223 replies to this topic

[Rushina]

Hi everyone,

On another thread I mentioned that I have a friend who is bengali and a very good cook. In my net meanderings, I have found that Bengali cuisine is vast. Since we have so many threads on bengali dishes happening I though we could request one of our Bengali friends to give us an overview....(before he starts he semester... then we will miss him no?)

We are all eyes...

Rushina

Edited for typos

Edited by Rushina, 12 August 2004 - 11:32 PM.

[arnab]

bong is really the person who should do this. or samir. or prasenjit. or kakoli (if she would ever start posting). pretty much anyone but me.

[bong]

One thing in Bengali cuisine which we bengalis take for granted is this "multi-course" thing -- where there is some sort of an unwritten rule as to which course should follow what. For instance, in general, meat always follows fish which always follows veggies.  ( I said "in general", because as always there are exceptions).

Here for instance is a listing of a meal which includes all the courses. In my childhood, such elaborate meals would only be prepared on special occasions. Rice is commonly eaten with each and every dish:
1) start with "shukto" -- this is a bitter dish, usually made with bitter melon
1a) "Aloo-sheddho" -- mashed potatoes mixed with fiery mustard oil, onions and green chiles and a bit of salt. This is not a special occasion dish, but rather a "comfort" food. Even now when we come back home from a long trip, usually this is what we will have, with rice and dal.
2) Some kind of "shak" (greens) or "bhaja" (deep-fried potatoes or veggies and/or deep-fried-fish steaks and/or deep fried bori*) with "dal". As someone else pointed out in another thread -- there are even unwritten rules for which dals to use and the way to prepare them depending on season.
2a) sometimes a radhaballavi (its like a loochi, but thicker and bigger) or a loochi, with "chholar dal" or "aloor dom".
3) multiple "Torkari"-s (any kind of veggie dish; but even a "veggie" dish will sometimes have small shrimp in it, or will have broken up pieces of fish heads!)
4) Fish dish(es). Bengalis traditionally prefer to eat sweetwater fish or shrimp.
5) Meat dish. Commonly made with "mutton", aka goat meat. But can also be made with chicken.
6) Chatni, optionally served with Papad.
7) "Mishti"
8) "Mishti Doi"

And of course, end your meal with Pan.

*bori=dal is made into paste, mixed with spices, formed into little pyramid like pieces and then dried in the sun.

Of course, we dont do such an elaborate meal on a day-to-day basis. But even in our simple day-to-day meal, we will follow this order of things. i.e. I will usually start with a dal, then a torkari, and followed by a fish or meat preparation.

There are major variations in Bengali cooking as you go from west to east (now "Bangladesh"), as you go from the cities to the villages, as you go from the coastal areas to the inland areas, as you go from hindu to muslim, and heck even as you go from one household to another!

I grew up in a middle class home in Kolkata, and in our house we alsways used to have fish at least 3-4 times a week, and usually a meat (chicken or mutton) at least 1-2 times a week. All my friends from outside Bengal used to find this very very odd, for some reason.

My last trip to Kolkata, I picked up these two books (in fact first time I purchased a Bengali Cookbook):
The Bengal Cookbook: Bangla Ranna, by Minakshie Das Gupta
The Calcutta Cookbook, by  Jaya Chaliha, Bunny Gupta, Meenakshi Das Gupta
Since I have been back in the USA, I picked up yet another book:
Bengali Cooking: Seasons and Festivals by Chitrita Banerji, Deborah Madison

If you like to learn how to cook Bengali food, the first book ("Bengal Cookbook") is the best. The last two, especially the "Bengali Cooking" one,  are better if you want to learn about some of the social/religious/cultural background behind the food.

This is really a vast topic, and there is no way I can even begin to do justice to this topic here.

[samir]

From "Hilsa", by Buddhadeva Bose (translated by Ketaki Kushari Dyson)

"....

Night ends in Goalundo, filling the blind black wagons
with heaps of hilsa corpses, the water's lucent harvest,
hillocks of death for the river's deepest delight.
Then in Calcutta's homes, in a bleary morning, leached of colour and light,
the rising smell of frying hilsa, the cerk's wife's kitchen
tangy with mustard. The monsoon's here, and with it the hilsa-fest."

(from Selected Poems of Buddhadeva Bose; OUP, 2004).


Btw, there's notable book--"Bhojon Shilpi Bangali" by Buddhadeva Bose--who himself never went into the kitchen. The cover and illustrations are by a well-known contemporary artist, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay. The book contains some "belles-letteres" (ramya-rachana); plus some excerpts dealing with food (and feasts) from BB's novels--and at the end, includes some family recipe put together by BB's daughter.

Another interesting books is "ThakurbaRir Ranna"-- (Cooking from the Tgaore Family) by Purnima Tagore. This has lots of recipe collected by Indira Devi Chaudhurani (Rabindranath's niece) who herself never cooked ("and doubtful if she  ever stepped inside a kitchen"). But she collected recipes from all over India and abroad.

Samir

[Rushina]

Bong, Samir

Thank you for taking the time out to explain Bengali cusine to us (and getting poetic about it). When you have time, please get into more detail on the regional variations.

Also I am curious, for a visitor, are there restaurants where one can find Bengali food? Would it be authentic homestyle or is there a more festive/feasting style of cuisine served at such places.

Rushina

[bong]

Rushina, on Aug 23 2004, 04:15 AM, said:

Also I am curious, for a visitor, are there restaurants where one can find Bengali food? Would it be authentic homestyle or is there a more festive/feasting style of cuisine served at such places.

This is a great question. Historically, good Bengali restaurants have been very very hard to come by, even in India and especially in Kolkata (Don't know about Dhaka/Bangladesh, but wouldn't surprise me if the situation was very similar). In general, the best Bengali food is to be had at people's homes.

In West Bengal, there are lots of these ultra-cheap "restaurants" (actually called "hotel" in the local lingo; Often times its just four wooden posts with a tarpaulin strung on top) which will serve you a generous meal of rice, dal, some kind of bhaja and then some kind of fish or meat. This is usually frequented by workers who have to commute for work daily.

On the middle and upper end of the spectrum, there is a distinct lack of restaurants serving Bengali food. There are many theories I have heard about why this is -- Bengalis are "lazy", Bengali food is "difficult to cook", Bengalis have no "business acumen", etc. etc. Not sure if any of this is true or not.

On my recent (2003 Dec) trip to Kolkata, however, I was very happy to discover quite a few good restaurants serving (and even specializing in) Bengali good. Here is my brief reviews of some of the ones I tried, listed  in the order in which I likeed it.

* "Oh! Calcutta" -- started by the same folks who  run "Only Fish" in Mumbai and "Mainland China" in Kolkata, this upscale restaurant serves great Bengali food, along with other food as well. We had an awesome Bengali lunch buffet, and the price was quite reasonable. The service and ambience here was also the best.

* "Bhojohori Manna" -- This is tiny place, co-owned by the film maker Gautam Ghosh. Since the place is so smal, a lot of people actually order their food to go. The food over here was comparable to "Oh Calcutta", but there is no amibience to speak of.  The food here was probably the closest to Bengali home cooking.
http://www.businesst...tcorner02.shtml

* "Six Ballygunj Place" -- another upscale-ish restaurant. Food was expensive and good. This is a sit-down, full-service restaurant.

* "Kewpies" -- Owned by the daughters of Minakshie Dasgupta ("Bengal Cookbook", Calcutta Cookbook"). This is also a relatively small place. We had a "thali" lunch here -- the food was very good, but nothing to write home about.
http://www.waitrose....sia/0111050.asp

* "Aheli" -- Situtated in the hotel "Peerless Inn", this restaurant is about 10 years old --- this was the first restaurant to have started the upscale bengali restaurant trend. Unfortunately, the quality of the food here left a lot to be desired.


The other restaurants that I did not try this time:
* "Suruchi" -- this is run by a women's co-operative, and they serve a no-frills set-lunch. I last ate here many many years ago, and the food was good
* "Sonar Bangla" in the hotel "Taj Bengal"  -- this is also a place which serves upscale bengali food.

Also, see:
http://www.outlooktr...magid=26&page=1

[Rushina]

I found this on my net meanderings...

http://tanmoy.tripod...engal/food.html

Will await comments from our bengali friends...

Rushina

[gingerly]

this may well be the mother lode http://www.milonee.n...engali_recipes/
follow that link home and who knows..it might just lead to some genuine mustard oil for some  

[arnab]

gingerly, on Sep 11 2004, 12:17 PM, said:

this may well be the mother lode http://www.milonee.n...engali_recipes/
follow that link home and who knows..it might just lead to some genuine mustard oil for some  

have been using this site for years--my name is arnab, and i approve this message.

[gingerly]

and still no desi mustard oil?dang!then i have to go the conspiracy route.

[suvir saran]

arnab, bong, samir and others, what mustard oils do you buy and enjoy using in the US?

Also, the cookbooks you mention, are all of them in English?

I know I have some of them, but wondered if the others are in English or if you buy them in Bengali.

Are they available in the US?

[bong]

suvir saran, on Sep 11 2004, 03:16 PM, said:

arnab, bong, samir and others, what mustard oils do you buy and enjoy using in the US?

I generally  avoid buying mustard oil in the USA. Got mine from Kolkata, "Engine" brand :>
Most mustard oil that is available in USA is for "massage use only"  :D (working around FDA regulations, I am told; FDA bans mustard oil for consumption or cooking).

For the first time I saw a mustard oil in my local grocery ("India Cash an Carry", Sunnyvale, CA) which did not say "massage use only". I forget the brand name, I think it was something like "RRD".

Quote

Also, the cookbooks you mention, are all of them in English?

Yes.
I am not an expert in Bengali cookbooks, I only have those 3 that I mentioned.
I think the "Calcutta Cookbook" and "Bengali Cooking" are available in the USA.

[suvir saran]

bong, on Sep 12 2004, 10:31 AM, said:

suvir saran, on Sep 11 2004, 03:16 PM, said:

arnab, bong, samir and others, what mustard oils do you buy and enjoy using in the US?

I generally  avoid buying mustard oil in the USA. Got mine from Kolkata, "Engine" brand :>
Most mustard oil that is available in USA is for "massage use only"  :D (working around FDA regulations, I am told; FDA bans mustard oil for consumption or cooking).

For the first time I saw a mustard oil in my local grocery ("India Cash an Carry", Sunnyvale, CA) which did not say "massage use only". I forget the brand name, I think it was something like "RRD".

Quote

Also, the cookbooks you mention, are all of them in English?

Yes.
I am not an expert in Bengali cookbooks, I only have those 3 that I mentioned.
I think the "Calcutta Cookbook" and "Bengali Cooking" are available in the USA.

Thanks Bong!
I shall go to Foods of India this week in Manhattan and see what brands  they have.
The owner has promised to give me a bottle that "Bangali people" love he says.

Will come back and post the name of the brand.

[arnab]

the swad brand of mustard oil is the most pungent one i've encountered in the states. though i am intrigued by this korean version gautam has described. will hunt for it on our next trip to the large korean grocery at the other end of denver in a couple of weeks.

[Rushina]

Still have not managed to get to a bengali restaurant (and we have TWO in Bombay). Has anyone tried cooking Bengali food at home? I ask the Non Bengalis of course.  Am debating wether I should give it a shot...

Rushina

[Unusual Smell]

Rushina, on Aug 16 2005, 08:34 PM, said:

Still have not managed to get to a bengali restaurant (and we have TWO in Bombay). Has anyone tried cooking Bengali food at home? I ask the Non Bengalis of course.  Am debating wether I should give it a shot...

Rushina

Hi Rushina. We cook Bengali food at home (we are non-Bengali). Personally I find Bengali food very easy and fast to cook (compared to south indian idli/dosas, punjabi ellaborate curries and oven items and continental food). We have incorporated a rohu curry (fish marinated with lime, cooked in mustard oil with onions, tomatoes and five spices (panchphoron)) twice a week in our diet mainly because it is an excellent source of calcium and the growing kids in the house (and us too) do not get enough calcium from the milk and dahi they consume. It's incredibly tasty and the most convenient thing is that we can stow away the fried fish and make the curry and rice in 5 mins. We also feast on sorsa ilish - ilish in mustard - whenever hilsa is available (like now). Alu poste - very simpal dish - and alu seddho (as bong referred to earlier) are incredibly simpal and thoroughly tasty comfort foods. Alu poste for lunch will give you a nice snooze if you imagine that the poppy fermenting in your tummy is also synthesizing into opium. And bengali sweets (distinguished by their use of fresh chenna) da koi jawab nahin but we don't cook them at home.  :D The complicated items which we love and sometimes cook are the paturis and luchis with alu dom or cholar dal (Strike! This is where I start to lose it! Man, I'm going out for dinner tonight....Oh Calcutta here I come)

By the way Rushina, your Oh Cal. in Bombay home delivers.  

Edited by Unusual Smell, 16 August 2005 - 09:24 PM.

[champa]

i second US about bengali food. i have neither tasted nor cooked it before until I came to AS and i make what i call arnab's mashoor dal and gautam's gobi and aloo curry. they are easier and faster than any punjabi curry (although not southie, but that maybe because it comes easily for me) it is also very fragrant. i have not gotten hold of good quality mustard oil yet, so that is one thing i am cheating on. i have not cooked any of the meat dishes but i will definitely give it a go. especially fish which i have never cooked but would like to. right now i have a never fail chiken curry which is a hit every time so why bother with anything else.

[sangeeta]

A good mustard oil for me is "tej".....i have always found this particular brand very pungent and aromatic.....it makes my eyes water....

a good bengali eatery in nyc is babu....i was talking about their food just last sunday....the address of babu is here for those who might want to visit it.

Edited by sangeeta, 17 August 2005 - 02:27 AM.

[Unusual Smell]

Alu Seddho / Alu Bhate is the same as Alu Chokha. Fiery hot mustard oil is the key. Should make your eyes water and nose exhale fire - the dragon breath effect.  

Some criticism of Bengali food is necessary after all the flowery praise in this and other threads, like misti doi after kosha mangsho. Personally I find that the meat (goat meat, what else?) and chicken is always on the undercooked side in bengali dishes. With fish, prawns and crabs this is not a problem. I speak of kosha mangsho. I have often struggled with a piece of mutton - gnawing and tearing the flesh. Yes, I have also experienced the embarrasing gravy-face effect when the piece slips from your hand, recoils and collides with your face, like a rubberband, if you try to tear it with your teeth. Then, in goat meat, there is the rishab and the riyazi variety (one of them is chanafed, I think!), the fine distinctions of which still baffle me. Do the Bengalis on this board actually like undercooked meat? No offence. I am not saying you are primitive.   Then there is also that super special dish - goat liver dish (forget the name) which I cannot stand. How many Bengalis here actually like it and why   ?

On another note: Why do we cut fish horizontally, across the spine, in India? The occidentals cut it vertically as fillets or pieces. Of course, both eat small fish whole. Is there a reason for this or is it just a quirk?

One more thing: I have often heard that fish and milk should not be consumed together. Has anyone else heard this? If so, does anyone know the reasons behind this?

Edited by Unusual Smell, 17 August 2005 - 07:14 PM.

[Nichiro]

Friends,
I would love to learn a good recipe for BEGUN BHAJA .
This should include variety of Begun, oil and such details.
Will be highly obliged.

Also I cannot forget  Mung Daal tadkafied in Bengali way . I had this encounter in Hyderabad where the khansama was a Bengali and he always made this Yellow daal (Moong) for me. His secret was in Tadka .
Any takers ?

[Unusual Smell]

Nichiro, on Aug 17 2005, 07:33 PM, said:

Friends,
I would love to learn a good recipe for BEGUN BHAJA .
This should include variety of Begun, oil and such details.
Will be highly obliged.

Also I cannot forget  Mung Daal tadkafied in Bengali way . I had this encounter in Hyderabad where the khansama was a Bengali and he always made this Yellow daal (Moong) for me. His secret was in Tadka .
Any takers ?

Ahhh I love begun bhaja with kadhi chawal (lunch menu for tomorrow).

The dish is very simbal Nichiro.  

But you need fiery    hot mustard oil for it. Must.

Cut the begun/yeggplant/aubergines in ane of these ways: think pancakes, i.e, thin round discs, or, long slices lengthwise.

INGREDIENTS

100 gm aubergine
salt to taste
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp mustard oil


METHOD


Cut the begun/aubergines.

Rub in salt and turmeric. Heat the mustard oil in a frying pan. Add the pieces of aubergine to it and keep turning the sides to cook evenly on either side.

Serve hot.

You can even eat it with rice I think. Add some of the fiery    hot oil to the rice.  :D

Lovely dish.

[arnab]

Unusual Smell, on Aug 17 2005, 02:47 PM, said:

Personally I find that the meat (goat meat, what else?) and chicken is always on the undercooked side in bengali dishes. With fish, prawns and crabs this is not a problem. I speak of kosha mangsho. I have often struggled with a piece of mutton - gnawing and tearing the flesh. Yes, I have also experienced the embarrasing gravy-face effect when the piece slips from your hand, recoils and collides with your face, like a rubberband, if you try to tear it with your teeth. Then, in goat meat, there is the rishab and the riyazi variety (one of them is chanafed, I think!), the fine distinctions of which still baffle me. Do the Bengalis on this board actually like undercooked meat? No offence.

all i can think of is that you're going to the wrong butcher. i've never had anything but excellent mutton in cal--far better than anything available in delhi. in fact a month ago sunhee was raving about the tenderness of the meat we ate at a number of homes and in 2 different bengali restaurants.

[Unusual Smell]

arnab, on Aug 17 2005, 11:26 PM, said:

all i can think of is that you're going to the wrong butcher. i've never had anything but excellent mutton in cal--far better than anything available in delhi. in fact a month ago sunhee was raving about the tenderness of the meat we ate at a number of homes and in 2 different bengali restaurants.

I have to agree with you Arnab that the goat meat available in Cal. (and no I haven't been going to the wrong butcher, very funny) is the best in the world. There are like a zillion breeds of goats in India. The meat available in the north is very dry and not half as juicy.

But what do you think of goat liver? How would you compare it with, say, bread in olive oil? Or it isn't your favourite. Just curious.

[arnab]

Unusual Smell, on Aug 17 2005, 11:51 PM, said:

arnab, on Aug 17 2005, 11:26 PM, said:

all i can think of is that you're going to the wrong butcher. i've never had anything but excellent mutton in cal--far better than anything available in delhi. in fact a month ago sunhee was raving about the tenderness of the meat we ate at a number of homes and in 2 different bengali restaurants.

I have to agree with you Arnab that the goat meat available in Cal. (and no I haven't been going to the wrong butcher, very funny) is the best in the world. There are like a zillion breeds of goats in India. The meat available in the north is very dry and not half as juicy.

But what do you think of goat liver? How would you compare it with, say, bread in olive oil? Or it isn't your favourite. Just curious.

oh, i love liver curry. especially when made nice and dry and spicy. i would be fine with beginning with bread and olive oil and moving on to liver curry and paratha as my next course.

[Rushina]

So for a newbie to Bengali cooking what would be an ideal meal to start with? Cooking that is....

Rushina

[sangeeta]

i think luchi puri aloodum with cholar dal

[Vanessa]

A while back I made a tomato dish, courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey, which went down very well with friends.  I was fortunate in having exceptional, ripe and meaty San Marzano tomatoes at the time.

It went as follows (paraphrased): 2lb tomatoes peeled and chopped in large dice.  Heat 3tbs oil (should have been mustard but I didn't have any at the time) and put in 11/2 tsp panch phoran.  Add a dried chilli as soon as the mustard seeds pop, stir, then add tomatoes.  Cover pot and turn heat down.  When the tomatoes stop making a noise in the pot, add salt & pepper and 11/2tsp jaggery.  Cover again and simmer over low heat for 7-10 minutes or less if you prefer.

Very simple and quite delicious.

v

[Nichiro]

Vanessa, on Aug 21 2005, 06:02 PM, said:

A while back I made a tomato dish, courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey, which went down very well with friends.  I was fortunate in having exceptional, ripe and meaty San Marzano tomatoes at the time.

It went as follows (paraphrased): 2lb tomatoes peeled and chopped in large dice.  Heat 3tbs oil (should have been mustard but I didn't have any at the time) and put in 11/2 tsp panch phoran.  Add a dried chilli as soon as the mustard seeds pop, stir, then add tomatoes.  Cover pot and turn heat down.  When the tomatoes stop making a noise in the pot, add salt & pepper and 11/2tsp jaggery.  Cover again and simmer over low heat for 7-10 minutes or less if you prefer.

Very simple and quite delicious.

v

Vanessa,
If I may suggest,
In the above recipe, adding a sprig of Curry leaves in tadka and using little Asafoetida and Couple of cloves and A stick or two of cinnamon (All in tadka)will bring a magical alteration in taste.
Try it out.

[Unusual Smell]

bong, on Aug 23 2004, 10:01 PM, said:

* "Sonar Bangla" in the hotel "Taj Bengal"  -- this is also a place which serves upscale bengali food.

yes, while it does serve upscale bengali food, the name, 'sonar bangla,' is somewhat a misnomer. i read about this long ago and from what i remember, the taj management intended to have a bengali speciality restaurant in the hotel, but at the last moment decided to have it specialize in 'frontier' cooking. the interiors and menu were designed accordingly (in line with a 'frontier' style) but the name (suggestive of bengali cuisine) and a few items from bengali cuisine remained unchanged, either due to deadline pressures or inadvertence. my wife and i have never enjoyed the bengali food here (and we usually order paturis).

Edited by Unusual Smell, 07 February 2006 - 06:26 PM.

[gautam]

Rushina,

"So for a newbie to Bengali cooking what would be an ideal meal to start with? Cooking that is...."

If you will indulge an old so-and-so his pet hobby horse, one has always wanted to introduce 'bengali' cooking through a series of exercises like piano 'etudes' as it were [just being pretentious]:

ok, here goes: learning the key flavors one by one

first dish: alur chenchki with chapati

well scrubbed potatoes, baking types, if possible, unpeeled, cut into small cubes

ghee

kalonji/nigella seeds

salt

sugar

In a heavy-bottomed  pan or wok (not Teflon) that can be covered, heat ghee until it shimmers and is about to smoke. Add kalonji and just as they swim and release their fragrance, add the cubed potatoes and stir briskly to mix in all the seeds. Adjust the heat so that potatoes do not scorch, and stir until the cubes are shiny and beginning to become translucent in their upper layers.Add salt and some sugar, cover, lower heat. When done, the potatoes should have disintegrated just a little, and be just a little sweet-salty to taste, and you should be able to distinctly taste/smell the aroma of the nigella. Eat this with chapati. This is a fundamental bengali flavor and technique with controlled disintegration, cutting, cooking vegetables without water and strident masalas.

When you are confident with this dish, do cauliflower this way. When happy with that,
begin adding one additional flavor principle at a time, starting with cassia leaf, then whole dry red chili, then hing.

After that, we proceed to mixtures of vegetables, now including different textures, including pumpkin and brinjal, radish, sem/sheem/hyacinth bean/lilva? etc.  Let's do things slowly and systematically, so that each step builds on the last, and you really get to understand deeply the core principles and flavor structures that inform at least    one branch of 'bengali' cooking.

How about it? Does this approach seem too tedious and simple-minded? The thing about my version of 'Bengali' cooking is much of it is vegetarian, and deals with very  humble ingredients. Care and skill are paramount.  Tell me what you think.

g