Kumro” in Bangla means pumpkin. And “Chechki” is what a Bengali would refer to, when a vegetable or an edible veggie skin or peel, has been slow fried and cooked with nothing but tempered seeds and salt, and often turmeric powder. The seeds in Chechki is generally black cumin (nigella, kala jeera, kalo jeere), or mustard (sarson, shorshe) or the Panch Phoron (a bengali mix of 5 spices/seeds: cumin, fennel, fenugreek, black cumin and onion seeds or mustard).
Of all chechkis, Kumror Chechki comes across as the most commonly made daily food. Bengalis make and eat this with a lot of love. It is eaten at breakfast with luchi, porota or ruti. Or at lunch or dinner with hot steaming Rice and the comforting daal. Bengali’s can feast on a pumpkin plant like no one else. The flower petals are washed, dipped in a batter of besan (garbanzo bean flour), and deep fried to make yummilicious pakodas or fried snack called “Kumror Phool bhaja“. Then the leaves and most tender pumpkin twigs when cooked together with a bit of mustard or poppy seed paste, results in an amazing “Kumror Chorchori” (Chorchori refers to cooking up vegetables, occasionally with a dose of shrimp or fish, and cover cooking till done without adding water.)
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