This is another one of the dishes that completely surprised me. While working on Moni dadi’s recipe book, the most common surprise I get is her writing about a dish that is way ahead of her time. But this time the surprise was the dish itself. Going by the name, I thought the dish would be similar to something like Niramish Torkari (Mixed vegetable), a curry-like dish with a bunch of vegetables with eggplant (Begun) somehow standing out. I was really confident that Begun Niramish would be a dish like that. But I had to take two steps back when I saw the dish made by Lima Apu. It was nothing like anything I pictured.

With my curiosity poked by this never before seen dish, I started googling. And I was taken back again! Twice by one dish! No dish I found quite reassembled the Begun Niramish that Moni Dadi wrote about and Lima Apu cooked. So I give this dish “100% Original by The Wannabe Cooks” seal of approval. Yes, I just made that approval up and no, nobody else in TWC knows about it.

Some other results I found looking into Begun Niramish were a little more vegetable curry-like. But still not like what I imagined it would be. And not to talk up our “100% Original by The Wannabe Cooks” but our Begun Niramish does look more appealing to me than any of the other ones I saw online.

Now I shall hypothesize about why the dish is called Begun Niramish. The “Begun” part of the name is simple. Begun means eggplant, and eggplants are the main ingredient of the dish. I learned that eggplants are also called brinjals while working on another one of Moni Dadi’s recipes and I refuse to use the word “brinjal” for no reason at all. The other part of the name, Niramish literally means without protein. But in terms of culinary, it represents all dishes and ingredients that do not have any animal based protein like meat, fat, liver or such. So basically everything that is vegan. But the definition is not as limpid as I put it to be. Because to followers of Hinduism, vegetables such as onion, garlic are not “Niramish” or vegan. And I think this is where the name Begun Niramish comes from. The dish does not have any use of onion or garlic or any other non-veg ingredients. But I’d argue Begun Niramish Fry would be a better, and less confusing name.

Another expectation I had from the dish was that it would be very healthy because of having the word “Niramish” in the name. And growing up in Bangladesh, we have been conditioned to think that anything with vegetables is healthier, period. But I don’t know how healthy the dish actually is since everything is being fried in oil.

On to the dish itself. Just plain Eggplant Fry is very similar to today’s dish as well. Before frying, both dishes require the eggplants to be marinated in the same way. So if you just want Eggplant Fry or Brinjal Fry, just follow the first two steps of today’s recipe. And step 3 is where the two dishes separate. The paste made by blending coriander leaf and green chili together is what gives Begun Niramish its uniqueness and makes it different from any of the other recipes you will find online. It is a very simple addition but the taste of coriander leaf and green chili together complement the soft, mildly sweet eggplant.

Begun Niramish is great to have with bhaat (boiled rice), polao or even paratha. And I really do recommend trying out the dish. Not only because it took me by surprise, but it actually went beyond my expectations.