The festival of Durga Puja brings family and friends together in a harmonious union of joy, laughter, and happiness. One of the major festivities of Durga Puja is relishing the scrumptious vegetarian food. The love that Bengalis hold for food gets translated impeccably during this time through the myriads of colorful dishes they bring to the table. With the ongoing Durga Puja, let’s take a look at 10 popular Bengali dishes which are delicious, vegetarian, and absolutely easy to prepare. Top 10 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes for Durga Puja Aloo Posto A creamy Aloo Posto is one of those staple dishes that is hard to miss during Durga Puja. A combination of some simple ingredients like diced potatoes, poppy seeds, mustard oil, turmeric powder, and some green chilies yields a mouth-watering dish that leaves a mark on the taste buds. To cook this savory dish, grind some poppy seeds after soaking it for 2 hours, fry the diced potatoes with green chilies in some mustard oil, add some turmeric powder and water and then bring it to a simmer by closing the lid. It is really as easy and tasty as it sounds. Read Togur: The Molasses Made from Watermelon Juice in Bangladesh Bengali Khichuri The magical blend of rice, dal, and vegetables has been a favorite of Bengalis for years and Durga Puja feels incomplete without it. The traditional Bengali Khichuri has a soft and mushy texture that melts almost immediately in the mouth. Create this dish by roasting some moong dal on a pan, cool and wash it with some rice, sauté some bay leaves, cardamom, cumin seeds, clove, ginger paste, turmeric paste, onion, and tomato, add the rice and daal with the sautéed items and then boil it with water. When the khichuri is bubbling, cook it for a good 30- 35 minutes in low heat. Adding the desired vegetables at the end will result in a steaming blend of unforgettable khichuri. Read Yummy sweets for Durga Puja: Traditional Bengali desserts to try in the great religious festival Mochar Chop This gastronomical delicacy is a must-have on all occasions for Bengalis. This hassle-free dish is easy to make and takes about 15 minutes to prepare. Mocha refers to banana flowers which is the main ingredient for this dish. The process is as simple as blending the stir-fried mocha with some potatoes, molding them in small round shapes, dipping them in bread crumbs, and then deep-frying it in hot oil. The end result should be some unforgettable crunchy flavorful croquettes. Read Trans Fats: Facts You Need to Know Ghugni Ghugni is a wonderful blast of flavors in the mouth with its mash of boiled yellow peas, potatoes, and all sorts of spices. To prepare this, soak some yellow peas overnight, boil it the next day, cook some ginger and chili paste, garlic paste, and potatoes on a pan, add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder to the pan, and finally let the whole mixture simmer in low heat with the boiled yellow peas to produce some delectable Ghugni to spice up the Durga Puja feast. Read Dark Chocolate: Health Benefits, Nutrition, Side Effects Chanar Korma Chanar Korma, a variation of chanar dalna, is yet another favorite of Bengalis for Durga Puja. Chanas are purely vegetarian as they are cottage cheese nuggets made out of curdled milk. These chanas are cooked in whipped yogurt with a mixture of coconut paste, cashew nut paste, peas, and some spices to add more flavors to the dish. This dish requires no onion or garlic and itself becomes a great side dish with plain polao, khichuri, or puri. Beguni A well- known easy to cook recipe for Durga Puja is deep-fried slices of battered eggplants which is referred to as Beguni. It takes about 12 minutes to prepare and is a go-to snack for most families during this festival season. This dish requires some long and thin slices of brinjal, coated with a batter of gram flour, red chili powder, salt, and sesame seeds, and then deep-fried in a pan of hot oil until it is light and crispy. Read Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Fish Oil: Natural Sources, Benefits, Risks Dal Puri Dal Puri is deep-fried bread mixed with lentils. It is a largely popular dish for Durga Puja as it offers a fantastic color, taste, and a combo of flavors in each bite taken. Dal Puris can be made by slightly cooking the lentils with red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, garlic, green chili, and onion and grinding everything into a paste, kneading and rolling some dough and stuffing it with the paste, and then finally deep frying the puris until they serve a crisp golden texture. Read Panta Bhat: The Amazing Health Benefits of Water Rice Shorshe Begun What are Bengalis without their love for eggplants dipped in some tangy mustard paste? This signature Bengali dish known as Shorshe Begun is cooked with some sliced eggplants which are marinated in flavorful spices and then shallow fried for some time. After frying, it is then dipped in mustard paste and cooked with tomatoes and cilantros until the fragrance of the mustard becomes too hard to miss. This curry is preferred in most households as it takes a very short time to prepare and the concoction of flavors goes really well with rice, bread and puris. Read Avocado: Is it overrated? Know the benefits, alternatives Vegetable Chorchori This iconic dry vegetable curry is known for its mixed flavors and unparalleled consistency which fills the heart with warmth and content. This char flavored dish can be made with a variety of vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower, pumpkin, long beans, eggplants, radish, ridge gourd, etc. To cook this dry curry, all the chopped vegetables are first sauteed with turmeric and mustard paste. Once the vegetables have been cooked in a low simmer, in another wok, splutter panch phoron, asafoetida, and slit green chilies. Adding the vegetables to the spices, mix them well together. The vegetables are cooked in a high flame till all the moisture has evaporated and they look dry. Read How to Eat Red Meat Without Jeopardizing Your Health Finally, they are ready to be served with some garnish such as coriander. The aroma coming out of the dish itself is enough to instill a sense of celebration among everyone. Sweet Tomato Chutney This tangy and sweet delicacy is a must-try for Durga Puja as it complements most of the other dishes mentioned above. It is really easy to make and goes with a lot of dishes because it enhances the taste with its tanginess. This condiment is cooked with chopped tomatoes, jaggery, cashew, raisins, and panch phoron. The redness of this chutney is a treat to the eyes as it is to the appetite. Bottom Line So far, we have discussed 10 yummy vegetarian recipes. The ingredients and cooking process can be customized depending on personal preferences. These Bengali vegetarian dishes are bound to add to the celebrations of Durga Puja with their comforting explosion of flavors and colors. Read Sweet Danger of Sugar: know the side effects of consuming too much sugar