Mayapur ISKCON temple is situated in Mayapur town in Nadia district of West Bengal, India. In this region , it is believed that Lord Krishna appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with his brother Lord Balaram as Nityananda Prabhu. In this sacred land of Mayapur, the global headquarters of ISKCON is situated. Many devotees from all over the world visit the sacred Mayapur Chandrodaya Temple of ISKCON throughout the year. Daily bhog mahaprasad is distributed among thousands of devotees. It is needless to say that the food offered as bhog prasad as a major influence of Bengali cuisine. All the food items like rice, dal, curries, savories, sweets etc. are completely vegetarian and no onion and garlic are used in the preparation of the ISKCON temple prasadam. Daily different variety of dal or subzi or savories are offered to all the deities and then served among the devotees.
Niramish Aloo Potol Paneer Tarkari is without onion and garlic potato, pointed gourd and paneer curry where the vegetables and paneer are fried to perfection and cooked in mildly spiced gravy. It is served as a side dish vegetable sabzi with rice meal mahaprasad thali. This paneer sabzi is very delicious and is a very popular Bengali veg dish. You must try this dish during the summers when pointed gourds are abundantly available in the markets. Hare Krishna.
MAYAPUR ISKCON NIRAMISH ALOO POTOL PANEER TARKARI (STEP BY STEP RECIPE)
****The quantity specified here is sufficient for 3 to 4 people as a side dish veg curry with rice meal.****
- Here, we have taken 10 to 12 pointed gourds or parwal or potol, peeled off the skin and cut into halves horizontally. Two large size Potatoes, cut into quarter size cubes. 200 gm Paneer cut into cubes as shown.
2. Heat 4 tbsp of oil in a cooking pan. When the oil is smoking hot, then add the pointed gourd / potol cubes and fry. Add 1 tsp of salt and half teaspoon of turmeric powder and mix with the pointed gourd pieces. This will expedite the frying process and the pointed gourd will simultaneously get almost 90% cooked.
3. In the existing oil, fry the potato cubes to golden brown and the paneer cubes as shown.
4. Temper the remaining oil with the below mentioned spices :
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 2 Dry Red Chillies
- 1 inch Cinnamon Stick
- 4 Green Cardamom
- 4 Cloves (Laung)
- 1 tsp of Cumin seeds
Fry the tempering for few seconds till cumin seeds starts to splutter.
5. Add 1 tbsp of ginger paste, 1 tsp of green chilli paste and one tomato finely chopped. Add Salt and turmeric powder and give a nice stir. Then cover with a lid and cook so that the tomatoes become soft quickly.
6. Tomatoes are soft and mushy now, its time to add the following dry spices one by one :
- 1 tsp of Coriander powder
- 1 tsp of Cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp Red Chilly powder
Add around 2 tbsp of water and mix the masala. Cover with a lid and cook the masala till oil starts coming out of it.
7. Next, add 1 tsp of Sugar to balance the flavors of the masala and 1 tbsp of butter. Fry the masala for 2 minutes more. Add the fried pointed gourds/potol and potato cubes. Fry the vegetables with the masala for 1 to 2 minutes.
8. Add 500 ml of water to make the curry. When the curry comes to full boil, cover with a lid and cook on medium flame for 2 minutes. Then add the fried paneer cubes and cover with the lid and cook for another 5 minutes. The vegetables are already fried so will get cooked quickly.
9. Open the lid after 5 minutes, the vegetables are completely cooked and paneer has soaked the curry. If the vegetables are not cooked fully, then boil the curry for another 5 to 10 minutes. Now, add 1 tbsp of milk powder and 1 tsp of garam masala powder. Mix with the curry and cook for another two minutes. While cooking cover with a lid. After 2 minutes, open the lid and the delicious Bengali style Niramish Aloo Potol Paneer Tarkari (No Onion No Garlic Aloo Parwal Paneer Curry) is ready.
This paneer curry is served as a side dish sabji in the prasad thali of ISKCON Mayapur temple.
Hare Krishna, Jai Jagannath.
MAYAPUR ISKCON NIRAMISH ALOO POTOL PANEER TARKARI VIDEO
