Bengali Cuisine : The Traditional and The Trendy The 21st century is an interesting time. The global village is shrinking, and we are reaching a situation where you can savour Venezuelan arepas in the heart of London and a bowl of Korean bibimbap in a cosy cafe in Kolkata. Fusion food is on the rise,…
Tag: bengali
Celebratory Rice
It’s that time of the year again, when the entire city awakens from its “lyad” to enthusiastically celebrate the homecoming of Goddess Durga. And of course, good food is a crucial component of the agenda. Every year since 2019, I’ve posted a series of special articles during Pujo, ranging from solo write-ups to collabs to…
Breads of Bengal : Kochuri, Loochi, and Beyond
Last time, we tackled the porota, comparing and contrasting our Bengali version with variants around the country, particularly the stuffed North Indian variety. It would be wrong to say that stuffed flatbreads do not exist in Bengali cuisine, for they definitely do. The big difference is that these are deep-fried in oil, creating something that…
Breads of Bengal : Porota
Last week, we began our exploration of the breads of Bengal with the humble, ubiquitous ruti. It’s time to throw some indulgence and calories into the mix, and talk about one of the more sinful versions of flatbread: the porota. Or is it paratha? Or parotta? Why so many names? North India is famous for…
Breads of Bengal : Ruti
Bengal is the land of fish and rice. The fertile alluvial soil of the Gangetic delta means that rice is available in plenty, and is the basic food crop here. That being said, cultures intermingle, and the flatbread tradition of North Indian cuisine seeped into Bengal over the years, giving us a varied albeit limited…
Eggs and Bread: A Slice of Nostalgia
Food has a way of etching itself into our memories, and it’s usually the simple dishes that stand out. My first ever article took a cursory glance at this idea, and time to re-explore it, with a more specialised approach. Few dishes are as simple are the humble bread and eggs. Let’s start with a…
Amar Khamar: Blending Tradition with Innovation
The set menu concept is unfamiliar in Kolkata. Granted, it’s one of the least popular formats of eating out, but other cities like Delhi and Bangalore provide a few options for choice-free degustation. The idea of walking into a restaurant and letting the chef make the choices about what you eat appeals to a niche…
পুজোর রেশ, খাওয়াদাওয়া জম্পেশ!
“রাম খটাখট ঘ্যাচাং ঘ্যাঁচ, কথায় কাটে কথার প্যাঁচ।” কথার প্যাঁচ থেকে মাঠের পাঁচ-শূণ্য, গলার জোরে গোল নিশ্চিত। দুই পাড়ের ইলিশ চিংড়ি, দুই পাড়ের সাহিত্য, রান্না বা ভাষার মাধুর্যে আধিপত্য বিস্তারের নিরন্তর প্রচেষ্টা অব্যাহত, আর এই আদিম লড়াইয়ের আঁচে ফুঁ দিয়ে দুধে-ভাতে আছে বাঙালি। আমার এপাড় চেনা আমার বাবার থেকে, আর ওপাড় মা’র। কখনো এমার্জেন্সি আমলে…
মনকেমনের অষ্টমী
যেদিন ঘুম ভাঙলেই মনে হয় এ পৃথিবীতে এত আনন্দ এর আগে কখনও আসেনি, সেই দিনটাই অষ্টমী। পায়ের দিকে জানালা। চোখ খুলেই দেখব বাইরে ঝকঝক করছে রোদ। দূরের ইউক্যালিপটাস গাছটার মাথায় পাশের শহর থেকে আসা তিন-চারটে পাখি। তারা আমাদের শহরে এসে অবাক হয়ে গেছে খুব; সে গল্পই করছে নিজেদের কাছে। বারোয়ারি পুজো মন্ডপ থেকে পুরুতঠাকুরের গলা…
Machh: The Calcutta Epilogue
Last Pujo, we dived deep into an exploration of fish in Bengali cuisine. We covered fish as a whole, right from the cacophony of the fishmarket to the stunning array of classics whipped up in the kitchen to the eating traditions. In this article, we will expand our lens beyond traditional Bengali home cooking and…
The Gourmet Glutton 