English / Bengali / Hindi Suggested Alternatives

Spices and Condiments

Aniseed / Mauri / Saunf

Asafoetida / Hing / Hing

Bay leaves / Tej Pata / Tej Patta

Cardamom (green) / Choto Elachi / Hara Elaychi

Cardamom (black) / Boro Elachi / Bara Elaychi

Carom Seeds / Jowan / Ajwain

Chilli (red) / Sookno Lanka / Mirchi

Cinnamon / Dalchini / Dalchini

Cloves / Labango / Laung

Coriander / Dhone / Dhaniya

Cumin (white) / Shada Jeera / Jeera

Onion Seeds / Kalo Jeera / Kalonji

Fenugreek / Methi / Methi

Garlic / Roshun / Lhsun

Ginger / Ada / Adrak

Kashmiri Chilli / Kashmiri Lanka / Rogni Mirch

Mace / Jayetri / Javitri

Mint / Pudina / Podina

Mustard (black/white) / Sorse Sarson, Rai

Nutmeg / Joiphol / Jaiphal

Parsley / Parsley Pata / Ajmode ke patta

Peppercorns / Gol Mirich / Kali Mirich (Sabat)

Pepper Powder / Gol mirch / Guro Kali Mirich

Poppy Seed / Posto / Khus Khus

Saffron / Jaffran / Zaffran or Kesar

Rose water / Golaper Jal / Gulab Jal

Sesame / Til / Til

Tamarind / Tetul / Imli

Turmeric / Holud / Haldi

Vinegar / Sirka / Sirka

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English / Bengali / Hindi

Mango Ginger / Amada / Aamhaldi

Gram masala / Gorom mashla.

Panch phoron

(5 whole spices - fenugrek,fennel,cumin,kalonji & radhuni )

Radhuni Radhuni

FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS

Aubergines, eggplant

Or Brinjal Begun Baingun

Almonds Badam Badam

Banana (ripe) Kola Kela

Banana (green) Kanch Kola Kacchha Kela

Banana flower Mocha Kela ka phul

Banana pith Thora Gahar

Bitter gourd Korola, Uchhe Karela

Bottle gourd or

Vegetable marrow Lau Lauki,dudhi

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English Bengali Hindi

Broad been family Sheem Sem/papri Mange-tout

Cabbage Bandhakopi Band Gobi

Capsicum or Capsicum Bara or

Green peppers Shimla Mirch

Carrots Gajor Gajar

Cauliflower Phulkopi Phul Gobi

Chilli (green) Kancha Lanka Sabz or hari mirch

Climbing spinach Pui sag Poy Sag

Coconut Narkol Nariyal

Colacassia tuber Kochu Arvi

Coriander leaves Dhone pata Hara Dhanya

Drum sticks Sajne Danta Shinjan

Horse Radish Mulo Muli

Jackfruit (green) Echor Kachha Kathal

Jackfruit (ripe) Kanthal Kathal

Knol Khol Olkopi Ganth Gobi

Lime or Lemon Pati Lebu Nimbu

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English Bengali Hindi

Mango (green or raw) Kacha Aam Kacha Aam

Mango (ripe) Aam Aam

New potatoes Natun Alu Naya Alu

Okra or ladies Dharosh Bhindi

Finger

Onions Piyaj Piaz

Papaya Pepe Papita

Peas Matarshurti Matar ki Phaliyan/ matar.

Pistachio nut Pesta Pista

Plum, dried Alubokhara Alubukhara

Plum (Indian) Topa Kool Ber

Parwal Potal Parwal

Parwal leaves Palta Pata Parwal Patti

Potato Alu Alu

Pumpkin (red) Lal kumro Kaddu

Pumpkin (white) Chal Kumro Kumhra/petha Marrow

Raisins Kishmish Kishmish

Spinach Palong Sag Palak

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English Bengali Hindi

Spring onions Gach Piaj Hara Piaz

Sponge/rigid gourd Jhinge Tori,Turai Courgettes/ zucchini

Sweet potatoes Misti Alu Shakarkand

Tomato Tomato Tamatar

Vegetables Tarkari, Sobji Tarkari Sabji

Vegetable peel Khosha Chhilka

Types of edible greens Lal sag/Note sag Denga Shag Spinach

(lal sag is red in colour) Patsan Shag

CEREALS AND LENTILS

Rice uncooked Chal Chawal

Rice cooked Bhat Chawal, Bhat

Flaked rice Chira Chura

Popped Rice Khoi Khoi

Puffed Rice Muri Murmura/mumra

Flour Moida Maida

Flour wholemeal Atta Atta

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English Bengali Hindi

Rice flour Sabeda Chawal ka atta

Semolina Suji Suji/Rawa

Chich-pea flour/ Beshon Besan

Bengal Gram flour

PULSES

Lentils Masur dal Masur dal

Split black gram Kalai dal Urhad dal

Split Bengal Gram Cholar dal Channa dal

Split peas Mator dal Mar dal

Split green gram Moog dal Mung dal

A variety of pulse Arhor dal Toor dal/Arhar dal

Sun-dried small Bori Bari

Pulse cakes

MISCELLANEOUS

Butter Makhon Makkhan

Chicken Murgi Murgh

Yogurt flavoured Doi Dahi

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English Bengali Hindi

Egg Dim Anda

Fish Maach Machli (Machhali)

Fresh cottage cheese Chhana Panir

Meat Mangsho Gosht

Mince Keema Kheema

Mustard oil Sorse Tel Sarsan ka Tel

Pork Suyorer Mangsho Suwar ka Gosth

Sugar Chini Shakar, Chini

TERMS OF VARIOUS FISH AND SEA FOOD

Bekti Betki Betki

Cat fish (fresh water) Magur, Shinghi Singhara

Climbing perch Koi

Crab Kakkra Kakkra

Cray fish (fresh water) Galda chingri Bura jhinga Small lobster

Hilsa Elish Palla, Bhing Indian Salmon Salmon Rawas Pacific Salmon

Prawns/Shrimps Chingri Jhinga

Carp Rui, Mrigel, Katla Rohu Halibut

Turtle Kethe Kachhua

Mullet Parshe Boi

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GLOSSARY OF BENGALI TERMS.

AKHNI :
A kind of perfume water made by boiling sereval spices in a bundle until the original volume of water is reduced to a third. This perfume water is used to cook the rice for a pulao.

ALU : Potato.

ALUR CHOP :
A kind of fried potato cake made by dipping balls of spiced mashed potatoes in batter and deep-frying in oil.

ANNAPRASAN :
A ceremony that formally marks a childs transition in diet from milk to solid foods, including rice, anna.

ATTA :
A kind of fruit with a green and black knobby surface and creamy white flesh inside with large black seeds. Available only during the autumn. Atar payesh is the flesh of this fruit cooked in milk as a dessert.

ATAP :
Literally, untouched by heat. The term denotes husked rice, which has not been parboiled.

BALAM :
A variety of long-grained rice from the Bangladesh district of Barishal, much prized for its taste.

BANGAL :
A person from East-Bengal, now in Bangladesh.

BARA/BORA :
Round balls of fish or vegetables, usually deep-fried.

BARSHA : The rainy season, the monsoon.

BASANTA : Spring.

BHABRA :
A savoury snack made with spiced ground fermented chickpeas flour in oil. These used to be fairly common in parts of rural West-Bengal.

CHAL : Uncooked husked rice.

CHARAK : A summer festival .

BHAKTI :
Literally, devotion. The medieval Bhakti movement in Bengal was started by Sri Chaitanaya who declared that god could be reached only the deepest and purest love, not through knowledge or rituals.

BHASAN :
Literally, setting afloat in water. All images of gods and goddesses are put into the nearest river after the end of their particular festival.

BHAT : Plain boiled rice.

BHOG : An offering of food given to the gods.

BICHAR-ACHAR :
A complex set of rules governing the purity of the kitchen and the home. Most of the rules centre around the pot of cooked rice and vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

BIRAHA :
Seperation. One of the great themes of the medieval poetry is the painful seperation between Radha and Krishna after the latter leaves his native birndaban and assumes the kingship of Mathura.

BONTI :
A curved, raised blade attached to a long, flat piece of wood or a metal frame, and used for cutting vegetables, fish and meat. Knives are a relatively recent import in the Bengali kitchen. The bonti used for fish and meat is kept separate from the vegetable bonti and is called an ansh-bonti. The word ansh literally means the scales of fish.

CHAITANYA :
Also called Shri Chaitanaya, the founder of the bhakti movement in medieval Bengal. His followers were from the Vaishnav sect.

CHAL : Uncooked husked rice.

CHARAK : A summer festival in the honour of lord Shiva.

CHHANA :
The solid part of milk curdled by the addition of acid. Chhana is used to make a host of Bengali sweets.

CHHOLAR DAL : Yellow spilt peas.

CHINGRI :
A generic term denoting all kinds of shrimps and prawns. Striped tiger prawns are called bagada chingri, while the top-heavy king sized prawns are called galda chingri. Very small shirmps are called kuncho chingri.

CHIRA : Flattened rice.

CHITOL :
A large fish, with a very soft oily stomach or frontal portion, prized especially by the people of East- Bengal, and a very bony back portion.

CHOURUIBHATI :
Literally, rice for the sparrows. The term means a picnic meal cooked for outdoors.

DAB : The green coconut.

DAGA :
The back portion of the fish, longitudinally seperated from the frontal portion, peti. This portion is usually more bony.

DAL :
A generic term denoting any kind of lentils.

DALAN :
A space in the house.

DANTA :
Any kind of succlent stalk that is eaten without or without its leaves as a vegetable.

DHAN :
Unhusked paddy rice.

DHENKI :
Instrument for manual rice threshing, now almost obsolete.

DHENKISHAK :
A fern like leafy green, much prized as a vegetable.

DHONKA :
Dhonkas are made out of ground, pressed dal to from sqares which are then cooked in a rich sauce served in place of meat.

DOI : Yogurt.

DOLJATRA :
The great festivals of Hindus, where people each other with coloured powders, commemorating the game of colours played by Krishna and Radha and her friends.

DURGAPUJA :
The most important Hindu festival in Bengal, the three day workship of Durga, wife of lord Shiva, goddess of deliverance.

ENTHHO :
Literally, contaminated by mouth or touch. Awhole complex set of rules governs the subject of enthho and the orthodox Hindu kitchen is run along those strictures. Associated with bichar-achar. Enthho para means to clean or wipe the place where the food is eaten.

GAROM MASHLA :
Literally, hot spice. Usually it means the combination of cinnamom, cardamom and cloves, with black peppercorns .

GAYE HALUD :
Literally, turmeric on the body, the word halud meaning both the spice and the colour yellow. This is an important ceremony preceding a Hindu wedding paste of oil and ground turmeric is smeared on the foreheads of both bride and groom as a symbol of auspiciousness. The ceremonial gift of a whole fish send by the West-Bengali groom to his bride is also smeared with the same paste. Fresh turmeric is also considered an aid to beauty and traditionally Bengali girls used to anoint their whole bodies with turmeric paste before their bath so that the skin retain a golden glow.

GHEE : Clarified butter.

GHOTI :
A person from West-Bengal.

GOBINDABHOG :
A similar kind of atap chal.

GOTASHEDHDHO :
Literally, boiled whole. Specifically, this term means several winter vegetables boiled whole and seasoned with salt, oil and green chillies which are eaten by the Bengali Hindus on the day after the winter festival of Saraswati Puja.

GRISHMA : Summer.

GUR :
Indigenous sugar. Aakher gur means unrefined cane sugar. Khejur gur means the sugar obtained from processing the sap from the trunks of Khejur or date-palm tree during winter.

HABISHANNO :
Rice and vegetable boiled in an earthen pot , prescribed for mourners after the death of a family member.

HALUA :
A sweet dish made by cooking cream of wheat, eggs, flour and other things in ghee and sugar. Like, the Middle Eastern halva.

HANDI :
A cooking pot with a rounded bottom, slightly narrowed at the neck with a wide rim to facilitate holding. Rice is traditionally cooked in handi.

HARAM :
Among Muslims, a term denoting something absolutely forbidden.

HEMENTA :
Late autumn, usually when the main rice crop is harvested.

ID-UL-FITR :
The biggest Muslim festival, it comes after the month long fasting of ramzan

ID-UZ-ZOHA :
The second biggest Muslim festival, also called Bakr-Id in Bangladesh. This commemorates the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to allah. The son was changed to lamb, bakri which was sacrificed. Animals are still sacrificed on this occasion and their meat is called korbani, sacrifical meat.

IFTAAR :
The breaking of the daily fast during the month of Ramzan among the Muslims. This is usually a lightly evening meal of cool drinks and snacks, preceding dinner.

ILISH :
The Bengali name for Hilsa.

ILISH GURI :
A very fine misty rain during the monsoon, the season for Hilsa.

JALKHABAR :
Usually a light afternoon snack, the equivalent of the English tea.

JAMAISHATHI :
The sixth day after the new moon during the second calendar month, Jaishtha. This is a day of Jamai, when the son-in-law is ceremonial welcomed by his parents-in-law and fed an elaborate meal and given gifts.

JARDA :
Perfumed tobacco taken from betel leaves . In Bangladesh the term also means a kind of dessert made with rice, cooked in ghee and syrup, often with shredded fruits like pineapple and orange.

JHOLAGUR :
This is liquid gur, made by boiling the sap from the date palm tree to a thick liquid consistency like that of maple syrup.

KACHCHI BIRYANI :
A Muslim preparation from uncooked rice where meat and rice are cooked together a over a low flame.

KACHU :
Any of several kinds of taro.

KACHUSHAK :
The stems and not the leaves of taro eaten as vegetables.

KACHURI :
A stuffed fried bread.

KAGJI :
A variety of lemon used with dal or making lemonade.

KALAI DAL :
This is a kind of pulse very popular specially in the summers. Supposed to keep the body cool.

KALBAISAKHI :
This is a short, violent northwestern storm, usually happening in the early part of summer.

KALIPUJA :
The worship of goddess Kali during the autumn new moon.

KALOJAM :
A small berry, black on the outside and purple on the inside.
The word also applies to a kind of sweet known as ' pantua ' fried very dark on the outside.

KALOJEERA :
Meaning black cumin. A small black seed with the delicate flavour used in cooking of fish and vegetables.

KAMALA : Orange.

KAMINI ATAP :
A small grained variety of atap rice.

KANCHA :
Raw or uncooked. Kancha moong dal means unroasted moong dal.

KARAI :
A cooking pot like the Chinese wok much deeper used for stir frying as well as for gravies. Made out of iron or aluminium and usually has two loop shaped handles.

KARAMCHA :
A pinkish white very sour berry available during the monsoon. Used in making sour fish dishes, chutneys or pickles.

KAROLA :
The larger variety of bitter gourd.

KASUNDI :
A sour mustard pickle, made in the summers eaten with rice or shak.

KATLA :
One of the several kinds of fresh water carp.

KEORA WATER :
Artificially perfumed water used in Muslim meat and rice dishes.

KHASHI : Castrated goat.

KHEER : Reduced milk.

KICHURI :
Rice and dal cooked together with a variety of spices usually associated with rainy seasons.

KHOI : Popped rice.

KHUNTI :
Kind of spatula usually brass or iron with a thin long handle.

KIRTAN :
Religious songs, mostly about the love between Radha and Krishna.

KOI :
Kind of fish called as climbing perch available in rainy seasons.

KOJAGORI :
Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped, the term literally means "who is awake" and devotees are not supposed to sleep.

KORBANI : Sacrifical meat.

KRISHNA :
Incarnation of Vishnu, the Vaishnav sect of Bengal are the devotees of Krishna.

KUL :
Plum like fruit available in the winters. The sweet variety is called narkel kul and is used as an offering to goddess Saraswati while the sour variety topa kul are used for making pickles and chutneys.

KUMOR : The potter.

KUMRO :
Pumpkin. Chal kumro, literally pumpkin on the roof is a native Bengali gourd. The pumpkin was a late import and was originally called biliti kumro.

LAKSHMI PUJA :
The workship of goddess lakshmi, godesses of wealth and prosperity on the autumn of full moon.

LANCHA :
A kind of sweet like a pantua. But shaped like a bloster.

LANGRA : A variety of mango.

LAU :
It's a favourite bengali gourd, pale green on the outside and white on the inside.

LUCHI :
A circular fried bread, puffy.

MAAN KACHU :
A kind of very large taro, and is considered to be a delicacy. 'maan' means repute.

]MAACH : Fish.

MACHER JHOL : Fish stew.

MAGUR :
A kind of fish of the catfish variety.

MALAIKARAI :
A preparation of prawns of prawns made with coconut milk.

MALPUA :
A home made sweet made of semolina and dipped in sugar syrup

MALSHA :
an earthen pot in which rice, dal or vegetables are cooked, especially for religious purpose.

MASOOR DAL : The lentil.

MATTAR DAL :
Dal made from green peas.

MATTARSHUTI :
Green peas. Mattarshutir kachuri has ground green peas as the filling inside the bread.

MELA : Fair.

MIRGEL :
Small variety of carp.

MISIHTI :
Sweet (adj.) or sweets as a collective noun.

MISIHTI DOI :
Sweet yogurt.

MOA :
Round balls of puffed rice or popped rice sweetened with date palm sugar and flavored with kheer or cardamom seeds.

MOCHA :
Banana blossom.

MOIRA :
Professional sweet maker.

MOONG DAL :
A small yellow pulse cooked plain in a metal pan after being roasted.

MUITHYA :
A term used by the people of East Bengal to denote fish balls made by shaping them as fist or muthi.

MULO :
The native radish available during the winters

MURI : Puffed rice.

MUROR DAL :
A preparation combining roasted moong dal with a muro or fish head and spices.

NABANNO :
Literally, new rice. A rural festival, especially, especially among the Hindus, to celebrate the harvesting of the main rice crop during the winters.

NALENGUR : The new gur.

NECHI :
Small balls of dough which are patted between the palms before being rolled out.

NEEM :
The margosa tree, whose small, bitter leaves are considered beneficial to they health during the spring and the summer. The leaves are fried crisp and combined with tiny pieces of aubergine to make neembegun, a first item served with rice.

NORA :
The stone pestle rubbed horizontally against a flat stone to grind spices.

PAAN :
Betel leaves. These are spiced with betel nuts, cardamoms, fennel seeds, lime solution and sometimes tobacco, and chewed after a meal as a chaser. Real addicts will have paan with tobacco many times a day, like smokers.

PANCHPHORAN :
Literally, five flavors. Usually a combination of five whole spices, cumin, kalojeera, radhuni(kind of mustard), fenugrek, fennel.

PANDAL :
An area covered with an awning of bamboo shoots in which the image of a god or goddesses are kept for community workship. Pandals are also made for weddings and other festivals, mostly to feed people.

PANTABHAT :
Leftover fermented rice, eaten mostly by the poor people out of necessity, but also considered to be cooling and benefical in the summers.

PAPOR :
The Bengali word for papadum, thin sheets of ground dal, spiced dried in the sun and fried just before serving.

PAROTA :
The Bengali word for paratha. Fried bread, circular or triangular in shape, often with two or three layers. The famous Dhakai porota is flaky and has twenty to thirty layers.

PATALI GUR :
The solidified sap of the date-palm tree, made by repeated boiling.

PATISHAPTA :
A home made sweet, like crepes, usually stuffed with grounded coconut and jaggery.

PATOL :
A small, green, gourd shaped vegetable mostly available mostly during the summers and the monsoons.

PATURI :
Anything cooked wrapped in a leaf (pata) and left over a low flame in the embers of coal.

PAYESH :
Anything, usually rice, cooked in milk.

PETI :
The front or the stomach portion of fish.

PHAL AHAAR :
Meaning a meal of fruit combined with puffed rice, milk or yogurt.

PHAN :
The gruel drained out rice water.

PHORON :
A flavouring agent. All dals are flavoured with phoron fried in ghee or oil.

PHULBORI :
A particularly light bori, made with kalaidal.

PINDA :
This literally means a lump. Usually this means an offering of cooked rice and fish, made into light balls and set to appease the ancestors and the dead persons during a Hindu funeral.

PITHA :
Sweet or savoury items made from rice flour or cream of wheat, usually during the winters when the newly harvested atap rice is grounded to make the flour.

PITHA PARBAN :
The winter festival of making pitha's.

POLAO :
The Bengali word for pulao.

POSTO : Poppy seeds.

PUISHAK :
A succulent, leafy, astringent vegetable available during the monsoons. Hindu widows are forbidden to eat this vegetable.

PUJA :
Act of worship. In Bengal however the word by itself also denotes Durga puja.

PULI PITHA :
A kind of stuffed pitha in a sweetened milky syrup.

PRONAM :
A respectful gesture of touching the feet of elders.

RADHA :
The milkmaid in brindavan who was Krishna's beloved though she was not his wife. To Vaishnav's in Bengal radha is the ultimate symbol of selfless love.

RAITA :
Among the Bengali muslims, a salad of yogurt and cucumber.

RAJBHOG :
A large spherical sweet made with chhana floating in syrup similar to rasgulla.

RAS :
Literally juice specifically means the first tapping of syrup from the trunk of the date palm tree.

ROSOGULLAS :
The most famous Bengali sweets, which are made of chhana and boiled in plain syrup.

ROSOMALAI :
A kind of sweet with rosogullas floating in sweetened evaporated milk.

RATHJATRA :
A chariot festival, the major event during the monsoons

RUI :
The most famous variety of fresh water carp.

SANDESH:
Like the rosogulla, a famous Bengali sweet made with chhana. But it is sweetened with sugar or gur in the cooking instead of being boiled in syrup.

SANKARANTI :
The last day of every month, which coincides with a holy dip in the gang sager.

SARASWATI PUJA :
The goddess of learning worshipped during the springs.

SHAB-E-BARAT :
Literally the night of destiny.

SHADH :
Literally a wish or desire. It is also the term used for a special elaborate meal served to a pregnant woman towards the end of her pregnancy in the belief that if all her cravings are satisfied, she will bear a healthy child.

SHAK :
Any kind of leafy green, eaten as a vegetable.

SHAKTO :
A Hindu sect, followers of shakti, and the mother goddess.

SHALPA :
The water lily, whose stems are eaten as vegetables.

SHARAT : Early autumn.

SHASHTHI :
The sixth day of the moon.

SHEET : Winter.

SHEETAL : Cool.

SHIDDHA :
Boiled. Parboiled rice is called siddha chal.

SHIL :
The flattened, pitted stone on which the spices are grounded with nora.

SHIM :
A kind of buttery textured flat, broad bean available in the winters.

SHINGARA :
Triangular flour shells stuffed with vegetables or meat and deep fried in oil. A favourite with afternoon snacks.

SHOJNE :
Drumsticks. Much prized as a delicacy and used in fish stews or mixed vegetables dishes.

SHOL :
A kind of fish, mostly available in the winters and not eaten unless alive.

SHORSHE :
Mustard. Hilsa cooked in a mustard sauce is called sorshe ilish.

SHRADHA :
The funeral ceremony of the Hindus.

SUKTO :
A bitter vegetable dish, served as a first course with rice, especially during the summer. Sukto is never served at dinner, only at lunch.

SINDUR :
A vermilion powder worn by the Hindu married women on their partings. Also an auspicious element, used to decorate the foreheads of goddesses.

SUPURI :
Betel nuts. These are chopped fine and put inside paan to be chewed slowly. Sometimes, chopped betel nuts are also chewed by themselves.

TAAL :
The fruit of the palm tree. Taaler bora means the small balls made by combining the pulp of the ripe with coconut, flour and sugar and deep frying them.

TATTO :
The ceremonial array of gifts sent by the groom to his bride before the wedding occurs.

TELEBHAJA :
Literally, fried in oil. A collective term denoting any of several vegetables dipped in batter and fried in oil as a savoury snack or to be served with rice.

THAKURGHAR :
The room of a Hindu home where the images of gods are kept.

UCHCHE :
The smaller variety of bitter gourd.

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