Bhapa Aloo- steamed with panchphoron

by | Oct 21, 2025 | Food, Foodblog | 0 comments

Cooking has been my love for the longest time. From college, I have experimented in the kitchen and jotted down recipes from TV shows (back in the day of Khana Khazana and when there wasn’t YouTube with a plethora of recipes). I still have those precious diaries filled with recipes collected from TV shows, my neighbour, my mother, and other relatives. Those are my treasures. And then when I started earning money, I started buying cookbooks. This recipe for bhapa aloo is from one of the cookbooks that I have.

The Oh Calcutta cookbook arrived relatively late in my life—approximately ten years ago—and I thoroughly enjoyed every single recipe. At that time, I had just come back from Pune. Back in Pune, the only Bengali restaurant at that time was Oh Calcutta. And we used to frequent it, especially for celebrations. Many of their foods had become favourites, and when they came out with the Oh Calcutta recipe book, we grabbed it at once. Not all the recipes in the book are served at the restaurant. But some of the recipes from this book are phenomenal, like this bhapa aloo recipe.

Aloo Bhapa is just one but ‘bhapa’, it’s a major cooking technique in Bengali cuisine

‘Bhapa’ means steamed. In Bengal, we steam almost everything — vegetables, fish, even meat. Sometimes it’s inside banana leaf parcels, sometimes it is in tiffin boxes or steel bowls placed in a kadai. We even steam and char the ingredients for extra flavour. Mustard oil plays a key role in every bhapa recipe. The ingredients aren’t always raw either. In some cases, like this one, they’re partially cooked first and then steamed again with a fresh layer of marinade.

 

Here are a few Bhapa Recipes that you may like
  1. Chingri bhapa- steamed prawns
  2. Ilish bhape
  3. Bhetki Paturi
  4. Sobji paturi
  5. Lau patay chingri
  6. Aloo bati chorchori
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Do try this recipe and share your feedback. You can also reach out to us at our social media handles Instagram, Facebook or any of our personal Facebook (Madhushree & Anindya) . Post a picture and tag us.

Bhapa Aloo

Potatoes flavoured with panchphoron and steamed
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings: 5 servings
Course: Main Course, Vegetarian
Cuisine: Bengali, Indian
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 500 gm baby potatoes, parboiled and peeled
  • 2 tbsp mustard oil, (plus more for drizzling)
  • ½ tsp panch phoron (Bengali five-spice mix)
  • 2 dry red chilies
  • 1 tbsp black mustard paste (strained)
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • ¼ tsp red chili powder
  • 1½ tbsp yoghurt
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • salt to taste
  • 2 green chilies, slit
  • Banana leaves, for wrapping

Method
 

  1. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add panch phoron and dry red chilies. When they splutter, toss in the parboiled potatoes. Sauté for 2–3 minutes, sprinkling a little bit of salt. Just until they get coated with the spices. Remove from heat.
  2. In a bowl, mix mustard paste, turmeric powder, salt, yoghurt, and sugar. Add the warm spiced potatoes and coat them evenly. Let them marinate for about 15–20 minutes.
  3. Gently toast the banana leaf over an open flame or on a hot tawa until it softens and becomes pliable. This helps prevent tearing while folding.
  4. Place the banana leaf on a tawa or flat pan. Add the marinated potatoes in the center. Scatter the slit green chilies on top. Cover with another piece of banana leaf and fold the edges neatly to seal.
  5. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on very low heat. Let it steam in its own moisture until the bottom leaf turns slightly charred and aromatic — about 12–15 minutes.
  6. Open carefully, drizzle a spoonful of raw mustard oil on top, and serve hot with steamed rice.