Kochuri’r Torkari Moshla

This handy spice mix, crafted after months of trials, will get you the perfect-tasting spicy potato curry served with kochuri, Bengali shingara filling, or the curried potatoes served with Mughlai paratha. You most likely have all the individual spices in your kitchen already, but they need to be mixed in a particular proportion to get the perfect taste, and you only need a little bit each time. Even better, instead of using powdered spices, our spice mix is made from whole spices, ground fresh for fine texture and flavour. 

Made fresh using Bong Eats’ recipe, just as you would make it at home. No fillers, no hidden ingredients—just good quality spices.

what you can cook with it

Follow the instructions below to use this spice blend to make a spicy kochurir alur torkari or filling for singara.

For kochurir torkari

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

• 500 g potatoes‍
• 25 g boiled motor (whole yellow peas)
• 20 g mustard oil
• 2 dried red chillies
• ¼ tsp hing (asafoetida)
• 1 tsp panch phoron
• 12 g ginger
• 3 g green chillies
• 5 g KOCHURIR TORKARI MOSHLA 
• 5 g sugar
• ‍5 g salt
• 5 g beetnoon (black salt)
• 300 g hot water

METHOD

1. Soak motor (whole yellow peas) overnight. Boil them the next morning, drain the water and set aside.
2. Soak potatoes in water and scrub them clean. Don't peel the potatoes; the potato skin adds flavour. Cut into 3-cm cubes.
3. Crush green chillies and ginger using a mortar pestle to a fine paste.
4. Heat mustard oil in a kadai until it smokes gently and changes colour to a pale yellow. Temper with dried red chillies, hing and panch phoron. 
5. Add the ginger and green chilli paste. Fry on low heat for 30 seconds.
6. Add 5 g of the KOCHURIR TORKARI MOSHLA. Fry the spices on low heat for 30 seconds. Be careful not to burn them.
7. Now, add the potatoes and stir to coat them with the spices. Add salt and sugar and mix everything well. Put the lid on and sauté with the spices on medium heat for 6 minutes.
8. Add beetnoon (black salt) and boiled motor, and mix well.
9. Add 300 g hot water to form the gravy. Cover and let simmer until the potatoes are cooked. This should take about 10 minutes. The starch from potatoes will thicken the gravy. But in case it doesn't happen, mash a couple of potato pieces and mix them with the gravy.  
10. Serve hot with luchi, kochuri or porota. [Note: a modified, drier version of this torkari can also be used as singara filling, in egg-potato roll, alongside Moghlai porota, etc.]

For shingara

INGREDIENTS (yields 16 singaras)

for the filling

• ‍500 g potatoes
• 25 g mustard oil
• 10 g fresh coconut slices
• 10 g peanuts
• 1 dried red chillies
• 1 tsp panch phoron
• ¼ tsp hing (asafoetida)
• 18 g ginger‍
• 6 g green chillies
• 12 g sugar
• 5 g KOCHURIR TORKARI MOSHLA
• 2 g salt
• 4 g beetnoon (black salt)
• 200 g hot water

for the pastry

• 240 g maida (all-purpose flour)
• 3 g salt
• 5 g sugar
• 60 g ghee/dalda
• 100 g water

METHOD

prepare the filling

1. Wash the potatoes well and cut them into 1-cm cubes. Leave the skin on for flavour. Boil the potatoes in a saucepan. They should be well cooked but hold their shape. Drain and reserve the water.
2. Grind ginger and green chillies to a paste. Finely slice coconut.
3. Heat mustard oil in a kadai until it smokes slightly and turns pale yellow. Fry the coconut slices until golden. Set aside. Similarly, fry peanuts until golden and set aside.
4. Temper the same oil with a dried red chilli, panch phoron, and hing.
5. Add the ginger and green chilli paste. Fry on low heat for 30 seconds.
6. Add 5 g of the KOCHURIR TORKARI MOSHLA, along with sugar, salt, and beetnoon. Fry until the oil separates.
7. Add boiled potatoes and water (you can use the water in which potatoes were boiled). If your potatoes are too mushy, don't add as much water.
8. Cook on medium-high heat until the water dries up.
9. Add the fried coconut and peanuts. Mix well.
10. Turn the heat off. Discard the dried red chilli. Spread the filling out to cool.

make the coating

1. Combine maida, salt, sugar and dalda in a mixing bowl. Rub the mixture between your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs in texture.
2. Add water and knead until smooth. Rest for at least 30 minutes before you can start working with it.
3. Divide the dough in 50 g portions. Each portion will yield 2 shingaras.
4. Roll each portion into an oval shape (about 28 × 16 cm).
5. Cut the rolled-out oval along the shorter diameter, dividing the pastry into two semi-circles.
6. Form a cone by joining the straight edges. Seal using water.
7. With the seam resting on your thumb, fill the cone with the potato filling. Fold as shown in this video.
8. Fry the shingaras in lukewarm oil (~100°C), Fry on low to medium-low heat, such that the maximum oil temperature never crosses 125°C. If the oil gets too hot, the coating will remain doughy. You should see little bubbles in the oil, and not vigorous activity.
9. Turn every 5 minutes until shingaras are evenly golden. Each batch should take around 30 minutes.
10. Once golden, remove from the oil. Since the shingaras are scorching hot, let them rest for at least 20 minutes before taking a bite.