Browsing through some Indian cooking blogs, I came across a Bengali dish from Bong Mom's Cookbook that looked so delectable I could almost feel my eyes water as the pungent mustard rose to the back of my nose. There was a catch though: the dish was fish-based.

I couldn't pass up that fragrant sauce, so I started considering how to adapt this for vegetarian consumption. Sandeepa first fried the fish, and I thought that step an integral part of the recipe, creating the wonderful texture. In a flash of inspiration I had the answer - the typical Andhra dry fry potatoes (bangaladumpa vepudu) would be ideal for this dish. (Well, I am sure it exists in many of the other regional cuisines, but I know it as an Andhra dish of course.)

Once I figured out that bit, the rest was simply a case of following the remainder of Sandeepa's recipe.

Continuing the browsing through Bong Mom's Cookbook, I came across an intriguing recipe for "Tetor Dal" or Bitter Dhal. Sandeepa's recipe calls for bottle gourd and bitter gourd; none of us are over-fond of kakarakayi - especially not the six year-old. We do however love akakarakayi - kantola - which has a similar texture when prepared the right way, and has a hint of bitterness though nowhere near as much as kakarakayi proper.

In preparing the recipe, I made three further changes: first, we had some fresh ridge gourd, but no bottle gourd, so I substituted that; second,because we love the taste and texture of crispy fried akakarakayi I fried up an extra handful that we lightly salted and added to the pappu at the table; last, we found the recipe upon completion to be quite liquidy. Our pappu preparations are usually a bit thicker than that, so I put it in a kadhai and reduced it a little over heat.

When we make this recipe again (and believe me, this one is a keeper), I will not reduce it quite as much, trying for the happy mean.