Bhurta, vorta, bhorta, bharta or chokha is a lightly fried mixture of mashed vegetables in the cuisine of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
.
Some variations of this dish are
baingan bhurta and
aloo bhurta.
Etymology
The word ''Bhurta'' is derived from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
roots ''bhṛj'' (भृज्) and ''bhṛkta'' (भृक्त) which mean something which is roasted or fried. Thus ''bhurta'' refers to a spicy mash made from roasted, boiled or fried vegetables.
It is known by different names in South Asia itself, as in;
*
Kashmiri- ژؠٹِن (''tsetin'')
*
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
- भुरता (''bhurtā'')
*
Rajasthani
Rajasthani may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India
* Rajasthani languages, a group of Indic languages spoken there
* Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the state
* Rajasthani architecture, Indian ar ...
- बुज्जी/बांटण (''bujji/bā̃ṭaṇ'')
*
Punjabi- ਭੜਥਾ (''bhaṛthā'')
*
Nepali- भरता (''bhartā'')
*
Gujarati- ઓળો (''oḷo'')
*
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
**Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
- भरीत (''bharīt'')
*
Bhojpuri
Bhojpuri may refer to:
* Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal
* Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language
* Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language
* Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language
* Bhojpuri region ...
- चोखा (''chokhā'')
*
Maithili- সন্না (''sannā'')
*
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
- মাখা (''mākhā'')
*
Assamese- পিটিকা (''pitikā'')
*
Odia- ଚକଟା (''chakaṭā'')
*
Meitei- ꯑꯃꯦꯇꯄꯤ (''ametpi'')
*
Kannada
Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
- ಗೊಜ್ಜು (''gōjju'')
*
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
- துவயல் (''tuvayal'')
*
Tulu- ಗೊಜ್ಜಿ (''gōjji'')
*
Telugu- పచ్ఛడి (''pachchaḍi'')
*
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
- ചമ്മന്തി (''chammanti'')
Ingredients
Bhurta recipes vary depending on the region and the vegetable(s) used.
In general, the ingredients are as follows:
*A vegetable, such as ''aloo'' (
potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
), ''baingan'' (
eggplant
Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...
), or ''karela'' (
bitter melon
''Momordica charantia'' (commonly called bitter melon, cerassee, goya, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash, balsam-pear, karela, karavila and many more #Uses, names listed below) is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitac ...
)
*''Tamatar'' (
tomato
The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...
) or ''pyaz'' (
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...
)
*
Chaunk
Tempering is a cooking technique used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in which whole spices (and sometimes also other ingredients such as dried chillies, minced ginger root or sugar) are cooked briefly in oil or ghee to lib ...
(tempered spices)
Gallery
Eggplant-&-Tomato-(Bhurta)-optimized.jpg, Baingan bartha, an eggplant and tomato bhurta
Nona ilish vorta.jpg, Salted ilish vorta
Meshed potato (alu bharta).jpg, Aloo bharta (mashed potato bhurta)
Shutki vorta 2.jpg, Dry fish cottage
Morich vorta.jpg, Red pepper vorta
See also
*
Cuisine of the Indian subcontinent
South Asian cuisine includes the traditional cuisines from the modern-day South Asian republics of Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, also sometimes including the kingdom of Bhutan and the emirate of Afghanistan. Also som ...
*
List of vegetable dishes
References
Bengali cuisine
Bihari cuisine
Indian vegetable dishes
{{India-cuisine-stub
Pakistani vegetable dishes