A bhandara is a free meal given after a puja, and along the Ganges from Prayagraj to Patna it is served in the same shape every time: people seated in long rows, leaf plates, poori after poori carried down the line, and a thin sour potato curry ladled over. It is cooked without onion or garlic because it is temple food and because it has to feed anyone who sits down, and it is deliberately loose and tangy rather than rich, since a heavy gravy served to four hundred people is a mistake nobody makes twice. The potatoes are boiled, then broken by hand rather than cut, which is the detail that matters — torn edges hold the gravy where knife-cut cubes shed it. It is the most-eaten celebratory food in this zone by a wide margin, and almost nobody writes it down, because it belongs to the crowd rather than to a household.
INGREDIENTS
- 800 g floury potatoes
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
- ½ tsp asafoetida
- 2 dried red chillies
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 3 cloves
- 3 cm ginger (grated)
- 3 green chillies (slit)
- 3 medium tomatoes (pureed)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.2 litres water
- 400 g wholemeal wheat flour (atta)
- ½ tsp salt (for the dough)
- 2 tbsp oil (for the dough)
- oil (for deep frying)
- a handful of coriander leaves (chopped)
METHOD
- Boil the potatoes whole in their skins until soft. Cool, peel, and break them into rough pieces with your hands. Leave a few smaller fragments in; they will dissolve and thicken the pot.
- Knead the flour with the salt, the 2 tbsp oil and water into a firm dough. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
- Heat the mustard oil until it smokes, then take it off the heat for a moment.
- Return to medium heat and add the cumin, fenugreek, asafoetida, dried chillies, bay leaves, black cardamom and cloves.
- Add the ginger and green chillies, then the pureed tomato, turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder and salt. Cook until the oil separates.
- Tip in the broken potatoes and stir so they take on the masala. Fry for five minutes, crushing a few against the side of the pan.
- Pour in the water and bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. It should stay thin and pourable.
- Stir in the amchur and the coriander at the end and taste — it should read sour first, then hot.
- Divide the dough into small balls, roll each into a disc, and deep-fry in hot oil, pressing gently with a slotted spoon so each poori puffs.
- Serve the pooris hot with the curry ladled into a bowl beside them.
