
Chorchori or charchari (, bn, চচ্চড়ি) is a unique
char-flavored mixed vegetable dish of
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...
, found primarily in
Odia
Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to:
* Odia people in Odisha, India
* Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family
* Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...
and
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 ...
cuisine of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...
.
Origin
Chorchori is often cooked with leftover vegetables at the end of the week.
The story behind the dish is that in Bengali households, traditionally men would go grocery shopping once a week. At the end of the week, the household would be left with bits of all the vegetables bought earlier in the week.
Preparation
To cook chorchori, a ''
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 roasted briefly in oil or ghee to lib ...
'' is prepared by frying spices such as
black mustard
''Brassica nigra'', or black mustard, is an annual plant cultivated for its dark-brown-to-black seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. It is native to tropical regions of North Africa, temperate regions of Europe, and parts of Asia.
Descri ...
seeds and minced
ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...
root in oil or
ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals.
Description
Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned fro ...
. Often,
panch phoron
Panch phoron, Panch Phodan or Pancha Phutana is a whole spice blend, originating from the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent and used especially in the cuisine of Eastern India and Northeastern India, especially in the cuisine of Bhojpur, ...
is used. Then, chopped vegetables are added and stir-fried briefly. Water, salt, and more spices are added, and the vegetables are allowed to simmer.
Once all the liquid has been absorbed and cooked off, the vegetables begin to fry in the oil or ghee left in the bottom of the pot. As the vegetables begin to char, a sizzling sound is heard, and the pot is removed from the heat.
After a few minutes, the thin charred crust is stirred gently into the dish.
Typical vegetables used for ''chadachadi'' include
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Un ...
es,
eggplant
Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit.
Mo ...
,
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed eith ...
,
French beans, and
cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species '' Brassica oleracea'' in the genus ''Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head is eaten – t ...
.
See also
*
Oriya cuisine
Odia cuisine is the cuisine of the Indian state of Odisha. Compared to other regional Indian cuisines, Odia cuisine uses less oil and is less spicy while nonetheless remaining flavourful. Rice is the staple food of this region. Mustard oil is ...
*
Bengali cuisine
Bengali cuisine ( bn, বাঙ্গালী রন্ধনপ্রণালী) is the culinary style of Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent encompassing Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura ...
References
*
Yamuna Devi
Yamuna Devi (also ; 19th May 1942–20th December 2011), born Joan Agnes Campanella in Butte, Montana was a senior member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)..... She was part of the early 1960s Beat Generation in Nort ...
(1987). ''The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking: Lord Krishna's Cuisine''. Illustrations by David Baird. New York, New York: Bala Books.
External links
Charchari recipe(about 1/3 of the way down the page)
Odia cuisine
Bengali cuisine
Bangladeshi cuisine
{{Bangladesh-cuisine-stub