A breakfast with some luchi, alu dum and sandesh will make the day for any Bong. Bengalis cannot get enough of these fluffy fried phulkas. Luchi, luuchi, lucchi, poori, puri, phulka – whatever one can call them, but to any Bong it’s an essence of pure ecstasy.
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 30min
Makes 20 luchis
Chicken Keema Curry
11 days to go for the Durga Puja, and I am overwhelmed with what to write and what to leave out. Here’s a special Bengali style keema curry served hot.
Preparation time: 10min
Cooking time: 15 – 20min
Reading time: 3min
Get featured in Durga Puja Food Festival
15 days to go for the biggest Bong festival of the year. Yes you have guessed it right, its Durga Puja time. To mark the occasion, we are organizing an event, “Durga Puja Food Festival”.
Send in your recipes for the event and win an exciting Prize.
Bonus Takeaway: An eBook will be compiled at the end of the festival with selected recipes.
Deadline: 22nd September EoD
Narkel Nadu
Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi started only a few year back at our home. Earlier, it was either the calendar or the TV that reminded Bongs of this festival.
I prepared narkel nadu for the God of wisdom, and it turned out to be just like mom’s, the nadu she prepares during Durga Puja.
Ganapati Bappa Mourya!
Preparation time: 15min
Cooking time: 7-8min
Makes 15 naadu
August Monthly Roundup at Bengali Cuisine
The post gives a snapshot of the activities in August at Bengalicuisine.
Sudeshna posted 5 authentic Bengali recipes – Patishapta, Mishti Doi, Chanchra, Bhar Dal and Bhaja and Rasogollar Payesh. There’s another post on how a Bengali celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi on Kolkata.
After a month of online research, we came up with the List of Top 7 Bengali Recipe Blogs.
Plus, August Traffic Report.
Enjoy!
Top 7 Bengali Food Blogs
Here’s a list of Top 7 Bengali Food Blogs. The list includes:
1. Bangali Meye of A Bengali Girl in US
2. Jayashree Mandal of Spice and Curry
3. Sandeepa of Bong Mom’s CookBook
4. Sharmila of Kichu Khon
5. Indrani of Appyayan
6. Sharmishtha of Cook a Doodle Do
7. Angshuman Das of Cooking in Calcutta
The list doesn’t include Sutapa Ray’s Bengali Recipes on the Web (most popular websites for bengali recipes) and Cook Like a Bong.
Enjoy!
A bengali’s take on Ganesh Chaturthi
Earlier, the only ways bongs knew that it was Ganesh Chaturthi – was either looking at a holiday calendar or watching Ganesha idol immersion at Mumbai on TV. But, this year I celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi at my Kolkata house. Alpona, Pujo, Narkel Nadu – it was a total bong affair altogether.
Here’s my festival dairy and some mythology dose for the auspicious day.
Ganpati Baapa Mourya!
Rasogollar Payesh
There was a time when Bengalis had reigned the economic, political, social, educational and even the culinary sphere of the country. But, now the first four spheres have almost vanished, the culinary part still remains though. Bengali rasogolla is exported all over the world and its just the best way to pamper your sweet tooth.
Reading time: 3min
Cooking time: 30mins
Makes 16 rasgulla
Chanchra
Of the very few recipes that have not been influenced by any foreign invasions Chanchra tops the list. This special Bengali recipe with a different vegetables, herb and fish head is an indispensable side dish in any Bengali feast. Try this out.
Trivia: It is said, consumption of fish head helps to get a stronger eye sight.
Preparation time: 20min
Cooking time: 30min
Serves: 4
Reading time: 5min
Bhat Dal and Bhaja – a no frills bong meal
Whats the staple food in West Bengal? Any guesses? If you answered fish, you’re suffering from a common misconception (another link). Fish is the most loved dish. But Bhaat (i.e. steamed rice, boiled rice or uble chawal) is something that Bongs drool over.
The post describes how to cook a lean bong platter – bhaat, dal, bhaja.
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 20 + 10min
Preparation time: 5+5min
Mishti Doi
A Bengali never ends without at least a spoonful of mishti doi. This dessert prepared from milk and caramelized sugar is a must have in all feasts and celebrations. The light mix of pink and brown in the earthen pot makes this dessert a must have for kids to adults.
Reading time: 5min
Cooking time: 35min
Preparation time: 5min
Incubation: Overnight (10-11hr)
Makes half-litre of yogurt
Patishapta
Bengalis are renowned for their love for anything sweet, be that Rasogolla, Sandesh, or any kind of Pithe / Pitha. Among all these Pithe, the most popular one is Patishapta. Patishapta is prepared with rice and wheat flour mixed together, forming a crepe and having a coconut and jaggery filling.
Reading time: 3min
Preparation time: 10min
Cooking time: 25mins
Makes 10 patishapta
July Roundup at BengaliCuisine
The post gives a snapshot of the activities in July at Bengalicuisine.
We purchased a domain name and linux shared hosting at Godaddy, installed Arthemia themes and lots of useful plugins and thus, the site was given a brand new look – and thus, a new home for delicious bengali recipes.
Breakfast with eggs series gave away 6 quick recipes. On one hand, there was Bhapa Chingri in the Fish category; and on the other, home made Phuchka adorned StreetFood category. Plus, we also participated in several events in the food blogosphere. Enjoy reading.
Broken egg for Click
A fort night back I had posted with a week’s resource of “Breakfast with egg”. Egg is the best way to have a wholesome and yummy breakfast. Out of these recipes the Mughlai Paratha recipe has become an instant hit.
Talking about eggs, I am sending this photo to Jugalbandi’s Click contest for this month, the theme being Bicolor.
Prepare Phuchka (Golgappa) at home
Street food in Kolkata epitomizes the pada (neighborhood) culture. Having something at the nearest roadside vendor is not only about eating and fulfilling ones gastronomic urges, but it is also a means of having food with family, friends and sometimes even strangers. Street foods that are in vogue are phuchka, jhal muri, papri chat, muri makha, vegetable chop, and beguni, but phuchka ranks above all.
Reading time: 3min
Cooking time: 8-10min
Preparation time: 12min
Makes 20 phuchka