Bengali Cuisine

Bengali cuisine is a culinary style originating in Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, which is now divided between Bangladesh and West Bengal. Other regions, such as Tripura, and the Barak Valley region of Assam (in India) also have large native Bengali populations and share this cuisine. With an emphasis on fish, vegetables and lentils are served with rice as a staple diet. Bengali cuisine is known for its subtle flavours, and its spread of confectioneries and desserts. It also has the only traditionally developed multi-course tradition from the Indian subcontinent that is analogous in structure to the modern service à la russe style of French cuisine, with food served course-wise rather than all at once.

Characteristics of Bengali Cuisine

Unlike in many other cultures in India and around the world where food is consumed for survival or for pure pleasure as an art form, in Bengal, food is interspersed within and an integral part of Bengali culture. No ceremony whether religious or not, is not complete without an extensive array of the traditional Bengali 4 course meal. Unlike many other parts of India where the staple diet is vegetarian or at least special occasions or religious ceremonies warrant vegetarian food, a key staple of the Bengali cuisine for special occasions like marriage and other ceremonies is the fish head (of typically the "Rohu" fish). Sweet curd or "mishti doi" as it's called in Bengal is also a local favourite and a key element in the dessert array of all such ceremonies. The traditional society of Bengal has always been heavily agrarian; hunting, except by some local clansmen, was uncommon. Rice is the staple, with many regions growing speciality rice varieties. Domestic cattle (especially the water buffalo) are common, more for agriculture than large scale dairy farming. Milk is an important source of nutrition, and also a key ingredient in Bengal’s desserts. Ordinary food served at home is different from that served during social functions and festivals, and again very different from what might be served at a larger gathering (e.g., a marriage feast).

Nearly every Bengali community eat meat or fish. In most parts of the Indian subcontinent, individual castes and communities have their own food habits; this is not true of Bengal. There is similarity in eating styles across social strata, with the Hindu upper caste Brahmins sharing a diet very similar to the trading or princely castes. Fish, goat, mutton and chicken are commonly eaten across social strata; the only exception is beef, which if ever eaten, is restricted to Muslim communities.

Bengalis also excel in the cooking of regional vegetables. They prepare a variety of the dishes using the many types of vegetables that grow there year round. They can make ambrosial dishes out of the oftentimes rejected peels, stalks and leaves of vegetables. This style of cooking food using rejected parts of the vegetables, is predominant in Bengalis in Bangladesh and those who have migrated to West Bengal, India from Bangladesh. They are also known as Bangal. They use fuel-efficient methods, such as steaming fish or vegetables in a small covered bowl nestled at the top of the rice pot.

Fish

Fish is the dominant kind of protein in Bengali cuisine and is cultivated in ponds and fished with nets in the freshwater rivers of the Ganges Delta. Almost every part of the fish (except scales, fins, and innards) is eaten; unlike other regions, the head is particularly preferred. Other spare bits of the fish are usually used to flavour curries and dals.


More than forty types of mostly freshwater fish are common, including carp varieties like rui (rohu), koi (climbing perch), the wriggling catfish family—tangra, magur, shingi—pabda (the pink-bellied Indian butter fish), katla, ilish (ilish), as well as shuţki (small dried sea fish). Chingri (prawn) is particularly popular and comes in varieties—kucho (tiny shrimp), bagda (tiger prawns) or galda (Scampi).

There are numerous ways of cooking fish, depending on the texture, size, fat content and the bones. It could be fried, cooked in roasted, a simple spicy tomato or ginger based gravy (jhol/jhul), or mustard based with green chillies (shorshe batar jhal), with posto, with seasonal vegetables, steamed, steamed inside of plantain or butternut squash leaves, cooked with doi (curd/yogurt), with sour sauce, with sweet sauce or the fish can be made to taste sweet on one side, and savoury on the other. Ilish is said be cooked in 108 distinct ways.

Meat

The most preferred form of meat in Bengal is mutton or goat meat. Khashi (castrated goat) or kochi pantha (kid goat) are the common forms of goat meat taken. Some delicate dishes are cooked with rewaji khashi, a goat that has been specifically raised on a singular kind of diet, to encourage the growth of intramuscular fat, commonly known as pardah. Pork is commonly eaten among the Santal tribes, and is quite common on the menus of Chinese restaurants in Bengal. Chicken is less preferred, though it has grown steadily in popularity over the last few decades after the advent of poultry farming. Beef, while extremely popular in Bangladesh, is much less common in West Bengal, where it is consumed in pockets, and only in certain Muslim homes and some restaurants serving Mughlai food. Eggs—both chicken and duck—are quite popular. Duck meat is rarely found on menus in West Bengal even though the birds are common in the many ponds and lakes.

Special dishes of  Dhaka

The Nawabs of Dhaka were not the original Nawabs of Bengal. Their ancestors came from Kashmir as merchants who made their fortunes in Eastern Bengal in the 17th century. They finally settled in Dhaka, and, having bought large landed estates, they became the largest landowners in these parts. They were given the title of Nawab by the British.

>Kebabs:

There are any kinds of kebabs, mostly cooked over open grill. Some of the Dhaka’s specialty of this genre are: Sutli Kebab, Bihari Kebab, Boti Kebab, etc., made from marinaded (by secret spice mix by each chef) mutton and beef. Kebabs are eaten as snacks or as starters for a big feast. Special kinds of breads: There are many kinds of breads made with cheese mix, with minced meat, with special spices, etc., all are delicacies enjoyed by the affluent classes as side dishes.




>The Kachchi Biriani:

This famous dish is now the mainstay of a wedding in a wealthy family in Dhaka. It is cooked with parboiled short-grained rice such as kalijira or chinigura, cooked with layers of raw 'kacchi' goat-mutton pieces, quite distinct from the West Bengal variety, which uses basmati rice and 'pakki" (pre-cooked) goat-mutton pieces . When on 'dum', i.e., steamed in a sealed pot over a slow wood fire or charcoal to impart a smokey-flavour, simultaneously cooking both rice and mutton. Spices such as saffron, nutmeg and star anise are employed chefs of this special dish.


>Whole goat roasted:

Marinated whole cabrito is roasted over charcoal fire. This dish is usually made on special occasion such as marriage feast when usually it is served on the high table reserved for the bridegroom and his party.








>Whole roasted chicken/duck:

Highly spiced, cooked in a pot with lots of ghee.








>Special dishes meant for festive occasion:

There are some delicacies that are enjoyed occasionally by the wealthy people. These are: game birds, turtle, rabbit or venison cooked in spicy sauce. However, the rare (mostly migratory) birds and turtles and deer being protected by law, this is on the decline. However, pigeons, guinea fowls, Muscovy ducks, etc., are still eaten as hobby food by some peoples.





Vegetables

There are gourds, roots and tubers, leafy greens, succulent stalks, lemons and limes, green and purple aubergine, shallots, plantain, broad beans, okra, banana tree stems and flowers, green jackfruit and red pumpkins in the vegetable markets or shobji bajar. Bitter vegetables like bitter melon/gourd ("uchhe" or "korola") and nim leaves are used. Bengalis are particularly fond of using leftover bits of vegetables. Peels, roots, stems and other bits that are usually disposed of are eaten in Bengal.


Cereals

Bengali people are primarily rice eaters, and the rainfall and soil in Bengal lends itself to rice production as well. Many varieties of rice are produced from the long grain fragrant varieties to small grain thick ones. Rice is semi-prepared in some cases when it is sold as parboiled, or in some cases as unpolished as well, still retaining the colour of the husk. Rice is eaten in various forms as well—puffed, beaten, boiled and fried depending on the meal. The first two are used usually as snacks and the other as the main constituent in a meal. Lightly fermented rice is also used as breakfast in rural and agrarian communities (panta bhat).


Luchi (circular, deep-fried unleavened bread) or Porothha (usually triangular, multi-layered, pan fried, unleavened bread) are also used as the primary food item on the table. It is considered that wheat-based food came in from the north and is relatively new in advent. Both Luchi and Parothha could have stuffed versions as well, and the stuffing could vary from dal, peas, etc.

Common Bengali Recipe styles

• Ombol or Aum-bol (also known as Tok) : A sour dish made either with several vegetables or fish, especially fish bones. The souring agent is usually tamarind pulp, unripe mango and sometimes amla or amloki is used. Curd, though a souring agent occasionally used with non-vegetarian dishes, will not be called ombol. It is served at the end of the meal as a kind of digestive, and to cleanse the palate.
• Achar: Pickles. Generally flavoured with mustard oil, mustard seeds, aniseed, caraway seed and asafoetida, or hing.
• Bora: Anything that has been mashed and then formed into rough roundish shape and fried, generally in mustard oil. Generally served with rice as a starter, or served with puffed rice crisps as a snack. The bora has quite a few different kinds. When potatoes are fried in a light chickpea flour batter, they are called fuluri (giving rise to the Trinidadian pholourie)
• Bhaja: Anything fried, either just after it has been salted or dipped in any kind of water-based batter. Does not include croquettes, or crumb-coated items.
• Bhapa: Fish or vegetables steamed with spices.
• Bhate: A vegetable, that has been put inside the pot in which rice is cooking, and it has been cooked along with the rice. Generally, you get potatoes, butternut squash, raw papayas, bitter gourd, snake gourd and okra in the rice. Bengalis often eat it with a tinge of mustard oil and salt. However, a very popular one-dish Bengali meal is alu bhate bhat, which is potatoes boiled along with rice, and then served along with the rice. For this, generally gobindobhog atop rice, which is a short-grained, glutinous rice that cooks quickly, is used, and is preferred to the long-grained rice, because of its creamy quality, and ability to become ever so sticky, which aids the dish when it comes to mashing. During the serve, some fresh ghee or butter, and salt to taste, to be mixed and mashed by hand into the right consistency, and then eaten. A raw green chili, and a boiled and shelled egg sometimes accompanies this dish.
• Bhorta: Any vegetable, such as potatoes, beans, sour mangoes, papaya, pumpkins or even dal, first boiled whole and then mashed and seasoned with red shallot, fresh chile, mustard oil/ghee and spices.
• Chorchori: Usually a vegetable dish with one or more varieties of vegetables cut into longish strips, sometimes with the stalks of leafy greens added, all lightly seasoned with spices like mustard or poppy seeds and flavoured with a pouron. Sometimes a chochchori may have small shrimp. The skin and bones of large fish like bhetki or chitol can be made into a chochchori called kata-chochchori (kata meaning fish-bone). The stir frying process and the lightness of a chochhori is not unlike that of chop suey, which is a term for assorted pieces, and this shows the influence of the Chinese in Bengali household cooking. The chochhori would be generally an assortment of vegetable and fish bones and other things that would have been rather thrown away, fried in a korai,(a slightly rounded wok), over high heat at first, and then simmered to let the vegetables cook down to being just done, and then taken off the flame immediately to stop cooking. The cooking procedure adds to the confirmation of the entrance of Chinese style of cooking into Kolkata during the mid-1800s, prior to which this particular dish was not very popular in Bengali cuisine.
• Chop: Croquettes, usually coated with crushed biscuit or breadcrumbs.
• Cutlet: Very different from the cutlets of the Brits, this is referred typically to a crumb-coated, thinly spread out dough, made generally of chicken/mutton minced, mixed together with shallot, bread crumbs and chillies. Generally it is then dipped in egg and coated in breadcrumb, fried and served with thin julienne of cucumber, carrots, radish and shallot. Often an egg mixed with a teaspoon or two water and a pinch of salt is dropped on top of the frying cutlet, to make it into a kabiraji, the Bengali pronunciation of a "Coverage or Cover:Egg" Cutlet, influenced by the British.
• Chhyanchra: A combination dish made with different vegetables, portions of fish head and fish oil (entrails).
• Chhenchki: Tiny pieces of one or more vegetable, generally a dice of vegetables along with general odds and ends, often even the peels (of potatoes, squash, gourd, pumpkin, bitter gourd, or potol for example)—usually flavoured with pach-phoron, whole mustard seeds or kalo jira. Chopped shallot and garlic can also be used, but hardly any ground spices.
• Chutney: Generally Bengal is one of the pioneers for this particular dish, making it with everything, including preserved mango sheets, called amshotto.
• Dalna: Mixed vegetables or eggs, cooked in a medium thick gravy seasoned with ground spices, especially gorom moshla and a touch of ghee.
• Dom: Vegetables, especially potatoes, or meat, cooked over a covered pot containing water, slowly over a low heat, slightly steaming. The word is derived from the dum technique popular in Mughlai food.
• Dolma/Dorma: A vegetable, potol, stuffed with fish boiled, de-boned, then prepared with Bengali five-spice powder, ginger and shallot (alternately coconut-vegetable stuffing is used). A mixture of poppy seeds, grated coconut, raisins or shrimp is commonly used for stuffing. During the times of the Muslim rulers, (who were known as the Nawabs of Bengal), this dish came to the region with its Turkish name, with the only noticeable change being the vegetable used for stuffing.
• Ghonto: Different complementary vegetables (e.g., cabbage, green peas, potatoes or banana blossom, coconut, chickpeas) are chopped or finely grated and cooked with both a phoron and ground spices. Dried pellets of dal are often added to the ghonto. Ghee is commonly added at the end. Non-vegetarian ghontos are also made, with fish or fish heads added to vegetables. The famous murighonto is made with fish heads cooked in a fine variety of rice. Some ghontos are very dry while others are thick and juicy.
• Jhal: Literally, hot. A great favourite in Bengali households, this is made with fish or shrimp or crab, first lightly fried and then cooked in a light sauce of ground red chilli or ground mustard and a flavouring of pach-phoron or kalo jira. Being dryish, it is often eaten with a little bit of dal poured over the rice.
• Jhol: A light fish or vegetable stew seasoned with ground spices, like ginger, cumin, coriander, chilli, and turmeric, with pieces of fish and longitudinal slices of vegetables floating in it. The gravy is thin yet extremely flavourful. Whole green chillies are usually added at the end and green coriander leaves are used to season for extra taste. It is the closest to a “curry”, yet it is more of a jus than a sauce.
• Kalia: A very rich preparation of fish, meat or vegetables using a lot of oil and ghee with a sauce usually based on ground ginger and fresh shallots pasted or fried along with a tempering of gorom moshla.
• Kofta (or Boras): Ground meat or vegetable croquettes bound together by spices or eggs served alone or in savoury gravy. Koftas are usually softer than boras which are mainly made of ground lentils, sometimes with added chopped vegetables. Telebhaja is different.
• Korma: A term that can also be called qurma, of Mughali origin, meaning meat or chicken cooked in a mild yogurt-based sauce with ghee instead of oil; poppy seed paste is often added to it. People of southern Bangladesh are known to add coconut milk to many of their dishes and korma is no exception.
• Kosha: Meaning fried for a long time with ground and whole spices over high heat until shallot/garlic/ginger have dissolved into a thick paste. Usually applied to meat and some shellfish.
• Paturi: Generally oily fish is sliced evenly, and then wrapped in a banana leaf, after the fish has been hit by a basting of freshly pasted mustard with a hint of mustard oil, chili, turmeric and salt.
• Pora: Literally, burnt. Vegetables are wrapped in leaves and roasted over a wood or charcoal fire. Some, like aubergine, are put directly over the flames. Before eating the roasted vegetable is mixed with oil and spices.
• Poshto: anything cooked with poppy seed paste as the main flavouring agent. Often poppy seed paste with some mustard oil is eaten mixed with rice all by itself as a mild beginner for any Bengali meal.
• Torkari: A general term often used in Bengal the way `curry' is used in English. The word first meant uncooked garden vegetables. From this it was a natural extension to mean cooked vegetables or even fish and vegetables cooked together.
• Shukto: A favourite Bengali palate cleanser, made with a lot of different vegetables including at least one bitter veg, simmered with a hint of sugar and milk to bring out the bitterness of the fresh vegetables.
• Shak: Any kind of green leafy vegetable, like spinach and mustard greens, often cooked till just wilted in a touch of oil and tempering of nigela seeds.

See also

• Bengali cuisine
• Culture of Bangladesh
• List of cuisines