roasted Bengali tomato salad with mooli parathas

Whenever I’m faced with a glut of tomatoes all I can think of is making a traditional Bengali bortha or a proper, garlicky roasted tomato salad. Here I’ve combined the two, to make an every day salad a bit more exciting and to add sweetness and depth to the Bengali classic. You can buy mustard oil in most Asian supermarkets or you can easily buy it online – a little goes a long way. This is fantastic with a simple bowl of dhal and some flaky, radish stuffed parathas to mop up all those garlic and chilli flecked juices.

ingredients

vine tomatoes, quartered

2-3 tsp. mustard oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. cumin seeds

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 fresh chilli finely chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 small bunch fresh coriander, chopped

walnut-sized lump of tamarind dissolved in a bit of boiling water, to taste

method

put the tomatoes in a roasting tin and drizzle with the mustard oil. Sprinkle over the sugar, salt, cumin, garlic and chilli. Roast at 180C for 30 minutes.

Let the tomatoes cool off a little, then toss with the red onion, coriander and tamarind. Add more salt and chilli to taste.

To make the parathas

500g each of chapatti and plain flour

1 tbsp. melted ghee

1-2 tsp. salt

1/2 daikon/mooli/big white radish peeled and grated

pinch of chilli powder

1 tsp. garam masala powder

method

mix the flours, ghee, salt and enough warm water to form a supple dough.

Set aside and grate the mooli. Mix with the chilli powder, garam masala and a pinch of salt.

Give the dough another knead and divide into lemon sized balls.

Roll one out into a disc, spread with a thin layer of the radish (being careful not to overstuff) and roll out another.

Top the first paratha with the second, pressing along the edges to seal and roll very very gently a couple of times.

Heat some oil in a frying pan/tawa. Carefully slide in the paratha and cook until golden.

Turn over and cook the other side. Serve hot.

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