Favourite Preparations

When asked, His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj replies, "When devotees give me something with affection, I take that." Moreover, His Divine Grace said with his own lotus mouth, "All the devotees know how to cook, what is there to it? When Nityananda Prabhu is in Ekachakra, He likes roasted and mashed eggplant (begun pora), and when Nityananda Prabhu comes to Venezuela or Colombia, He takes arepa there. What is the problem? Nityananda Prabhu's taste is different—He can take different things from everybody and from everywhere as long as you cook it with heart. The main thing is to serve with heart—not to do anything artificially. When you do any service or cook anything, you must do it with heart, then it will be good for everybody, and then Mahaprabhu, or Krishna, or Nityananda Prabhu will be happy—They will enjoy, and Gurudev will also enjoy. This is the main advice how to do everything. It is necessary for us to understand this."

The following is a list of some of the preparations known to be favourite to His Divine Grace that was provided by the servitors of His Divine Grace upon numerous requests of the devotees worldwide.

Rice:
• Boiled rice (Parboiled basmati. Method: cooked and then strained; not cooked until the water is absorbed)

Sak:
• Lal sak (red spinach)
• Kochu sak (chopped and stewed taro leaves)
• Neem sak
• Danya pata sak (coriander leaves sak)
• Methi sak (fenugreek leaves sak)

Dal:
• Tok dal (yellow mung dal cooked with medium large slices of green mango)
• Mung dal (yellow)

Subji/vegetable dishes:
• Chalkumra chorchori (vegetable subji with winter melon, aka ash gourd)
• Kumra chorchori (vegetable subji with red pumpkin)
• Patal chorchori (vegetable subji with patal)
• Begun chorchori (vegetable subji with eggplant)
• Jhinga subji
• Kochur loti (colocasia stem)
• Cauliflower subji (with tomato)
• Aloo dum (potato subji in rich gravy)
• Thor ghonto (banana stem curry)
• Mocha ghonto (banana flower curry)
• Kumra siddha (pumpkin subji: heat oil, fry chilli, cumin, add pumpkin and salt, cook without adding water until it becomes a paste)
• Green tomato subji

Side dishes:
• Aloo siddha (boiled potato mashed with chilli, jeera (optional), salt, and a little mustard oil)
• Dal siddha (dal mashed with chilli and a little mustard oil, served as patties)
• Patal siddha

Savouries:
• Posta bora (white poppy seeds ground in blender with chilli and just enough water to blend, add salt, a little mustard oil, then shallow-fry as patties)
• Posta bata (white poppy seeds ground in blender with chilli and just enough water to blend, add salt, a little mustard oil—not fried)
• Aloo bhaja (French fries, aka chips)
• Mulo bhaja (radish fries)
• Aloo chop (boiled and mashed potato and a few vegetables dipped into chickpea batter and deep-fried)
• Vegetable chop (boiled and mashed vegetables dipped into chickpea batter and deep-fried)
• Begun fingers (finger-size slices of eggplant dipped into chickpea batter and deep-fried)

Gravy-based dishes:
• Chhana rasa (deep-fried soft paneer balls soaked in spicy gravy)
• Kacha kola ras (green banana in spicy gravy)
• Kochu ras (colocasia stem in spicy gravy)
• Tofu ras (tofu in spiced tomato sauce)
• Soya chunks ras (soya chunks in spiced tomato sauce)

Chutney:
• Mango chutney
• Tomato and dates chutney

Sweets:
• Patisapta (pour pancake batter, fry, add some coconut and khoya sweet filling on top, then fold the pancake and fry a little more)
• Sandesh
• Gulab jamuns (sugar-free)
• Malpua (fried pancake-like patties, soaked in sugar syrup and served with thick flavoured milk sauce)
• Taler bora (tal fruit fritters)

Fruit:
• Dates
• An assortment of fruit (papaya, water melon, melon, kul (=jujube, Indian plum), red apple, grapefruit with salt and green chilli, green grapes, green guava)
• Blackberry

MISC:
• Hot mango pickle
• Green mango (grate mango finely, add finely chopped green chilli and salt)
• Black olives
• Dhokla
• Avocado (chopped, with salt)
• Pasta
• Chow mein
• Biscuits
• Sandwich (tomato, cucumber, tofu)
• Cucumber (pieces, served often just like fruit pieces)

Cooking guidelines:
• Mustard oil or sunflower oil is used for deep frying; mustard oil is used in small quantity in subjis

Spices, etc.:
• Jeera (cumin)
• Jeera powder (cumin powder)
• Haldi (tumeric)
• Dhania (coriander)
• Garam masala
• Hing (asafoetida, a little in some dishes like soya, tofu, etc. subji)
• Green/red chilli (not too much)
• No: mustard seeds, ginger, black jeera/cumin, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, honey

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