Tomato Bhape / Bengali Style Steamed Tomato

I got this recipe of Baked Tomato from a Bengali Cookbook called “Thakurbarir Rannabanna” (Foods from the Kitchen of the Tagore House) and it’s full with some real forgotten treasures of the Bengali cuisine. This recipe is basically a steamed tomato dish flavoured with a generous amount of mustard oil and poppy seeds. Lovely and aromatic. I made this in the oven and they tomatoes were cooked to the perfection. They retained their shape but were cooked through. Soft and squeezy and tangy and sizzly with the gravy made of steamed poppy seeds...!! These tomatoes are perfect starters for any Bengali meal.

Tomato Bhape / Bengali Style Steamed Tomato Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 ripe tomatoes – roughly chopped

½ onions – finely chopped

4 green chillies – finely chopped

¼ cup of poppy seeds

2-3 tbsp virgin mustard oil

A handful of fresh coriander leaves

Salt

Method:

In a grinder put the poppy seeds with enough water to make a smooth paste. The paste should not be grainy. Check it after grinding by pressing the paste between your thumb and index finger. If it feels coarse or grainy grind again. Once the paste is done transfer the poppy seeds in a steel box.

Add the chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, coriander leaves and green chillies into that box. Pour the mustard oil and add some salt.

Mix them well with a spoon and cover its lid.

You can bake this in an oven at 450F for 15-20 minutes. Keep it there for another 5 minutes.

Or, you can cook it on stove top. Place a plate or wired rack inside a heavy bottomed dutch oven and place the box on it. Fill the inside with water not more that ¼ of the height of the box. Put cover and cook for 20-25 minutes on low to medium flame.

Or, you can put all these ingredients in a small pressure cooker and cook on pressure, on low to medium flame until the cooker blows 2-3 whistles.

Serve hot with some plain hot rice.