Bhate

A vegetable, that has been put inside the pot in which rice is cooking, and it has been cooked along with the rice. Generally, you get potatoes, butternut squash, raw papayas, bitter gourd, snake gourd and okra in the rice. Bengalis often eat it with a tinge of mustard oil and salt. However, a very popular onedish Bengali meal is alu bhate bhat, which is potatoes boiled along with rice, and then served along with the rice. For this, generally gobindobhog atop rice, which is a shortgrained, glutinous rice that cooks quickly, is used, and is preferred to the longgrained rice, because of its creamy quality, and ability to become ever so sticky, which aids the dish when it comes to mashing. During the serve, some fresh ghee or butter, and salt to taste, to be mixed and mashed by hand into the right consistency, and then eaten. A raw green chili, and a boiled and shelled egg sometimes accompanies this dish.