Bengali

Here is a multi-page list-view of all the Bengali recipes on this site, from the everyday to the fancy. It spans snacks, festive-food, desserts, dinner specials, and the delicious everyday vegetarian cooking that Bengali cuisine glories in. Something for everyone, in short :-)

And here, is a text-list of the Bengali recipes on this site, so you can see straight up what's on offer:

'Jolkhabar' -- Stuffed Flatbreads and Etc.:
Mostly, the dishes here are served for tea or for weekend breakfasts. But some -- like moglai porota, egg-roll and kochuri -- are also trademark Calcutta street food, available on practically every by-lane and in old-style 'cabins'. During lunch-time and after work, thousands stop by these shops for a quick bite, or to pack a meal home. Flatbreads like aloo paratha and dalpuri also make excellent packed lunches, because they're delicious, easy to carry, filling, and don't make a mess like curry and rice would. Others, like prawn cutlett and fish fry, can be eaten on their own, but have also been known to be served at sit-down lunches and dinner, usually with polau or daal and rice.

The Flatbreads :
    And Etcetera:
    • Fish fry -- fillets of white fish (usually local bass), marinated with spices and deep-fried.
    • Chingrir cutlett -- medium white prawns, marinated in garlic and lemon juice and deep-fried in batter.
    • Vegetable and Egg chops -- seasoned vegetables mashed, shaped, and deep-fried or baked. With a sliver of boiled egg inside :-)
    • Daal er bora -- crunchy lentil puffs.
    • Jhaalmuri II (made in Calcutta) -- muri, chopped vegetables, chanachur, lime juice.
    • Jhaalmuri I (made in Boston) -- wheat puffs, chopped vegetables, lime juice, salt. Mmm!
    • Nimki -- flavoured flour, deep fried as little hexagons.
    • Indian Toast -- not like French toast!

    Vegetarian Main Dishes:
    Given the brouhaha over the Bengali love for all thing fish (and red meat), the wonderful oeuvre of Bengali vegetarian dishes gets completely looked over. This is strange, since even the most ardent carnivore amongst us eats mostly vegetarian meals. Rice, daal, vegetables, then fish or less frequently, meat -- that's how our daily menus are composed. Assuming they have access to all kinds of food -- and thousands don't -- people might go without the fish and definitely without the meat sometimes, but are unlikely to go without vegetables.

    And the things one can do with vegetables in an Indian kitchen is nothing short of a wonder. Peels, scraps, choice cuts -- everything has its moment in the wok :-)
    • Kopir dNatar chochhori -- cauliflower stalks in a light stir-fry.
    • Aloor chochhori -- tomato-flavoured potato stir-fry
    • Aloo posto -- potatoes cooked in poppy-seed paste.
    • Shada torkari -- potato curry cooked completely without spices, in oil tempered with cumin.
    • Begoon-powra -- fire-roasted brinjals (aubergines/egg plants), seasoned.
    • Plain mushur daal -- lightly-flavoured thin red-lentil soup.
    • Roasted cauliflower -- whole cauliflower or large florets roasted in a thick, spicy yougurt base.
    • Palonger torkai -- chopped spinach with mixed vegetables.
    • Mochar ghonto -- Banan-flower with potatoes, optional flavouring of coconut.
    • Aloo-beguner jhol -- potatoes and brinjal in a thin broth.
    • Pea-polau -- pulau made with fresh, sweet peas and basmati rice.
    • Khichuri -- a far cry from the terrible English kedgree, this is a one-pot dish of rice, toasted daal and vegetables, flavoured spices sautéed in ghee, and tomatoes for the tangy undercurrent.
    • My Bengali comfort food

    The Meat, Poultry and the Fish:
    • Shorshe chingri (prawns baked in mustard sauce)
    • Prawn malaicurry --  fresh white prawns cooked in coconut-milk over a slow flame. 
    • Chingrir kosha, flawed -- prawns in spicy gravy, first attempt.
    • Curried crab -- whole crabs separated into strategic pieces and cooked in a spicy tomato gravy.
    • Murgir jhol I -- marinated chicken-on-the-bone, cooked in a spicy broth with potatoes and pumpkin, for a slightly sweet base.
    • Murgir jhol II (the easier version) -- simple and delicious one-pot curried chicken soup, perfect for rushed cold days.
    • Kosha mangsho I -- the ultimate Sunday-best of Bengali cuisine. Tender goat meat, cooked slowly in a savoury gravy till it comes apart at the lightest touch.
    • Kosha mangsho II Goat curry, Boston avatar. 
    • Curried omelettes -- don't knock it till you try it, people!
    • Dimer jhol -- hard-boiled eggs in a thin gravy.
    • Ilish-machh Bhaja -- deep-fried Ilish and Ilish-eggs. Probably the most delectable Bengali meal. 

    Desserts
    It's a utter shame I'm too lazy for home-made desserts, because Bengali desserts pass tops in every test you can devise for sweets. Do they use fresh, local ingredients? Yes. Do they involve a lot of butter, eggs, heavy cream, that sort of thing? Amazingly, no. Are they healthy? Astonishingly, yes. Are they delicious? Dear gods in heaven, yes. Yes. A thousand times yes! Perhaps I should make them more often, instead of buying a bar of chocolate or a pastry every time the sweet tooth kicks in. For now:
    • Roshopuli  -- semolina, jaggery, whole milk and a little cardamom makes this immensely delicious winter-special dessert that warms you from the inside out. When eaten warm, that is. There's absolutely nothing stopping you from eating it cold, which is a different kind of deliciousness altogether.

    Pickles and things:
    There used to be a time, in my grandparents home, that the top two shelves of the kitchen cupboard held large glass jars of different kinds of pickles. We raided them on afternoons and finished a weeks' work in three days. These days, however, people seldom make pickles. For one, most people haven't the open balconies and rooftops where they could sun the pickles. Strike #3792 against tiny, cubby-holed flats. Still, for what they're worth, here are my efforts:
    • Tetuler mishti aachar -- tamarind cooked in jaggery over slow heat, flavoured with ground spices for that extra kick.
    • Pudinar chaatni -- chutney made with mint leaves, coriander leaves, tamarind and green chilies.