Daata Chorchori: Vegetable Stir-Fry with Moringa Pods

A chorchori (also spelt charchari or chadachadi) is a dish common to West Bengal and Orissa (states in Eastern India), known for its medley of vegetables cooked with aromatic spices, minimal water and a slightly charred, sizzling finish. The name itself hints at this technique, referring to the gentle caramelisation that occurs as the vegetables fry in oil.

Bengal has a long history of cooking shaped by scarcity. The famine of 1943, in particular, gave rise to many dishes that relied on zero-waste practices or made use of ingredients typically considered undesirable. Chef Sohini Banerjee recalls encountering such a mindset in her own home. ‘I grew up having this sort of preparation so frequently because any time we brought home vegetables like radish and cauliflower, I would see the women of the household using all the leaves instead of wasting them,’ she says.

Most , like this one, are an opportunity to use up leftover vegetables, or the leaves and stems of produce that would otherwise be thrown away. While many variations use leftover parts of fish — like the bones of a fish cooked until softened or the oily fish head — this version is entirely vegetarian and uses radish leaves, moringa pods and peas as its primary greens. pods, known as drumsticks in India, are the long, slender and slightly ridged seed pods of the tree. These green pods are best when young and tender, turning brown as they mature. Due to their fibrous nature, when cooked and eaten, they are typically chewed on to extract the flesh and flavour before the remaining fibre is discarded.