Here I come with my second post of the year 2024! It was such a busy month that even though I made a lot of vegan meals, neither I could take any picture nor write a post. So after passing almost a whole first month of the year, here I come today with my one of the favourite Bangladeshi vegan recipe – Nigella seeds spread aka Kalijira bhorrta!

Nigella seeds have lots of medicinal value but I will not get into details now. Taste wise it is pungent and sometimes bitter, so its an acquired taste. We Bengalis use the seeds in different ways like tampering oil, use it in nimki, shingara or making naan bread but most common way to eat is to make a spread/bhorrta and eat directly with rice. We say that it works against common cold or flu. However, if you can’t find a way to eat those seeds, you can always bake a bread with nigella seeds on it, trust me you will love it!

To make the spread or bhorrta, we need nigella seeds, lots of garlic and dried red chili, mustard oil and some onion. Usually in Bangladesh we make this bhorrta using pata-puta (a big mortar pestle thingy where you can mash anything you name!), but since I don’t have one, I will use a blender/grinder.

To begin with, we have to slightly toast the nigella seeds in medium heat, without any oil. Thus the seeds will release more flavor, but we have to be careful of the heat, if the seeds are burnt, they will taste more bitter. After toasting, I put the seeds in a plate to cool them down before grinding them.

While the seeds are being cooled off, in the same pan, I toasted some dried red chilies, until all sides become darker and get puffed up. I kept the toasted chilies aside and in the same pan, I added some oil and then fried onion and garlic there.

Now, before making the spread/bhorrta, I first ground the seeds and toasted chili together, without any oil or salt. The reason is, I wanted to save some ground nigella seeds so that I can keep them in the fridge and whenever I want to have nigella spread, I can just fry onion, garlic and mix with the pre-made nigella powder. This way I don’t have to use grinder again.

As you can see in the first picture, I coarsely ground the seeds, but it also depends on your taste, how fine or how coarse you want the texture to be. After grinding, Then I saved a portion separately in a box and later kept it in the fridge.

Now its time to make the main spread/bhorrta! In the grinder/blender, with the leftover nigella seeds and chili mix, I added fried onion, garlic and salt and little bit of mustard oil. Then blended them for couple of minutes until they became my desired consistency. I stopped and checked the consistency in between grinding and stirred with a spoon when needed.

The final look is deep dark shiny black paste, which is to be eaten with rice. I would say it is an acquired taste, but super healthy, especially in this cold season, it works as a wonder! So try it once and let me know!

Recipe: Nigella seed spread – few servings Prepping and cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients: 1 cup Nigella seed Spice and Condiments: 1 medium white Onion 1/4 tbs fine Salt 20ml Bangladeshi Mustard Oil Dried Chili – as desired Garlic – as desired

Instruction: 1. Toast nigella seeds in a medium heat until releases fragrance, set them aside to cool down. 2. Toast dried red chili in the same pan and set them aside. Warm some mustard oil in the same fry-pan, fry sliced onion and garlic until golden brown in color. 3. In a grinder/blender, grind cooled down toasted seeds and dried chili. Stop when its your desired texture. Save some in a jar/box separately if wanted. 4. Add fried onion and garlic, salt in the left over seed-chili mix and grind again until semi-smooth paste. Add mustard oil if needed. Serve with rice.