged after the vacation...
take care

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

so now it is blog hopping and continent hopping too! Enjoy your stint!
I love these batas...

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Somoo
Please publish some great Bata of Orissa. What happened to Mahura? MIL is there , so no excuse. Even if I am not here, your Bhauja will cook, she loves Mahura and also make "ChhinchaDa vege and with fish head".
Take care
Aji Rahili

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Welcome back. We have all missed your Tale-N-Tasty posts.Great chutney/relish by the way.I am sure they will go well with variety rice and roti.

Vineetha Sush said...

Hi ushnish ji,
so happy to see u back...So u r going to step into a new venture..wishing you all the best.
I defintely enjoy reading ur stories so once in a while pls post something for us..

Vrinda said...

I started experimenting with radishes but haven't tried with leaves yet..sounds healthy and yumm...

Preeti Kashyap said...

Of course we missed you, your rants, your recipes and the lovely flowers at the end. Love today's recipe, Never used radish greens....should try this recipe.

prasu said...

Hi Ushnish,
Good to see you back.......happy to to hear that u are hopping to Milano, but missing ur wirteup, recipes and most of all ur lovely comments in our blogs......sure we miss you....about me couple of thing are going around, so could not peek, hop or blog for quite sometime..............so i may be irregular for blogsphere........for atleast 6-8months............hope to catch you soon......

Latha said...

Interesting recipe...not american interesting :)...very new to me.

Best wishes for your new venture.

Sayantani said...

Thats a bad news Ushnishda we already missed you n your recipes a lot.so my request is even if you dont post recipes write something (may be about the new place) but am happy that you are going to Milano...pata bata die ami ak thala bhat kheye felte pari tabe amra mainly kumro, chalkumro ei sab pata bata kheyechi. mulo pata besh notun. amar bagane anek mulo hoeche ei weekend e banabomulo pata bata.

Between akta kharap khabor ache blogosphere e jetay amar mon khub kharap hoe ache. check Sangeeta's page (healthfooddeshivideshi) you will get to know.

See you soon.

Urmi said...

Very nice, unique and interesting recipe. Looks delicious and tempting. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.

gtyuk said...

hi Ushnishda,
this radish leaves bata sounds pretty good; My h loves radish but I've never cooked the leaves ;I do a similar dish with spinach (but use mustard seeds & oil for tempering); like to try this recipe very much with the radish leaves!! bookmarking it!!

and Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Ya hoo hoo a bottle of rum"
Yours sincerely Long John Silver.
hihihih, reminds meof my 6th std english book......

Bon Voyage Ushnishda and enjoy your stay!!!

Siddhi Shirsat said...

Hey ghosh uncle i am happy 2 c ur post...was missng ur posts...very nice n good recipe n intro b4 it also very intresting:-)...grinding in that stone gives a much better taste then mixie, so i am sure it vl taste awesome...nice recipe...

Chetana Suvarna Ganatra said...

Dear Ushnishji,
Welcome back....never heard of this recipe before..thx for sharing. Wat do u use tis paste for..m very curious.
Liked ur write-up...guess all men wish their wife to disappear, n my hubs no different.
Hv a safe trip n come back wit loads of yum recipes n cool pics.
Bon Voyage.

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Hi Ushnishda
Hope You are enjoying your abroad trip. I too missed your interesting comments about my recepies during your absence. Your radish bata dish proves that no matter how much a bengali travels around the world, at heart he still is a very traditional bhadralok( gentleman) who knows all nitty grities of the kitchen.The Sil Nora grinding part was hilarious.Have a good trip to Milan as well.

Deepa

Dolly Sharma said...

Ushnishda, Good to see you back, that too with a funny write-up and a new authentic recipe for me. This is new to me..Mulo Pata Bata..I'm not even sure I can find radish leaves here..its hard enough to find radish for my mooli parathas. But I'll look for it surely.

Enjoy ur new assignment in a new place. You will have many more stories for us and I'm sure when u have some time u'll be blogging or atleast giving ur awesome feedback to our blogs.. Good luck with ur new venture.

sangeeta said...

i know this is a great recipe ...as i have made it once as per your instructions n i told you it was just great ...i tried it with turnip greens too n was absolutely yummy...
thanks for the mention of bathua saag , though it is very different in texture n tatse but THAT IS A BATA for sure........

Gauri Gharpure said...

this is such an unusual recipe! will definitely try it pretty soon!

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear All
Thank you so much for your appreciation. I generally reply to all individually, but bit had pressed on time. Will catch up soon once I drop anchor.
Happy cooking

Anonymous said...

hi! nice to have you back again. i wondered what had happened to you! :)

shahana said...

Happy to see you back.Was eagerly waiting for your new writeup along with the recipe.Anyway all the best for your new venture!!

Padmajha said...

HI ushnish..Nice to see you are back.Wishing you a safe trip.Hope to see you blogging from the new place and that too specialties from where you anchor!!All the best!!!!

Sharmila said...

This is a must try recipe. Have a great trip Ushnishda. :-)

Pavithra Elangovan said...

wow thats wonderful recipe must try it... all ur dishes are so different.

FoodLovers said...

one more intresting recipe from u ... lovely write up ..

Siddhi Shirsat said...

Hey Ghosh uncle, m glad 2 c ur comment on my blog after so mny days, i realy miss ur comments...U so sweet to remove time when ur out of town and comment.m fine, how abt u?...hope u njoying ur stay thr in milan?..waiting for ur lovely posts...take care uncle

Nandinis food said...

I laughed at the boss and marriage part! Anyway, the radish leaf paste is yummy! Thanks for remembering me!

Malar Gandhi said...

As usual, I enjoyed this lovely write-up. Oh come-on...you got to work, my friend. Take this opportunity and explore more. I am sure SOMEONE is very proud of you. I will really miss your recipes and heart felt comments tho' but its okay. You keep fascinating us up with occassional blogging...

Raddish green bata sounds totally new to me, we make kind of stir-fry...need to try this real soon, I like the bitter tasting greens very much.

Thank you so much for the Himalayan wild flowers:)

Hamaree Rasoi said...

SO u r in the fashion capital of the world. Let me know if u have clicked snaps of beautifully dressed models ;-)
It's always nice to read ur comments which u post in spite of ur busy schedule.
Btw I'm a bong myself so all my cooking will reflect bong touch. Next comment ki bangla e likhle cholbe?
Regards
Deepa
http://hamareerasoi.blogspot.com/

Hayley said...

Hi
Just step down here from the other blogroll...you have very good site..love to read your post, so will come here again..

cheers and do visit me if you can..

ARUNA said...

that's a lovely dish and a nice write-up!

Sunitha said...

Hope you are having a good time working but hope to see you back in cooking food action soon. Miss your regular visit and critical yet diplomatic comments :)

my kitchen said...

Never tried using radish greens, Thanks for introducing new recipes. Taste must be good with Hot Idly & Dosa

Unknown said...

Hello Ushinishji
I am doing good thank u,i am here to inform u that today i tried ur cauliflower razela.It came out very well and yummy too.My family loved it..Will post it soon.Thank you for sharing this beautiful recipe.:)
Cheers
Sangeetha

Simplyfood said...

My 1st time here stumbled here through another blog.I loved the humour in your posts and the radish paste looks super I love the vibrant colour.

Santosh Bangar said...

thanks for nice comment and adv to see the recipe. realy very interesting recipes .i like leaves sbuji so i must try it.