Gota Sheddu

Before I start about Gota Sheddu , I must mention that blogging about food is difficult , “you” are the central performing person , starting from chopping and cooking , preparing the table ,placing the ceramics or utensils ,then angling to take snaps(mind you the family is waiting patiently to be served also in the meantime) , and when you are done taking pictures , you then clean your own mess also.
Then you write about the recipe even edit it many times , edit the pictures, choose the best ones , upload to blogger and then publish your post.So sometimes when You miss out one line… ..Is it a fault? Many will think so, But I think to "err is human".

Hope readers understand this and who are already bloggers, they know it very well.
I mean upto a ceratin point not everybody can be just perfect, let perfectionist be someone Like Amir Khan and take all the applause for that also!!

Well I leave it to that only and must tell you one very interesting fact, which is the main part of this post .This is about Saraswati Puja or Basant Panchmi.




I have often eaten Gota Sheddu fondly with my maa, the day after saraswati puja, never realized that this is a part of a ritual until I got married and came to know about this ritual of Shitol Shashti meaning the shashti or 6th day that brings calmness in family.
Gota means "whole", Sheddu means "boiled" in Bengali, so that makes the dal that is cooked with whole vegetables but without any proper seasoning or onion, ginger or garlic.
The dal is Niramish(vegetarian)and usually the tempering is done with few fennel seeds (Mouri) or cumin seeds.This is how we prepare the dal.
Along with the gota sheddu , me and maa also prepared some more goodies to mark this ritual.we have prepared lao bori ,phulkopir torkari,aloo bhaja,papad bhaja,Gulab jamun,Chatni and payesh.These all dishes are literally vegetarian and that is what is more important , cooking vegetarian meal on Saraswati Puja and eating them the next day.


Gota sheddo

Recipe requirements
1 cup of black urad dal/karai dal
1 tsp of turmeric powder(holod goron)
1 tsp of red pepper powder(lal lonka goron) optional and if you are adding green chilly then its not needed ...
1 tsp of cumin powder(jeere goron)
Vegetables at least five types, that can be any vegetables(and this is what is important while preparing Gota Sheddu )
Whole peas with pods (motorshuti) 10-12
Whole small/baby potatoes 10
Whole sheem 10
Whole green chilly(kancha lonka) 5-6
Whole small brinjal(begun) 5-6

Method
Pressure cook the urad dal.
Now in a deep bottom pan add in the vegetables with the cooked dal.
Add water enough, completely submerge the vegetables in water.
Now cover and cook, let it simmer there till the vegetables are well cooked.
Alternately you can cook the dal and the vegetables together in a pressure cooker.Just one whistle at high and then let it simmer at low for 5-8 mints.Open when the pressure subside.

Temper the cooked dal.

Heat up few tsp of mustard oil,
Add in some cumin seeds(jeere) and fennel seeds(mouri)
Let it splutter and then temper the dal with it. Cook for few minutes till the flavor gets incorporated.

Important
One thing which should be kept in mind is that the combination of vegetables should be odd that is Bejor or 5 vegetables.May be sometimes 7 vegetables depending upon the vegetables you get in your place.

Gota Sheddo is a Niramish Preparation so strictly no use of ginger , garlic and onion.Sometimes I have been told that some families , donot add any turmeric powder even.


Usually Gota sheddu is eaten the next day after Saraswati Puja.
This is also eaten with the cooled and cooked rice that is prepared the day before, usually in nights.

This is a ritual observed by married Bengali ladies and is known here as Shitol Shashti.

My Ma-in-Law  usually prepares five types of food on Saraswati Puja (that includes a dal, fry or bhaja, subzi or torkari , payesh and chatni and the food is mainly vegetarian or Niramish) and the next day we observe this ritual of Shitol Shashti.

Then on my parents’ side, Gota sheddu is made on Saraswati puja and the next day it’s eaten with cool and cooked rice prepared the night before.
The basic funda is to eat the food that is made before also called as bashi Khabar in Bengali.

I really don’t know the exact origin of this fast or ritual, but it’s said that this is observed for the goodness of children and spouse!!!


Updated to include this picture

Made Gota sheddo with the vegetables that we get here in foreign land-
5  Mushroom, about 5-7 Beans, 5-7 Runner Beans, 5-7 Baby Potatoes, 5-7 Baby carrots,5 Green Chilly and 5-7 Mangetouts/snow peas.Combination of 7 vegetables as we need to cook bejor numbers of vegetables.

Ok friends , keep cooking delicious food and enjoy with your loved ones.