Bhurta Explained

Bharta
Region:	Indian subcontinent
Type:	savory
Main Ingredient:	mustard oil, onions and chillies with bharta elements
Variations:	Aloo bhorta, baigan bharta, tamatar bharta, shutkir varta, narikel shutkir vorta

Bhurta, vorta, bhorta, bharta or chokha^[1] is a lightly fried mixture of mashed vegetables (chakata) in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent.^[2]

Some variations of this dish are baingan bhurta and aloo bhurta.

Etymology

The word Bhurta is derived from the Sanskrit roots bhṛj (भृज्) and bhṛkta (भृक्त)^[3] which mean something which is roasted or fried. Thus bhurta refers to a spicy mash made from roasted, boiled or fried vegetables.^[4]

Ingredients

Bhurta recipes vary depending on the region and the vegetable(s) used. In general, the ingredients are as follows:

• A vegetable, such as aloo (potato), baingan (eggplant), or karela (bitter melon)
• Tamatar (tomato) or pyaz (onion)
• Chaunk (tempered spices)

See also

• Cuisine of the Indian subcontinent
• List of vegetable dishes

Notes and References

1. Book: Grierson . Bihar Peasant Life: Being a Discursive Catalogue of the Surroundings of the People of that Province . 1885 . Bengal Secretariat Press . en.
2. Book: Parida, Laxmi. Purba: Feasts from the East: Oriya Cuisine from Eastern India. iUniverse. 2 April 2003. 0-595-26749-1. 14 September 2009.
3. Web site: Platts . John T. (John Thompson) . 1884 . A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English . 2023-03-25 . dsal.uchicago.edu.
4. Book: Platts, John Thompson . A Dictionary of Urdū, Classical Hindī, and English . 1884 . H. Milford . en.