When it comes to any cuisine, anywhere around the world, cooking a dish without garlic or onion is quite rare. Garlic and onion are both integral components of Bangladeshi cuisine as well since most of the recipes demand the satisfying crunch of onions and the powerfully pungent taste of garlic. But owing to the diversity of Bangladeshi recipes, there are several scrumptious dishes that require no garlic and no onion and yet manage to leave a gastronomical mark on the taste buds.

Onion and Garlic Free Yummy Bengali Dishes to Try at Home

Aloor Dom

Aloor Dom is a tasty Bengali dish where baby potatoes are slow cooked in such a way that the result is a rich buttery bowl of soft and textured potatoes. To cook this bowl of delicious goodness, some baby potatoes are diced and fried with salt until they turn golden.

Setting the potatoes aside, in another wok, fry some bay leaf, red chili and cumin seeds. Adding ginger paste and poppy seed paste, it is required to fry everything together for 5 seconds until kaju paste and beaten curd are added to the mixture of ingredients.

Finally, the potatoes and some water are put in the mixture which is then simmered for 10 minutes. Once the gravy thickens, take it off from the stove and finish off with some garam masala.

Labra

Labra is a Bengali mixed vegetable dish which is cooked with a variety of seasonal vegetables and without using any garlic or onion. In order to prepare labra, some spices like dry chili, bay leaf, fennel seeds and cumin seeds are first fried. Now a thick paste should be made by taking some ginger paste, mustard oil, turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder, sugar and salt.

Then heat some oil on a pan with bay leaf, panch phoron and red chili, add the potatoes first, followed by all the vegetables after 3-4 minutes. Once the vegetables are mixed, add the spice paste and then mix thoroughly again. Now the vegetables need to be cooked for 15- 20 minutes in low flame till they soften up. Serve the labra with the fried spices from before.

Doi Phulkopi

Doi fulkopi is a fragrant Bengali dish that promises to fill the house with a beautiful aroma alerting every one of the tasty dishes being cooked. It is the perfect meal for bringing warmth to cold wintry days. This dish can be made by first marinating small slices of cauliflower with yogurt, ginger paste, salt, garam masala and red chili powder.

Spluttering panch phoron and bay leaves in hot oil, some sliced ginger sautéed in the same oil in another pan. The marinated cauliflower is then added to the oil and cooked till the cauliflower turns golden. Finally, take off the cauliflower from the stove and add the needed amount of garam masala to achieve the desired taste.

Moong Dal Fry

This nutritious dish is rich in protein and fiber. To prepare Moong Dal Fry, firstly some dal is cooked in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water until they turn mushy. In a pan, some mustard seeds are made to crackle in hot oil after which asafetida, green chili and ginger paste are sautéed in it.

Some chopped tomatoes are mixed with it and cooked until they get pulpy. Now some cumin powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder are mixed before putting in the dal. Putting some water to attain the desired consistency is a good idea at this point. To level up this dal, a tarka can be made with ghee and red chili powder on a hot pan and poured on top of the dal.

Aam Dal

Aam Dal is a refreshing lentil soup which tastes salty, sour and a bit sweet at the same time. This staple dal curry is cooked in a similar way to the aforementioned dal recipe, but after cracking the mustard seeds in hot oil, some cut up green mango slices are added and cooked for 2- 3 minutes.

Next, some ginger paste, turmeric powder and salt are added to the slices. To soak up the spices and cook the mango, the pan needs to be covered for 4- 5 minutes. Now the cooked dal is poured into the mixture along with some green chili and water to reach the desired texture. 1 cup of water and a little bit of sugar are added at this point to let it simmer. The end result will be some mouthwatering dal to go with rice.

Paneer Dalna

This dish is made with cottage cheese chunks known as paneer and some cut up potatoes. Some oil is taken in a bowl and ingredients like turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and salt are added to make a thick paste. In a pan some oil is heated and potato chunks are fried and then strained off. Same process is repeated for the paneer chunks.

Now tempering the oil with dry red chili, cinnamon, clove, cardamom and cumin seed, ginger paste is added and cooked. Next, some chopped tomatoes are cooked till softened up. Pour in the spice mix and some water and bring it to boil. The potatoes are added then cooked for 8- 10 minutes after which the paneer is also added. The dish is finished off with some ghee and garam masala powder.

Doi Potol

This no garlic no onion dish can be made by frying some peeled pointed gourd with turmeric powder and salt until they turn a nice golden brown. Next, some panch phoron is sizzled in hot oil and ginger paste is mixed with it.

A slurry is to be made with dry spices like cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder added to a little water. At this point, some yogurt is mixed in low heat and the fried pointed gourds are added to the pan. It is then covered and simmered. Finally, some garam masala and ghee make the dish ready to astound everyone with its flavors.

Niramish Ghugni

Ghugni is a dish with bold flavors made with a mash of boiled yellow peas, potatoes and all sorts of spices. To prepare this dish, one needs to soak some yellow peas overnight. The next day,these are boiled and cooked with some ginger and chili paste.

The potatoes are added on a pan and cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder are added to the pan and finally the whole mixture is simmered in a low heat with the boiled yellow peas to produce some delectable Niramish Ghugni.

Chanar Torkari

Chanar Torkari is a variation of chanar dalna where some more pastes like coconut paste and cashew nut paste are added to the dish to bring out its unique flavor. Chanas are cottage cheese nuggets that are shaped out of curdled milk.

These chanas are then cooked in whipped yogurt with a mixture of coconut paste, cashew nut paste, peas and other ingredients like turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and salt to add more flavors to the dish. This dish requires no onion or garlic.

Lau Shak Chorchori

Chorchori refers to a concoction of a variety of vegetables that are cooked dry to bring forth the crunchy texture of the vegetables. To make this dish, the tender bottle gourd leaves are cooked in a pressure cooker with some salt.

The next step is to squeeze out the excess water. Now heat some mustard oil in a pan and some ground cloves, red chilies and poppy seeds paste are added to it. At this point, turmeric powder is added and the spices are sautéed. Finally the leaves are added and cooked in a low flame to result in a green textured palatable Lau Shaker Chorchori.

These are some of the well- known Bengali dishes that are really easy to cook and require absolutely no garlic or onion.

Bottom Line

So far we have mentioned 10 easy to prepare Bengali curries that do not require any garlic or onion. All of these cuisines are healthy and delicious. However, the taste, flavor and scent of these dishes may vary depending on cooking process, portion of ingredients, skill of cooking, etc. Bon appetit!