How to cook Bengali food like a pro!

When you talk about Bengali cuisine, the first thing that comes up in most non-Bengali minds is fish and rice (maach-bhaat as it is known in Bengal). But it is not as fishy as you think! Bengali cuisine also has a fabulous vegetarian spread and some delicious variety of sweets which are also a hallmark of Bengali cuisine.

By Ananya Banerjee, Owner of studio "The LAB"

One of the most distinctive features of Bangla cuisine is “fresh sweet water fish”. Some of the endless varieties of fish are rui, katla, koi, pabda and the queen of fish- ilish which draws attention of Bengalis towards their innate pride-catch. Prawns, shrimp and crabs are also in abundance. The one meal which you can find in most Bengali homes on most days is maach-bhath.

Contrary to popular impression, Bengalis excel in cooking regional vegetables. Vegetable peels, stalks and leaves are judiciously used to prepare delicacies. The influence of ‘widow-food’ has given rise to niramish or vegetarian food in Bengali cuisine.

With all the mouth-watering and delicious sweets, Bengalis are known to have a sweet tooth. If you visit Bengal, every tenth shop you see, will be of sweets. While the rest of India considered ‘chhena’ as inauspicious as it is made out of spoilt milk, Bengal taught us how it can be converted and can be the world beating delicacies – the Bengali sweets. Some of the examples are pithe-puli, a home-made sweet that can be pan-fried, steamed or boiled, which is especially made during the harvest festival; bhapa (steamed) pithe and bhaja (fried) pithe to name a few.

It’s the Bengal’s distinct cooking technique which differentiates them from other cuisines. The ingredients keep varying, but the cooking method remains the same under some broad categories. To cite an example, “jhol” is a light, watery concoction, which is cooked almost daily in a Bengali home. It can be made with vegetables i.e niramish jhol, fish i.e macher jhol or meat i.e mangshor jhol. To take another instance, “chechki”, is a lightly spiced stir-fried preparation tempered with ‘panchphoron’. It could be ‘alu -chechki’ or ‘kopi (cauliflower)-chechki’. The variety is just never-ending. Each one provides a distinctive style, taste and flavour, which is undoubtedly delectable and tasty.

We Bengalis are very particular about the sequence or the order in which food should be served. Every dish that is served is to be having separately with a little rice so that every flavour can be enjoyed.

Generally, a ‘lunch’ is followed in the following order: the first item served with a little ghee, poured over a small portion of rice and eaten with a pinch of salt. Then it’s the bitter preparation shukto, followed by lentils or daal, served with roasted or fried vegetables (bhaja or bharta). Next comes the vegetable dishes - the lightly spiced chenchki and chokka, followed by the heavily spiced dalna and ghonto, some of which are cooked with fish. Now the turn is of jhol and jhal, which is generally made with fish. Chicken or mutton preparations come next, provided it is on the menu for the day. Chaatni served with crisp savoury wafers, called papod comes in next to clear the palate. You would be spoilt for choice when it comes to desserts in a Bengali meal. The legendary rosogolla, sondesh and mishti-doi can all be served in ample portions. The meal is finally concluded with the handing out of betel-leaf i.e paan, which is considered not only to aid digestion but serve as a mouth freshener too. A well-digested meal after all makes for a very satisfying meal experience!

Bengali cuisine as we see it today is a result of different culinary influences from all those who had established their base in undivided Bengal over a period of time. The major influences on Bengali cuisine have been of the Mughals, British, and Chinese and of course, the traditional Hindus.

In this era, rich sauces and meat preparations were introduced. Different varieties of kebabs like whole lamb (mussallaum) came into being. Delightful dishes like chaap (ribs slow-cooked on a tawa), rezala (meat cooked in thin yogurt and cardamom gravy) and the signature Bengal Biriyani, which is distinctly different from the rest of the country, put its stamp on Bengal’s culinary map. Kathi-roll of Bengal is another famous Mughlai influenced dish. It’s the combination of mutton and chicken rolls spiced with fresh lemon juice, finely chopped green chillies, red onions and salt served rolled in an egg paratha, are simply mouth-watering!

There was a migration of dishes from British tables to everyday Bengali homes, resulting in unique creations such as pêţis (savory turnovers, derived from the English “patties”), mutton chop, kabiraji-cutlet or fish-orly.

In the late 18th century, immigrants from China settled in Bengal in large numbers. This was the time when the birth of sweet-corn soup, chilli-chicken and chowmein happened. Chopsuey became a favourite and the versions like American Chopsuey and Chinese Chopsuey got talked about.