Bengali food is famous for its incredible flavours, clever use of spices, and the beautiful way in which it combines unique ingredients. If you happen to not know about this cuisine, well … you’re in for a treat!
Bengali households have some hidden gems when it comes to food. These culinary delights may not be widely famous, and are often part of the daily meal. However, these beauties do not fail to delight your tastebuds with some of the most unique flavours you’ve known. With that, let’s dig in!
Shukto
Bengalis prefer starting their meal with a bitter preparation, as it opens up the palate to the numerous other tastes it is about to encounter. Shukto fits the bill perfectly – it’s savoury yet slightly bitter, creamy, loaded with vegetables, and insanely refreshing in the sweltering heat. It stars a variety of vegetables like bitter gourd, drumsticks, eggplant, sweet potato, and pumpkin.
Dhokar Dalna
Dalna is a quintessential Bengali preparation – you have dalna made with pointed gourd, chhena, paneer… the list goes on. Essentially a curried preparation, it is the perfect vegetarian accompaniment to dal, rice and maybe a side of bhaja (fried food).
Dhokar dalna is a curry of lentil cakes, usually without onion and garlic – what Bengalis call niramish or purely vegetarian. (Bengalis have a slightly more layered definition of what is vegetarian and what isn’t, but that’s a story for another day). Lentils, usually chana dal, are cooked, ground, shaped into cakes, fried, and then curried to make what is a beautifully hearty dish.
Mochar Ghonto
The banana tree is the only plant which is edible in all its parts – fruit, stem and flower – and do the Bengalis know this well! Banana blossoms, or mocha, are chopped, boiled and then cooked with a blend of spices and other vegetables, most commonly potato.
The beauty of this dish lies in how beautifully it brings out the texture of the blossoms. They soften yet hold their shape to create a dish that is lip-smackingly delicious. Have it with some dal-bhaat (dal and rice), or some khichuri (khichdi), with maybe the tiniest dollop of ghee.
Daab Chingri
Fish curry, or maachcher jhol is the quintessential Bengali dish and a staple in every Bengali household. But have you ever heard of ‘Dab Chingri’? It’s not the usual fish curry, but a veritable delicacy, often prepared on occasions and festivals. This creamy curry has beautiful king prawns cooked inside a tender coconut (dab), along with coconut milk, grated coconut and a blend of spices.
What catches your eye with dab chingri is the traditional style of plating. Restaurants serve the food inside the coconut, and the infusion of prawns and coconut flesh results in a delicious aroma that will have you salivating.
Patishapta
Bengali sweets are famous the world over, sure. But one rarely notices the true beauties of this cuisine, like the gorgeous patishapta. A humble dessert, it marks the onset of the Poush Parbon/Makar Sankranti. This is when rice is harvested, and Bengalis make pithe or rice dumplings to celebrate the new harvest.
The patishapta is a crepe made with rice flour, wheat flour, and semolina. It is then filled with a blend of one’s choice. The most common fillings are of coconut and jaggery, as well as milk solids, or mawa. Patishaptas are rolled up and served with a drizzle of condensed milk or jaggery syrup for that extra kick of sweetness.
Top 10 places in Kolkata for authentic Bengali food:
- Oh! Calcutta
- Babu Culture
- Koshe Kosha
- Bhojohori Ranna
- Sonar Tori
- 6 Ballygunge Place
- Kewpie’s
- Petuk Bangali
- Bhooter Raja Dilo Bor
- Aaheli
Psst! If you’re still hung up on the patishapta, you’ll love this even more!
Research: Sanhati Saha
Edited by: Ronjinee Chattopadhyay
