Chal potol recipe aka chal potoler ghonto is an authentic and delectable Bengali niramish recipe which is hugely popular in Bengal. It is a comfort dish which is frequently prepared in Bengali households during summer. It is a no onion and no garlic recipe which makes it a perfect dish for niramish days. In this preparation, tender pointed gourds are fried and then cooked with gobindo bhog chal and a few specific spices. It is a perfect side to accompany piping hot steamed rice and dal.
Though it is a very popular Bengali recipe but still many of you need to be made aware of it. Before going further, let me explain these terms.
Table of Contents
About the recipe
Health Benefits of Pointed Gourd
How to make Chal Potol (step wise photos)
Recipe Card
What is Chal Potol ghonto?
Chal potol is a Bengali name where chal stands for rice and potol means pointed gourds. Ghonto is a pure Bengali delicacy and it means mushy curry. For Bengali ghonto recipe, only aromatic small grain gobindo bhog chal is used.
What is Gobindo bhog chaal?
Gobindo Bhog Chaal (rice) is very famous in West Bengal. In Bengal, this rice is specially used in preparing kheer, pulao and ghonto recipes. It is very tiny-grained aromatic white rice. It is mainly cultivated in a few districts of West Bengal.
No onion garlic recipes play a vital role in any Bong house because, in most of the Bong houses, they consider at least a day per week as a no onion garlic day or a veg day. These recipes work absolutely stunning on those days. Chal potol recipe is a great option for vegetarian and puja days.
Many people think there are only a few Bengali veg recipe in Bengali cuisine because Bengalis mostly eat only fish in their meals with some sides like dal, bhaji etc. But there are many traditional, delectable and authentic Bengali veg recipes and every Bong is crazy for those veg food too. Aloo posto, Chanar Dalna, Chanar korma, Alur dom are a few of the finest names for Bengali veg recipe. You can easily get these in most of the reputed Bengali restaurants of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Though these recipes have taken the limelight of Bengali veg cuisine, chal potol is one of the delectable and soothing delights during summer which provides comfort and ease.
Bengalis are scrupulous about vegetarian food and they have split it into two different parts. One division is called satvik food where onion, garlic and even masoor dal are prohibited. In another division, normal vegetarian dishes are prepared using onion and garlic. Onion and garlic are considered rajasik food which produces heat in our body and inflames our passion and incomprehension. Chal potol belongs to the satvik food.
When I was preparing chal potol recipe for the first time after my marriage, my husband was not confident about the dish because it’s a no onion garlic recipe. But his jaw dropped completely after tasting the dish. Now, it’s one of his favourite veg curry recipes.
Chal potol is a simple and easy recipe. It gets prepared very quickly without any hassle. In fact, we need a very limited and handful of ingredients to prepare this delish. All the ingredients are easily available in any Bengali kitchen pantry. The longest part of the recipe is to cut and clean the pointed gourds.
Chal potol recipe with step-by-step photos and instructions have been provided in the ‘Instructions’ section. But before directly jumping into the recipe, let me share a few interesting facts about the recipe and the key ingredient pointed gourd.
Health Benefits of Pointed Gourd
- Pointed gourd acts as a blood purifier. It helps to purify our blood.
- It increases the immunity power of our bodies.
- It is good for our digestive system.
- It is low in calories and contains pretty good fibre which is great for weight loss.
How to make Chal Potol?
To prepare the chal potol recipe, first cut and clean the pointed gourd (parwal) nicely. Cutting and cleaning pointed gourds aka potol (Parwal) is one of the most important parts of the potol recipe. First, cut both the edges of all the pointed gourds and then partially peel their skin. Then cut each potol in halves.
Marinate the pointed gourds with salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside for 10 minutes.
On the other hand, wash ¼ cup Gobindo bhog chaal 2-3 times with water and soak it in a sufficient amount of water for 10-15 minutes. Then drain the water and keep the rice aside.
Take a jar of a grinder and add tomato chunks, ginger, green chilli and close the lid. Pulse it to a smooth paste and keep it aside.
Then put a pan on flame and allow it to become completely dry. Then add mustard oil to the pan and wait until the oil is hot. Generally, most of the traditional Bengali food is cooked in mustard oil. It gives an outstanding flavour to the dish.
Add pointed gourds and fry them over medium flame for 7-8 minutes until they lose their crunch and brown spots occur. Then strain out the potol aka pointed gourds and keep it aside.
Then add little bit of ghee into the pan and allow it to melt. Add the strained rice into the pan and fry them over medium flame for 2-3 minutes until the rice turns opaque. Strain the rice and keep it aside on a separate plate.
In the same pan, add whole spices bay leaf, dry red chillies, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamoms, cumin seeds and let them crackle.
Add the tomato-ginger paste into the pan and give a nice stir. Cook in medium to low flame for 5-6 minutes until it releases oil.
In the meantime, take a bowl and add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and some water into it. Make a paste of the spices and add it to the pan. Cook it in low flame for another couple of minutes.
Add the fried rice and fried potol into the pan and mix it with the masala. Cover the pan and cook it on low flame for a couple of minutes.
Take off the lid and add salt, sugar and mix it well. Add green chillies into the pan and mix it.
Add hot water to the pan and give a gentle stir. Cover the pan and put the flame on high until the gravy starts boiling. Then put the flame on low and add raisins to the pan. Cover the pan and cook it over low flame for 5 minutes. Then again add ¾ cup water and mix it well. Cover the pan and cook it over low flame for another 5 minutes until the rice gets cooked.
At the final stage of cooking, add bengali garam masala powder (a ground spice mixture which contains an equal portion of cardamom, cinnamon and cloves) and ghee (Clarified butter) to the pan. These spices complement the flavour of the dish very well.
Check the salt of the curry and add it if required. Simmer the gravy for 10-15 more seconds and then switch off the flame.
Many potol recipe have already been shared in my previous posts. You can check a few of them like
Potol posto
Doi potol
Aloo potoler dalna
Doodh potol
Parwal paneer
..And Many more…
Ingredients:
1 cup = 250 ml
To marinate the pointed gourd
- 500 grams Potol aka pointed gourd, partially peeled cut into halves
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
For the spice paste
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red Chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 2 tablespoons Water
For the tomato paste
- 2 Tomatoes, deseeded and diced
- 1 inch Ginger, diced
- 1 green Chilli
Other ingredients
- ¼ cup Gobindobhog Chaal (small grain rice)
- 2 tablespoons Raisins
- 2-3 green Chillies
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 3 Cardamoms (Elaichi)
- 3 Cloves (Laung)
- 1 inche Cinnamon stick (Dalchini)
- 1 Bay leaf (Tejpatta)
- 2 dry red Chillies
- ¾ teaspoon Bengali Garam Masala powder
- 1 tablespoon Ghee (Clarified butter)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons Sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 ¾ cups Water (Adjust the amount accordingly)
- 2 tablespoons Mustard oil for cooking
Instructions:
- First cut both the edges of all the pointed gourds. Partially peel the skin of the pointed gourds and wash them nicely.
- Cut them into halves and keep it on a plate. Add ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and mix it evenly so that each potol piece can get coated. Keep it aside.
- Wash ¼ cup Gobindo bhog chaal 2-3 times with water and soak it in a sufficient amount of water for 10-15 minutes. Drain water and keep it aside.
- On the other hand, take a jar of a grinder and add tomato chunks, 1 inch ginger, 1 green chilli and close the lid. Pulse it to a smooth paste and keep it aside.
- Put a pan on flame and allow it to become completely dry. Then add 2 tablespoons mustard oil into the pan and wait until the oil is hot.
- Add marinated pointed gourds and fry them over medium-to-medium low flame for 7-8 minutes until it loses its crunch and brown spots occur. Then strain the potol pieces out and keep it aside.
- Add 2 teaspoons ghee into the pan and allow it to melt. Add the strained rice into the pan and fry them over medium flame for 2-3 minutes until the rice turns opaque. Strain the rice and keep it aside on a separate plate.
- In the same pan, add whole spices 1 bay leaf, 2 dry red chillies, 3-4 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 3 cardamoms, ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them crackle.
- Add tomato-ginger paste (Step 4) into the pan and give a nice stir. Cook in medium to low flame for 5-6 minutes until it releases oil.
- In the meantime, take a bowl and add 1 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder and 2 tablespoons of water into it. Mix it thoroughly and make a smooth paste of the spices.
- Add the masala paste into the pan and mix it well. Cook it in low flame for another 2-3 minutes so that the masala can get cook properly.
- Add the fried rice (Step 3) and fried potol (Step 2) into the pan and mix it with the masala. Cover the pan and cook it in low flame for couple of minutes.
- Take off the lid and add salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and mix it well.
- Add 2-3 green chillies into the pan and mix it.
- Add 1 cup hot water into the pan and give a gentle stir. Cover the pan and put the flame in high until the gravy starts boiling.
- Put the flame on low and add 2 tablespoons raisins into the pan. Cover the pan and cook it over low flame for 5 minutes.
- Again, take off the lid and add ¾ cup hot water into the pan. Stir the content and cover it for another 5 minutes until the rice gets cooked.
- Add ¾ teaspoon bengali garam masala powder and 1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter), one by one into the pan and give a nice mix. Simmer the gravy in high flame for another 10-15 seconds.
- Check the salt of the ghonto before switching off the flame. Add more if required and mix it well. Then switch off the flame.
Serving Instruction
Transfer the chal potol recipe into a serving bowl. Serve hot or warm with Plain Rice and Dal and enjoy the comforting meal of Bengal.
Ingredients
1 cup = 250 ml
To marinate the pointed gourd
- 500 grams Potol aka pointed gourd, partially peeled cut into halves
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
For the spice paste
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red Chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 2 tablespoons Water
For the tomato paste
- 2 Tomatoes, deseeded and diced
- 1 inch Ginger, diced
- 1 green Chilli
Other ingredients
- ¼ cup Gobindobhog Chaal (small grain rice)
- 2 tablespoons Raisins
- 2-3 green Chillies
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 3 Cardamoms (Elaichi)
- 3 Cloves (Laung)
- 1 inche Cinnamon stick (Dalchini)
- 1 Bay leaf (Tejpatta)
- 2 dry red Chillies
- ¾ teaspoon Bengali Garam Masala powder
- 1 tablespoon Ghee (Clarified butter)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons Sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 ¾ cups Water (Adjust the amount accordingly)
- 2 tablespoons Mustard oil for cooking
Instructions
- First cut both the edges of all the pointed gourds. Partially peel the skin of the pointed gourds and wash them nicely.
- Cut them into halves and keep it on a plate. Add ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and mix it evenly so that each potol piece can get coated. Keep it aside.
- Wash ¼ cup Gobindo bhog chaal 2-3 times with water and soak it in a sufficient amount of water for 10-15 minutes. Drain water and keep it aside.
- On the other hand, take a jar of a grinder and add tomato chunks, 1 inch ginger, 1 green chilli and close the lid. Pulse it to a smooth paste and keep it aside.
- Put a pan on flame and allow it to become completely dry. Then add 2 tablespoons mustard oil into the pan and wait until the oil is hot.
- Add marinated pointed gourds and fry them over medium-to-medium low flame for 7-8 minutes until it loses its crunch and brown spots occur. Then strain the potol pieces out and keep it aside.
- Add 2 teaspoons ghee into the pan and allow it to melt. Add the strained rice into the pan and fry them over medium flame for 2-3 minutes until the rice turns opaque. Strain the rice and keep it aside on a separate plate.
- In the same pan, add whole spices 1 bay leaf, 2 dry red chillies, 3-4 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 3 cardamoms, ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them crackle.
- Add tomato-ginger paste (Step 4) into the pan and give a nice stir. Cook in medium to low flame for 5-6 minutes until it releases oil.
- In the meantime, take a bowl and add 1 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder and 2 tablespoons of water into it. Mix it thoroughly and make a smooth paste of the spices.
- Add the masala paste into the pan and mix it well. Cook it in low flame for another 2-3 minutes so that the masala can get cook properly.
- Add the fried rice (Step 3) and fried potol (Step 2) into the pan and mix it with the masala. Cover the pan and cook it in low flame for couple of minutes.
- Take off the lid and add salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and mix it well.
- Add 2-3 green chillies into the pan and mix it.
- Add 1 cup hot water into the pan and give a gentle stir. Cover the pan and put the flame in high until the gravy starts boiling.
- Put the flame on low and add 2 tablespoons raisins into the pan. Cover the pan and cook it over low flame for 5 minutes.
- Again, take off the lid and add ¾ cup hot water into the pan. Stir the content and cover it for another 5 minutes until the rice gets cooked.
- Add ¾ teaspoon bengali garam masala powder and 1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter), one by one into the pan and give a nice mix. Simmer the gravy in high flame for another 10-15 seconds.
- Check the salt of the ghonto before switching off the flame. Add more if required and mix it well. Then switch off the flame.
