Tastes of Bengal

The Bengalis are perhaps the greatest food lovers in the Indian subcontinent. An elaborate meal of many items being cooked in a Bengali kitchen is a very common sight. Dishes are carefully prepared according to the recipes handed down from generation to generations requiring hours of labour and ingenuity.

Though modern Bengali cooking is being influenced globally, still our tongue will always yearn for the taste of murir ghonto (an exotic dish prepared with fish heads) and rice, aloo posto (potatoes cooked in poppy seed paste), chingrir malaikari (tiger shrimp in a paste of coconut milk) and sorshe elish (Hilsa Fish cooked with mustard seed paste).

The staple food of the Bengalis is rice and fish. The Bengali culinary tradition is mainly based on the ingredients available locally. The vast river network, its climate and its fertile soil help to grow rice, mustard and other crops. Fruits like coconuts, mangoes, bananas are also grown plentifully. The rivers, ponds and lakes provide fishes for the fish lovers. Meat is also very popular among the Bengalis. The cooking medium is mustard oil which adds to the aroma and flavour of the Bengali food.

According to the traditional Bengali way of serving food it should be served on the floor. A small piece of carpet is placed on the floor for the person to sit on it (asan). In front of this carpet the food platter (thala ) is placed which is usually made of bell metal. The plate is often surrounded by an array of bell metal bowls (batis), containing various items. The Bengalis eat their food with their fingers, what else could be much better to pick out the bones from the fishes like Climbing Perch (koi) and Hilsa.

Bengali food is not ladled onto the plate all at once, but served course by course. First you start by mixing a part of the rice with ghee, a little bit of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and having it. Then something bitter to clear the palate for the good food to come.

This might be bitter vegetable curry (shukto); served only for lunch or just fried bitter gourd (uchchey bhaja). Next comes the rice served with lentils (dal) and something fried (bhaja), which could be aubergine, potato, or other seasonal veggies, after which you move on to a dry or gravied vegetable dish (tarkari ).

The fish course follows, and, if two kinds of fish are to be served, you eat the lighter one before the richer. Rice is very important, so the rice is always offered around. If there is meat (Mangsho) on the menu it follows the fish. Then comes the sweet and sour dishes chutney or ambal. Lastly the dessert which could be sweet yoghurt (mishti doi), sondesh, or the famous rassogolla. And finally, a betel leaf as the mouth-freshner (paan). This is a common menu for a Bengali lunch or dinner.

A leisurely breakfast on the holidays or special days will be usually luchi or parotas (flour rotis seasoned in oil or ghee) and curried potatoes (aloor dom). Snacks like singara, kachuri , nimki, mochar chop, alur chop are also very popular.

Rainy days mean khichudi (a mixture of rice, lentils and vegetables), fried brinjal slices (begun bhaja) and fried eggs (dim bhaja).

The typical spices the Bengalis use to cook their dishes are hard to find in any other part of India. The Bengali's use a special type of spice called kalo jirey (this is black in colour and is onion flavoured). Another authentic Bengali spice is panch foran (five spices) which is a proportionate mixture of fennel (mouri), fenugreek (methi), black onion seeds (kalo jeera), cumin (jeera) and black mustard seeds (kalo shorse). The panch foran is usually tossed in hot oil and then added either at the start or at the end of cooking.

Bengalis also use mustard paste (sorshe bata) and poppy paste (posto bata) in some of their dishes. They use ginger, garlic and onion paste in most of their meat and fish preparations. They love to garnish their food with Coriander Leaves (dhoney pata). Some of their vegetable dishes like shak chochori (recipe of seasonal leaves) are often garnished with bori bhaja (made from the batter of Urad lentils). It is sun dried and then fried and sprinkled over the food.

The bengalis even use their own type of cooking vessels. The kadhai (round bottomed vessel) is used for most of cooking and frying. Rotis and parathas are cooked on a griddle (Tawa). Rice is cooked in a hadi (a special large pot). The handle less, rimmed, deep flat-bottomed dekchi is the hallmark of Bengali kitchens.

Also found are the ladle (hatha), the metal or wooden spatula (khunti), the perforated spoon (jharni), the sarashi (pincers used to remove pots from fire), the old wooden chali belun for pureeing lentils (round pastry board and the rolling pin), the shil-nora (grinding stone to grind the spices on) and the bonthi (a unique cutting tool).

Bengali food will not be complete without mentioning the famous Bengali sweets. In a Bengali house visitors are always offered sweets. Its almost like an unwritten rule. Bengali sweets are available all over the world.

The rasogolla, sandesh, sweet yogurt, payesh (rice pudding) and pitha are Bengal's specialties. Shon papdi (a flaky sweet), jilepi, pantua, sita bhog and mihidana are other popular sweets.

Bengali food has come a long way. Now Bengali food is prepared and eaten with much enthusiasm all over the world.

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