Bengal

A curved raised blade attached to a long, flat cutting vegetables, fish and meat. The bonti used for fish and meat is kept separate from vegetable bonti and the non-veg ansh-bonti (ansh implies scales of fish).

A cooking pot with a rounded bottom, slightly narrowed at the neck with a wide rim to facilitate holding, while draining excess of rice water.

Referred as saucepan without a handle, usually of greater depth. Used for boiling, saut�ing

A cooking pot shaped like a Chinese wok, but much deeper. Used for deep frying, stir-frying as well as for preparations and sauces and gravy. It’s usually made of iron or aluminium and usually has two-looped handles.

A circular plate of authentically brass, but now a days of steel, on which food is served.

Long handled implement of steel or iron with a flat thin belt-shaped piece, used as stirrers.

A metal spoon with indention, used as stirrers and also for transferring food stuffs.

Grinding stone, slab of 16 inches * 10 inches and a small bolster-shaped stone roller 9 inches long. Both the slab and roller are chipped from time to time as they are worn smooth.

Motar and pestle, which could be used in place of sheelnora. Usually used for grinding spices to a fine powder or to a fine paste with the addition of water.

In tranquil fullness of nature in the autumn also imbues the waters of Bengal and rural people can sometimes indulge themselves with amateur fishing, spending contemplative afternoons and bait and live. Fishes found in autumn : small fishes like punti, maurola, tangra and bele, the round-bellied pomfret, the pankal, baan and gule of the eel family, shingi and magur of the cat fish family, estuarine delectable like parshe, bhetki, bhangan and of course the specimen of King prawn, the galda chingri. Many of these fishes are cooked in strong, pungent sauces because they themselves have strong flavours and very firm flesh. Green chillies are added for extra zest and the phoron is either kalo jeera or panchphoron. Barring macher jhol (literally fish stew) fish kalia – rich, dark, gravy spiced with freshly ground cumins, corianders,ginger, turmeric, red chillies and garam mashala!

Winter of course is also the time, when the great rivers are at their tamest, without having totally lost their character or potency. Fisherman, have an easy time hauling in their catch, whether it is a big fish like rui,katla or hilsa, but the most prized catch during winters are the shrimps and shell fishes, like the hilsa, the prawns has an elevated status and its price reflects it. The striped tiger prawn or bagda chingri is cooked with ground coconut, or with

winter vegetables or made into a paturi like the hilsa, while the big, flat galda chingri – king prawns (cray fish) are cherished for their wonderful juicy tar and added to a rich cauliflower and potato kalia, made into malaikari. The malaikari, which make every Bengali salivate with pleasure, is a red rich preparation where the sauce, enriched with thick coconut milk, ghee, spices. Another gustatory delight being the dab chingri, a preparation where the prawns are mixed with a pungent mustard paste, salt, mustard oil, and green chillies and stuffed inside a tender coconut, from which water has been drained off. The coconut, is then plastered and baked in a wood fire.

The monsoon is so associated with the ilish, called hilsa (British). The hilsa life-cycle is something like that of salmon. After starting life in the sea, the fish comes to the spawn in the estuarine waters, where the rivers meet the Bay of Bengal, and slowly moves upwards along the rivers to the northern regions of India, growing in size upto 2.5 kg. Many of the hilsa caught during monsoon are big with roe, which is a delicacy in its own right and considered a caviar of tropics. The roes are just simply fried, to obtain the delicate taste. But, compared to the Ganga specimen, this silvery-scaled fish variety of Padma is better in terms of softness and flavour.

But the major carps Rohu, Catla and Bhetki are the most popular and are available through out the year in abundance, due to the Bheri culture. "Bheris" are a kind of inland fishing done in close water, where fishes are reared and cultured throughout the year, in various parts of West Bengal, especially near the Ganga basin.Fishes are not only substaintial source of protein, but are also easy to cook. Any fish, has predominantly for parts, - the head (which is either used whole or are cut into smaller pieces, to be used with vegetables), secondly the peti (stomach), which has comparatively lesser number of bones, but more of fat and third the gada (or the back) which lodges the treacherous bones and lastly the tail.

It is customary for the head of the family to go everyday morning to the fish market, and get varied kinds of fishes each day, and savour it as Manch Bhaja, Macher Jhol, Macher Kalia, Sorshe Macch, Macch Paturi or in someway else.

BENGALI BREADS :-
Though Bengalis, primarily loves to eat rice, yet there are a few typical Bengali Breads, which are quite famous in various parts of Bengal. Some of the prominent among these are,

Luchi :-
Eaten for mainly snacks,equivalent to the north Indian poories and taken with bhajas.

Khasta Luchi :-
The dough is much richer with fat and flaky. Hence, known as khasta kachuri.

Porotha :-
It is a kind of flaky bread, made out of whole wheat flour and is essentially triangular in shape.

BENGALI SWEETS :-
The Bengalis call their desserts course as mishti. It was many years ago that every household made its own sweet dishes. The principles of economy and the skilled required for the popular preparations led to families specializing in confectionery – making, where expertise was handed down from father to son.

The community, known as Moiras, has developed sweet-making into a fine art and specialities like rosogulla and sandesh are made.

The winter is the season for gur or jaggery. The arrival of gur in the market is the signal for the professional sweet-makers to start preparing, their most popular products, sandesh flavoured with gur. The nalen gurer sandesh has a browny pink tinge and is very dear to the Bengalis. At the beginning gur is sold in its liquid form, jhola gur, which is poured over hot luchis and chapaties, much like the American maple syrup on pancake,

But, to one’s belief, Bengali sweets are not Sandesh, Rosogulla or Misti Doi. There are even lots more varieties to Bengali Desserts, which might not be available, commercially in the market, nor in the sweet shops, but typically home made.

At the first month of winter, Poush, rolls on, the occasional north wind becomes a little too nippy in the mornings, and the dust flies around to settle in a poll over available surfaces. This month of Poush is the specific month for eating two things – one being mulo, and the other thing being of rice-wheat-coconut based sweets, described collectively as pitha.

Of the thirteen festivals in twelve months that have become a Bengali proverb, the last day of Poush is probably the only one that is purely based on the pleasure of eating. In the old days, when rural and feudal life meant, extended families and communal festivities, there was a great scope of making pithas. One of the simplest rasbara, is made from pasted kalaidal, whipped till frothy, then fried in round balls and finally soaked in syrup. Another very simple pitha, the chitoi pitha, is made from rice flour mixed with water and left in a covered, heated, earthern ware saucer.

Then there is rutipitha or chaler ruti(literally meaning rice bread) – where rice is soaked, grinded and boiling water is added to make a sticky dough. Finally, it is shaped into ruti and served piping hot with any desserts.

The other is pulipitha, where a rich dough of wheat flour is stuffed with grated coconut, jaggery and creams, folded into a triangle and simmered in reduced milk flavoured with cardamoms.

Naru :
Which is simply grated coconut in melted jaggery and made into round .

The sweet shops of Bengal known as "Mistannan Bhandar" (Sweet House) sells some of the ever-popular sweets.

Darbesh :-
Chickpea pellets fried and cooked in sugar syrup. Served with raisins, nuts and pistachio.

Sandesh :-
It’s a generic term for a group of sweets, which has infinite varieties, like, aam sadness (mango), kamlanebur sandesh (orange), notan gurer sandesh, chocolate sandesh, kaurapaker sandesh.

It is made by frying chenna and sugar in a karai over until the sugar dissolves.

Rosogulla :-
The ever-famous cheese balls in sugar syrup, is ever popular and is the most common in item of any sweet shop. But, the houses like K.C.Das which specializes in rosogulla, now has rosogulla available in tins of 1 kg. 2kg and 5 kg and has a major chunk exported.

Malpoa :-
Another popular sweet made with a batter of dahi and flour, deep-fried and served as rabri.

Unlike other cuisine the Bengalis also have some of there typical ways of cooking, which not only depends on the type of ingredients available, but also on the seasonal influence. As, during summers, when there is lot of humidity and the temperature scaling, the Bengalis prefer light stew (jhol) kind of preparations. Whereas, in monsoon or during the rainy season lot of bhajas (fried items) and khichuri (rice and lentil porridge) are the most popular. While, in winter, kalia (thick gravy) sort of preparation enjoys popularity.

Bhapa :-
Literally, means streamed, which is most common for fishes like hilsa, Bagda (Tiger prawns), where fishes are smeared with a rich coconut and mustard gray and then steamed. Bhapa bagda and Bhapa ilish (steamed and smoked Hilsa) are some of the specialities.The later is the signature dish of the Oberoi Grand - Calcutta, and also one of the most popular.

Kassa :-
This is a way of cooking for specially red meats like lamb or mutton is bhunooed in a very thick spicy masala of onion, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, turmeric powder and cumin powder and made into a gravy sort.

Jhol :-
It is a kind of preparation, where the cooked fish or meat is served accompanied with stew kind of preparation. It is supposed to be very nutritive, eaten with morsels of rice especially during the summers.

Phoron :
It is predominantly the kind of tempering, which is used in the preparation of lentils, with various lentils having their own tempering.

Bhaja :-
Especially snack it ever or the appetizer course of Bengali luncheon menu, includes vegetables like brinjal, potal (parwal), alu (potato) which are dipped in a latter of besan and deep-fried.

Ambal :-
A sour dish made either with several vegetables or with fish, the sourness being produced by the addition of tamarind pulp. Ambals are meant to be eaten at the end of a meal, before dessert and are more common in summers.

Bharta :-
Any vegetables, such as potatoes, beans, aubergines, pumpkins or even dal, first boiled whole, then mashed and seasoned with mustard oil and spices.

Bhuna :-
A Muslim term, meaning fried for a long time with ground and whole spices over high heat. Usually applied to meat.

Charchari :-
Usually a vegetable dish of one or more varieties of vegetables cut into strips, seasoned with ground spices like mustard/poppy seeds and flavored with phoron.

Chhenchkki :-
Tiny pieces of one or many vegetables or sometimes even the peel (potato, pumpkin etc.) – usually flavoured with panch phoran or whole mustard seeds or kalo jeera, chopped onions and garlic can also be used.

Dalna :-
Mixed vegetables, with a thick gravy seasoned with ground spices and ghee.

Ghanto :-
Different vegetables (cabbage, pear, potatoes, chickpeas), are chopped or grated fine and cooked with both a phoron and a complex ground spices. Boris are added to ghanto.

Jhal :-
A hot dish especially for the meats. First, lightly fried and then cooked in a light sauce, of ground chilli, ground mustard and panchphoran.

Jhol :-
A lightly fish stew, seasoned with ground spices like ginger, cumin, coriander, chilli and turmeric. Extremely thin, yet flavorful, meant to be eaten with rice.

Kalia :-
A very rich preparation of fish or meat or vegetables, using a lot of oil and ghee with a sauce of onion paste, garlic-ginger paste, tomato puree and garam mashala.

Korma :-
A Muslim term meaning meat or chicken cooked in a mild yogurt based sauce and ghee.

Pora :-
Literally burnt. Where vegetables are burnt over direct fire, mixed with oil and spices. Especially begun-pora during winters are pretty popular.

BREAKFAST :-
Normally the day of an average Bengali household starts, with the head of the family getting up early in the morning and before going to the market has a sip of tea with moori (puffed rice). And once he comes, the breakfast is ready. On weekdays, its roti and alu potaler tarkari, porotha with ghat tarkari,or even for a shortcut breakfast like puffed rice and milk or bread with ghugni (thick pea curry). On weekends, breakfast are more leisurely taken and are usually heavy which in addition to the above has luchi (puri) with alur dam and some sweets like hot jelabis to finish off. As such there is neither any course nor much variety to a normal breakfast menu.

LUNCH :-
The luncheon menu in an average Bengali household, is the meal of the day, and especially in holidays, utmost attention is attached to it. Lots of efforts, right from going to the market early morning to buy perishables, preparing, to cooking, to dishing and upto clearance , is all done with extreme passion.

The luncheon menu varies drastically and changes with seasons. Like for example, during summer month it starts with a cooler water, then appetizers like neem patha (bhaja), sukto (bitter stew) which has supposed to have a cooling effect. Followed by rice, lentil, one dry vegetable and are gravy vegetable, meat/fish and chutney. Special occasions call for mishti; like misti doi and rasogulla as the dessert course. Usually rice is places as a heap of mound in the center of the plate and all the main courses dishes are placed in small bowls, right next to the plate, all at a time.

During the monsoon, especially during the rainy seasons, nothing seems to be more appetizing than khichuri and begun bhaja and ghat tarkari (mainly pumpkin) and papad and pickle.

While during winters, heavy foods stuffs like Macher kalia, kasa Mangsho, pulao, Ghee Bhaat are much more used. Seasonal vegetables in winter like beet root, carrot, cabbage are also popular.

Snack menu :-
Though in Bengal we don’t have any well-defined snack items, yet items like vegetable cutlet ( mashed potato cake tempered with mustard,dipped in besan batter and deep -fried), egg roll, chicken roll, puckha (puffed mini stuffed with mashed potato and dipped in tamarind water), jhal moori are all time favourites. Some special savouries like, nimkis (maida dough rice with black onion seeds shaped into triangles and deep fried), shingara (samosa), chanachur goes very well with evening tea.

Dinner menu :-
The dinner menu of an average Bengali household is not a very elaborate affair. Most of the items of the lunch are left-overs and are rechauffed and served. One or two minor additions like begun bhaja, aloo bhaja might come in.But one of the major change is breads, like roti, poori coming in place of rice. But most of the households have an option for rice and bread, which depends upon the family.

Special menus :-
Cosmopolitan Calcutta rejoices, mourns and celebrates the festivals of it’s communities with a joie de vivre. During the four days puja fiesta the city does not go to be and eating is a feast.

The first two days of the puja, Saptami and Ashtami, is vegetarian. Lunch in these days consists of khichuri, with ghat tarkari, fried pappad with pickle – a sort of Bhog. While at dinner after a whole afternoon and evening of trampling around the city, visiting goddess in there pandals, there would be round golden luchis, puffed up like balloons. The evocation of ashtami with the drums beating and the bell ringing for the evening rituals of arati performed before the goddess by the priest, has a special association in many Bengali with luchis – even with plain sugar or it can also be eaten with alur dam, flavoured with a pinch of asafoetida or cholar dal. The luchis are usually deep fried and has a diameter of 3" – 5". And the desserts from the dinner include kheer or payesh.

Navami and Bijoya the last two days of the puja are gastronomically opposite to each other, where meat eating is the order of the day. Bangals has a custom of getting whole fish from the market and them cutting it into individual sewing portions.

On the evening of Bijoya, the images of the communities are ready for Bhasan (immersion) in the rivers. Sweet eating is a must, where everyone shed their ill feelings and embraces each other with open arms. Rosogulla, pantua, misti-doi, sandesh mostly run of stock.

Wedding :-
Social occasions are of paramount importance to the businessmen of the city. Previous all festival and special occasions were catered by ‘Thakur’ – group of barwachis, but new with modernization coming in these occasion are handed-over to professional caterers. The wedding menu in Bengali household are almost the same selection of dishes.

Bengal - Geographical outlook	Bengal - Historical perspective	Historical influence on food
Philosophy of food	Eating and serving of Bengali food	Seasonal influences
Bengali cuisine	Recipes	Glossary