Broths, pickles and fritters: Comfort food gets a monsoon makeover

Traditional ingredients & memories are finding new life as city food pop-ups are reclaiming the flavours of monsoon.

The greens return
Kolmi and kumro shaak are finding place in light sautés, while dumur & kochur loti are being used in fritters & rolls. Pop-ups are also embracing the khamalu, a tribal staple. At one such event, dragon fruit, kachkola, kochi dumur and khamalu starred in a Levant-style broth that felt “contemporary
but firmly rooted,” says chef Sayani Sengupta.

Best of both worlds

Curators are also experimenting with global flavours with a local touch:

• Persian Doogh: Yoghurt made with full cream milk
• Panko coated Pukurer Pabda
• Foxtail salad with peach & herbs, Lobia hummus with brown butter and dried roselle chilli oil, Mutton Testi kebab, Charcoal smoked bagda, Maghrebi rose harissa pilav & Tahini creamcheese dip

Immunity meets innovation

Once considered as home staples, and immunity-boosting ingredients are now starring in food pop-ups across the city. For instance, indigenous mushrooms like the antioxidant and umami-flavoured dudh chhatu and Puwal chhatu. (below) Simple comfort fare – turmeric stirred into rice, kalo jeere blended with ghee, and chui jhal are being reimagined. These are now featuring alongside global faves on monsoon menus. “Kalo jeere bata, a postpartum must, is now a crowd-puller,” says home chef & food revivalist Rohitashwa
Turjo.

Fish, reimagined

With ilish continuing to headline monsoon tables, chefs are turning to lesser-feted fish once tied to recovery diets. Koi, magur, shingi and pabda are being revived in broths and gravies. Chef Sayani Sengupta’s panko-crusted pabda with bahara masala was a hit: “People loved that it reminded them of home, but with a new expression.” In some places, kasundi-laced ilish bharta and mashed koi with mustard oil are replacing boneless cuts, while embracing the dish’s true spirit.

The return of forgotten formats

• Makha: Raw mixes like mashed starfruit (Kamranga) with mustard oil, or boiled chhola with lime & salt
• Bata: Pastes such as chicken blended with lemon leaf or jackfruit seed – ground into curry bases
• Bharta: Roasted or smoked and mashed variations such as ilish with chillies, or tomato and ranga aloo

Pickles on point

Dried and fermented ingredients are adding depth to monsoon menus:

• Jackfruit seeds are being roasted, mashed, or stirred into gravies
• Homemade pickles are being made from Jamrul (rose apple) to Kamranga (star fruit)
• Fermented tea leaves, preserved in sugar, are turning into chutney-like accompaniments

What experts have to say

Pop-up menus are not similar to restaurants. We have to balance out pricing, quality & nostalgia. Monsoon food is tricky to curate
– Subhajit Bhattacharyya, culinary researcher and food curator

At monsoon pop-ups, we’re reviving recipes like Kalo jeere bata and Kathal bichi pora, using age-old techniques like chotkan – mashing by hand
– Shakyasingha Chakraborty, food heritage researcher

I don’t plan my pop-ups weeks in advance — I wait to see what I get at the market. If there’s fresh khamalu or gerigugli, that’s what I build the menu around. That’s how monsoon food should be — spontaneous -Sayani Sengupta, chef & owner of a catering service

In our house, the monsoon was about pickles, hot tea, kamranga with salt, and kumro shaak from the garden. Those weren’t luxury — they were just everyday joys. Now we’re reviving them for pop-up plates - Rohitashwa Turjo, Home chef & food revivalist