BENGALI CUISINE!
Updated: Jul 21, 2021
Bengalis are well known world wide to have "maach bhat" (fish-n-rice) as their staple diet. Whenever I come across different people from other states I automatically get tagged with that. I rather extend boasting about it, although I am not much fond of having fish. Need not mention that Bengali cuisine has secured a renowned position world wide. I wonder why not because ever since the concept of agriculture came into being the fertile lands of Bengal have been prospering in the cultivation of paddy and the availability of good water resource which rather helps Bengal to be the queen of yielding inexhaustible varieties of fish. But it is beyond just "mach-bhat" I would say. Apart from other dishes which flags to be traditional dishes of Bengal, what I personally love about the entire platter is it's presentation! The traditional way in which bengalis present their food has a specific technique I must say! So in here my main motive is to bring in light the way several dishes are presented.
The bowls are scooped with varieties of items bordering the top edge of the silver plate whose Centre is already festooned with rice and other dry items of different colors! These bowls with different delicacies elaborately arranged in a semi circular manner looks like as if all colors have been poured into one platter. The platter has what not! Starting from sweets to fries to non-veg to mouth fresheners! Literally never ending. What about the taste? right? Tastes equally delicious and traditional, I can assure you. Apart from the food presentation a small traditional custom is also followed of lighting a lamp which bengalis call “prodeep” and blowing a “shankha”(conch shell), followed by which the birthday guy or the “jamai” digs into his plate. Bengalis believe it to be a good omen. In old good days when electric fans were not into existence then the ladies used hand made fans to continuously fan their husbands while the men ate.
And finally the the bangali bhoj (feast) begins! I will introduce the most favored as well as the mandatory items generally put in the platter one by one and definitely talk about the distinctive pattern followed in their arrangement. Firstly I would love to list down the items or rather the menu below in descending order here but it usually goes from right and ends to the left during the bhoj. Lemon, salt and a green chilly are mandatory elements to be placed on the plate. Also a glass of water and the lamp to be kept in the right, deserts to the extreme left.
So it starts with:- -MISHTI-MUKH -PAYESH -PONCHO BHAJA -DAL -POSTO -CHORCHORI -MAACH -MANGSHO -CHUTNEY, PAPOD -ROSHOGOLLA, MISHTI DOI -PAAN *MISHTI-MUKH - Just to let you know, this is not an item but a plate full of assorted sweets, starting from “kheerkodom”, “rabri”, “roshomalai”, “roshochomchom” to different flavored “sandesh”. these are popular sweets of bengal of which few items would definitely find its place the in the mishti mukh plate. If you are from Bengal then you would already know, if not then, just to let you know that these can be easily found in almost all well known sweet shops of Bengal. ~Shree Hori ~Sen Mahashay ~K.C Das ~Bancharam ~Balram Mullick Are few all season favorite “mishtir dokan” sweet shop of Bengalis in Kolkata.
* PAYESH - A mandatory sweet dish without which no bengali food ritual can be completed. Can be quoted as an opening dish before the food marathon begins. Also known as “kheer” in other parts of the country. Rice and milk are brought to boil together and there after sugar or the seasonal “nolen gur” (jagarry made from dates, available only during winters) is added to sweeten it. A well cooked payesh is said to bring good luck to the person for whom it has been made. NOTE! No one is allowed to taste the payesh unless the birthday chap has it, not even the person who makes it.
* GOROM-BHAAT-A-GHEE - “Bhaat” means rice and “ghee” means clarified butter. Bengali people prefer warm rice with a little bit of ghee poured in the middle of it. The aroma of the ghee escalates the hunger to another notch, trust me.
* PONCHO-BHAJA - Means five fries of different vegetables, leaf or fish. Usually served in odd numbers, three, five or seven which has become a rule over the years now. Mostly has the fries like “sag bhaja”- leaf fry, “aloo bhaja”- potato fry, “potol bhaja”-pointed gourd fry, “begun bhaja”-brinjal fry, “dherosh bhaja”- ladies-finger fry, “mach bhaja”-fish fry, occasionally seasoned with “bori”.
* SHUKTO - A preparation which is basically a stew of mixed vegetables but a little bitter in taste. Veggies inclusive mostly of green bananas, sweet potatoes, bitter gourd, drumsticks, hyacinth beans, eggplant and so on. To start with shukto is a must in every bengali meal after the poncho bhaja. Now why a bitter dish all of a sudden at the beginning of a meal? Since ancient times it is so believed that this bitter dish helps to excite the digestive juices before the start of the actual meal for it to run long and smooth.
* KOLAI er DAL - A whitish yellow colored dal (lentil) preparation with a subtle taste of “ada baata” that is grated ginger and “mouri”-fennel seeds. It has a soup-like texture and leaves behind a heavenly aroma. Kolai dal is somewhat different from the mainstream dal we usually consume. When bengalis are having a niramish day which is a veg day then they usually resort to kolai-er-dal.
* POSTO - The favorite of all bengalis! They can actually get flattened over this authentic traditional dish. "aloo posto" is one of the most favored posto dishes and a very simple one in making, just potatoes cut in cubes are fried and mixed with the paste of poppy seeds and green chilies. Garnished with few drops of mustard oil. Other posto items are piaj(onion)posto , jhinge(chinese okra) posto, postor bora (cutlet), bata posto (paste with onion, chillies, salt and mustard oil) and so on. We still prefer pasting the poppy seeds in the traditional way that is pasting in the “seal-nora” rather than using the mixer. Tastes best when had with “kolai-er-dal”.
*CHORCHORI -
Usually not served on occasions but is an everyday to-have vegetable dish in most bengali homes. There are many "chorchori' preps entertained by bengalis but the “pui-saag-er-chocchori” is one of the regularly made chorchoris which bengalis enjoy in their everyday meal.
The pumpkin, drumstick and the leaf are the star ingredient of this chocchori. Sometimes fish oil or the fish head is also added to the vegetables to build on some good flavor.
Now entering into the most awaited non-veg zone, lets start with fish! *BHETKI-MACHER-PATURI- Bhetki maach is a fish which usually has no bones, hence preferred for all fancy fish items such as fish-chop, fish-fry, fish-finger and fish-…so on fish- so forth. The fish which we enjoy in our favourite fish-n-chips? Got it right? So Bengalis have discovered an amazing preparation out of it. The name Paturi because the fish mixture-paste is wrapped in banana leaf, tied with a thread and is put to cook. You would feel the real essence of this dish once the dish is prepared and you start to untie it. Now that you have already untied it, the tantalizing aroma that ushers out of it is certain to blow you off!
* ILISH MAACH- The king of fishes- Hilsa is a luxury favorite of bengalis who have invented ‘n’ number of preparation styles with it for presenting a delectable meal. The presence of an “ilish” preparation in a platter not only makes it a star dish for the day but also makes it a moment to celebrate ogling eyes over the fish and over expressive cries like “oma ilish?” which by default claims how ilish maach is a perpetual favourite of bengalis, be it “doi ilish”(ilish made with curd), “bhapa ilish”(ilish cooked in steam),”ilish-maacher-jhal”(preparation with mustard), “kacha lonka kalo jeere diye ilisher jhol”(preparation with green chilies & black cumin) and so on. Let me know if you have tried any or for those who have had ilish, which one is your favorite.
* MALAI-CHINGRI - Bengalis lovingly call prawn as Chingri mach! Undoubtedly another favorite. The preparation largely depends upon the size of prawns available, and are named accordingly like golda chingri (big fat prawn), bagda chingri (tiger prawn). The star ingredient in this dish is the coconut milk which is basically the malai. Trust me the tenderness of the prawn (if cooked properly) and the smooth taste & texture of the curry will steal your heart away. I am already craving for it while I am writing :p not only me but this prawn prep is loved by all bengalis apart from few who are unfortunately allergic to prawns.
*PATHAR MANGSHOR JHOL - After the fish treat has been successfully wiped out a little bit of "motton" (as pronounced by bengalis) usually saves up some corner of the belly. This is mostly the last meat for the treat to end on a satisfactory note! This is a home style mutton curry preparation which is medium spicy and has a good amount of gravy and an aloo. While the mutton gravy is being relished, a mandatory and common discussion break in about where from the mutton has been bought and if it is a “kochi patha” or not! Now the meaning of kochi patha won’t really sound graceful here but it is for my non-bengali and foreign readers. It means small goat. Amid the busy “motton conversation” only a little compliment about the cooking finds space but it is definitely praise worthy.
*CHUTNEY / PAPAD- Chutney is a pure bengali delicacy. After a spicy meal the taste of chutney refreshes the taste buds. It is a delectably sweet, spicy and a little tangy form of a puree, usually enjoyed after the main course along with papad, but before the desert. So we can call it a sweet-sour relish prepared from seasonal fruits available. To enjoy extra sweetness in it sugar, dates, raisins are added and sometimes topped with cashews. There are several types of chutneys which Bengal boasts of such as - Mishti tomato chutney, aamshotter chutney(made of mango papad), anaros-er-chutney (made of pineapple) and so on. The food might seem incomplete without these lip-smacking chutneys.
*ROSHOGOLLA, MISHTI-DOI - Apart from maach bhat this is another tag for bengalis. No occasion, no tradition can be complete without "roshogolla & mishti doi" for Bengalis. I still remember the frequent roshogolla competition among my cousins or family members or in any community event! I have literally seen huge earthen pots of roshogollas lying empty which was overloaded few minutes ago vanishing all in a wink.. I have been observing this since I came to know what roshogollas are! For my knowledge the roshogolla competition is that particular tradition which has been religiously passed on to generation after generation. I usually have chubby cheeks and hence I was called roshogolla by my college friends because of the sweetness and sponginess of course, which I take as a compliment always Now mishti doi is a preference affair, not for eating though (as it is a compulsory sweet item after lunch) but about the shop from where they are brought. Like in my family mostly all the members have their own shop of preference and most of them are different! People can taste and hit the bull’s eye about the shop from where it has been bought. Crazy! Isn’t it? So its quite a riot to decide upon who wins with the mishti doi, I mean which shop steals the award for the day.
*PAAN - Mouth freshener that bengalis & Odiyas can’t do without after a sumptuous meal. It is a preparation of sweet betel leaf with lime, areca nut (supuri in bengali), gulkand (sweetened rose petals), cardamom powder & glazed cherries to garnish. It is deftly folded with practiced fingers (often turning red and white) to make perfect betel quid and a clove to fasten it. The paan is relished and chewed slowly to sweeten the breathe and to enjoy the narcotic feeling. Preparing mishti paan has been an art and can be prepared in many ways with adding or subtracting elements of one’s choice, basically customizing it. Traditionally women used to prepare paan for their husbands and broke areca nuts with a metal nut breaker called “jaatah” in bengali & the process of preparing the paan was called “paan saja”. the paan quids were nicely arranged in a silver paan case called “paan daan” in bengali which also had space for betel seeds and other paan ingredients. Other than that it has a major role to play in bengali marriages where the bride covers her face with 2 paan pata when she is brought to the marriage pavilion.
After you are done with reading about the feast I can assure you that the next time you come to Bengal you would definitely enjoy the traditional taste and have a never before wonderful afternoon siesta which we bengalis call “dupurer bhaat ghum” and later in life you would never fail to realize why bengali men have a big fat belly! If you ever plan to visit Calcutta and get the traditional taste of the bengali cuisine then you may love to try out the following restaurants in Kolkata- * Bhojohori Manna * Sholo ana Bangali * Oh! Calcutta * 6 Ballygunj Place
Well now that I have come to the end of my article I realize it has been quite a “filling” feeling just by writing about the delicacies of the bengali cuisine. Moreover I would like to thank all my patient readers for being with me till the end and must to mention the excuse I got to ask my mother to prepare the items just to click tempting pictures for you all. Thank you :)
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