Let's explore a delicious Bengali dish called Papor er Dalna, or Papad Curry with Potatoes! This classic curry is made without onion or garlic, yet it's packed with amazing flavor. Read on to discover how to make this unique and tasty Papad curry.
Jump to:
- Debjani's Note
- Watch how to cook Bengali Papor-er Dalna
- Using Papad in Curry! Papor er Dalna is the Bengali answer!
- Dalna, Chorchori, Ghonto, Shorsori, and more
- Do fry some extra Papad while making the curry, please!
- Recipe Card
- Bengali No Onion No Garlic Recipes
- Have you tried the Bengali Papor er Torkari recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
- Here's the Papor er Dalna Pin for your Pinterest Board!
Debjani's Note
Yesterday, being a lazy Saturday, I felt like doing very little cooking, as usual! I love these kinds of Saturdays. While enjoying my morning coffee around 11 a.m., I realized it wasn't just Saturday, but also Chaturthi, the fourth day of Durga Puja! I called my mother, like I do every morning, to see how she was. She had already finished cooking! At my mom's house, and mine too, Saturdays are always reserved for vegan meals. When I asked about her menu, she listed boiled rice, Sona Moong er Daal, Jhinge Posto, Papor er Dalna, and Jalpai er Chutney - a perfect Bengali lunch! She asked about my plans, and I admitted I didn't have any. Mom wasn't too happy about that! Anyway, hearing about the Papor er Dalna made me decide to cook it myself! It's one of my favorite dishes, made with big chunks of potatoes and papad, seasoned with Bengali spices. I just love the aroma of the gravy, it truly feels like Puja!
Watch how to cook Bengali Papor-er Dalna
Using Papad in Curry! Papor er Dalna is the Bengali answer!
All I needed was Papor er Dalna and a plate of steamed Gobindobhog rice. That simple meal was enough for Pasta, my house help, and me. (Though, to be fair, you couldn't expect too much more since Debjani, moving at her own pace, began cooking at 11:30 and finished around 12:15!)
Dalna, Chorchori, Ghonto, Shorsori, and more
Papor er Dalna is a dish we all adore in my family! We used to enjoy it for lunch about once a month, usually on Saturdays. I've always loved the unique aroma of this curry made with Papad. In Bengali cooking, we prepare various curries and side dishes with vegetables, especially potatoes, cut in specific ways. For a "Kalia," a medium potato is halved. In a "Chorchori" or "Tarkari," it's cut into nine pieces. And for a "Dalna," a potato is halved and then each half is cut into three pieces.
Yes! Because this Papad curry is called "Dalna," the potatoes are traditionally cut as shown in the picture below. Basically, just cut a large potato into four pieces when making Dalna.
Do fry some extra Papad while making the curry, please!
Whenever I make Papor er Dalna, I always fry extra Papad. It's fantastic to snack on with my lemon tea! I love to sip tea while I cook, and I did the same this time. Pasta helped me finish off the fried Papad. I really missed Mehebub during lunch. He loves Papor er Dalna! Being the good wife, I let him know we enjoyed our lunch and got a "hmmm" in response!
Recipe Card
Papor er Dalna
Ingredients
- 4 Masala Papad/ Papor
- 4 Potato
- 1 Tomato Big size
- 1 tablespoon Ginger Paste
- 2 Bay Leaf
- 2 Dry Red Chili
- 1 teaspoon Asafoetida
- 1 teaspoon Whole Cumin Seed
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Powder
- 1.5 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 teaspoon Red Chili Powder adjust according to taste
- 1 teaspoon Sugar adjust according to taste
- 1 teaspoon Bengali Garam Masala Powder
- 1.5 teaspoon Salt or to taste
- 7 tablespoon Mustard Oil
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
Instructions
- Wash and Peel Potatoes and then cut each Potato into two halves and then cut each half into three pieces.
- Chop tomato.
- Heat Oil in a pan and fry Potato pieces till those turn golden brown in color.
- Sprinkle ½ Tsp. each of Turmeric Powder and Salt.
- Strain fried potatoes from oil and keep those separated.
- Break each Papor/ Papad into four pieces and fry in the remaining oil. It will take 20 30 seconds to fry four pieces of Papad on high flame.
- Strain fried Papad from Oil.
- There will be some oil remaining in the pan and that is sufficient for the next level of cooking.
- Temper the Oil with Bay leaf, Dry Red Chili, Green Cardamom and Whole Cumin seed, and wait till the tempering started crackling.
- Mix Asafoetida with 2 Tbsp. of water and add that directly to the tempering and mix properly.
- Now add chopped tomato to the tempering and start cooking on medium flame till the raw aroma of Tomato goes.
- Now add the ginger paste to the mixture and cook on a medium flame for 2 more minutes or till oil separates from the mixture.
- Mix Turmeric Powder, Red Chili Powder, Cumin Powder and Sugar with 2 Tbsp. water and make a thick paste .
- Add this paste to the pan and mix properly.
- Add Salt in this stage and add 1 Tbsp. of water and then cook for 2 more minutes or till oil separates again.
- Add fried Potatoes to the spice mix and coat properly with the spices and add 1.5 Cups of Water to it.
- Cover the Pan with a Lid and cook until the Potatoes are cooked properly. It took me 7 minutes of cooking on medium flame. However, do check in between since cooking time varies with the type of potato.
- After the potatoes are done, adjust the water a bit, place fried Papad on the top of the potatoes and again cover the pan with the lid and cook for 3-4 minutes more.
- Open the lid and mix the gravy carefully, Papad will be softening in this stage completely.
- Add Garam Masala Powder and Ghee to the curry and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Papor er Dalna is served with runny gravy; so adjust the water level accordingly.
- Serve it hot with steamed rice; Papor er Dalna goes well with Roti or Paratha as well.
Video
Notes
- I prefer to use normal Masala Papad while making this curry.
- Adding Sugar is optional but Bong style Papad Curry is kind of incomplete without Sugar.
- Instead of Mustard Oil, you can use refined vegetable oil.
Nutrition
Bengali No Onion No Garlic Recipes
- Narkel diye Niramish Ghugni (also known as Bengali No Onion No Garlic Ghugni or Yellow Peas Curry with Fried Coconut)
- Mochar Ghonto Narkel ar Bhaja Bori diye (also known as Bengali Banana Blossom Curry)
- Jhuri Aloo Bhaja (also known as Bengali jhurjhure Aloo Bhaja)
- Begun Basanti (also known as Bengali Begun Bashonti)
- Bengali Labra Tarkari Recipe
- Posto Diye Laushak Bhate (also known as Bengali Bottle Gourd leaves Mash with Poppyseed Paste)
- Pat Shaker Jhol (also known as Pat Patar Jhol)
Have you tried the Bengali Papor er Torkari recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
I would love to see a picture if you are making it following my recipe which you can share here at [email protected]. You can use my hashtag #debjanirrannaghar and share it through Instagram as well. and in addition, you can tag me at @foodofdebjani.
Here's the Papor er Dalna Pin for your Pinterest Board!
About Debjani Chatterjee Alam
I am Debjani Chatterjee Alam. A CSR specialist by profession and a food writer, food blogger, and food photographer as well. I live in Kolkata along with my Husband Mehebub who is an architect by profession, my daughter Pasta, and also my dog daughters Coffee and Luchi.
Rickta Dutta says
Too good Debjani.
1 of my fav preparation....thanks for ur recipe.