What ingredients goes in Tel Potol?
Tel refers to oil in Bengali. Tel Potol is prepared with mustard oil and at the end of the cooking you add mustard oil once again for the pungent aroma. In term of spices you only need nigella seeds. Little salt and sugar for taste and turmeric powder for color. You do want to add fresh green chili at the end mainly for mild heat and flavor of green chili. Tel Potol is a pure vegetarian Bengali dish that doesn’t include any garlic or onion.
What is Pointed Gourd?
Pointed Gourd is a vine plant similar to that of cucumber and squash. It’s native to India subcontinents and extremely popular in Bengali cuisine. When buying look for dark green ones, and it should feel firm to touch. Tender ones are more flavorful than the matured light green ones.
One key point: Please don’t confuse Pointed gourd with Ivy gourd, a common mistake made by those who are not familiar with this vegetable.
I live in Bay Area, California and that gives me access to several fresh produces. We are lucky to find few typical, authentic ones that you can find only in India. Having that said, Potol (Pointed Gourd) is something you will hardly come across. There are numerous Indian stores and yet, none of them sell good quality pointed gourd. Pointed Gourd is called parval in Hindi and potol in Bengali). I have always loved this vegetable and miss it so much out here. I see a glimpse of them in the stores very rarely and mostly, they are either sad yellow looking or very tiny.
Recently, I came across some fairly good-looking small size potol and couldn’t hold my excitement. There are several different ways that we cook this vegetable and what I am sharing today is simple and easy version. Also, Tel Potol often asks for small size pointed gourds instead of the larger ones. Arvind didn’t fancy the dish that much and neither did our little fella. I, however, was in a different zone that day and ate more than I should. The aromas took me back home.
If you enjoy such subtle flavors that don’t scream spice but just gets you cozy and warm at every bite, give this a try. You will be surprised at how amazing Bengali vegetarian meals can be. From a photographer’s point of view, such curries are nightmare to style and shoot. The dish doesn’t have the most vibrant shade and it doesn’t call for any garnish either. So yeah, I had a hard time. But, I had to save this recipe in my list of Bengali dishes. I just had to share it.
Few other Bengali dishes you would love to try:
Aam Daal (Green Mango Lentil Stew)
Cheena Badam Bhendi (Bengali Style Okra with Peanuts)
Dimer Kalia – Sweet Savory Bengali Egg Curry
