How to describe a true Bangali? Everyone would have a different perspective. The knack towards art and culture. Glorifying the Bong heroes. The fight over East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. The love for Uttam Kumar. Whatever they say, nobody can deny the fact that we Bengalis are fond of food, be that the street food from Dalhousie Square, the puchka of Vivekananda park, the mach bhaat (fish and rice) in a lazy afternoon or the rasogolla and the misti doi (sweet yogurt) from K.C. Das.
Warm white rice with a generous dollop of butter and mashed potatoes with a omelette or rather a mumlet (that’s what we call omelet) as breakfast before going to school is the staple diet for every growing Bong child.

However far we go, the smell of fried onions with boiled potato, the very Bengali version of the English mashed potato will drive the Bong back home.

Alu chokha, as it is so fondly called is an easy way of putting up a Bong delicacy. A disclaimer to those who are on diet, this recipe is all about taste and carbs.

Serves 2
Preparation time:  5 mins
Cooking time: 7 min

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
3-4 dry red chillies, cut to small pieces
1 tablespoon mustard oil
Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Boil the potatoes well
• Mash those with a masher, fork or just with your fingers
• Heat the oil  in a wok or frying pan, throw in the onions and dry red chillies and fry till the onions are caramelized
• Add the potatoes, season with salt
• Toss for a minute
• Serve it with warm rice with butter or ghee

Hot Tips – You can also put a little bit of salt while boiling the potatoes, and while boiling make sure the potatoes don’t get over boiled and turns gooey.

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A very happy and sumptuous NEW YEAR. Well, it’s rather late in the day but as the cliché goes – better late than never. Plus, the Gregorian calendar still says January, so we are well within threshold for the wish. Let us have a quick recap of how last year went by at Cook Like a Bong.

Sholo Ana Bangali (100% pure vegetarian, oops bong)

Sudeshna travelled widely last year, but luckily enough, she had free access to her mom’s kitchen, Bengali cookbooks and Lifestyle TV channels. CLB featured authentic Bengali recipes including Kumro fuler vada (Pumpkin flower fritter), Fulkopir datar tarkari (Cauliflower stem curry), age old secret recipe of Dudh Shukto and bitter yet sweet Tetor Dal (Lentils with Bitter Gourd). Fish, at the risk of stereotyping Bengali heshel (kitchen), was present in all its glory – Sabji diye Macher Jhol (fish curry with vegetables), Tel Koi (Climbing Perch in Spicy Bengali curry), Rui Macher Vada (Rohu fritters).

Kalyan, meanwhile, celebrated India cricket team’s world cup win with Rajbhog (giant Rasogolla).

Mix-n-Match

Sudeshna also started experimenting more often in the kitchen – trying to merge Bengali recipes with cooking styles in other parts of the world. She used the microwave for frying ilish or even preparing paturi. She cooked Mexican rice with a Bengali tinge and then celebrated Tagore’s 150^th birthday with Rabindrasangeet, urrr.. rather with Tutti Frutti Cakes. Inspired by Bangalore Bongs’ two favourite hangout places, she also tried her hand at Chicken Teriyaki and Hyderabadi Biriyani.

And, then there were the share of sweets and smoothies– starting from the not so common Patol Mishti to the South Indian famous Shahi Tukda. Sudeshna tried out baking in her small oven and the chocolate brownie cupcake turned out very yummy.

Writing galore

Bengali New Year started on a very note, we got invitation to write a food column for FirstPost, a Network 18 venture which has become very popular. There were number of guest posts from several bloggers as well as non-bloggers, plus an interview with Kalyan Karmakar, the man behind Finely Chopped. Click to know more about all the recipes in Cook Like a Bong.

Getting Personal

Sudeshna received her Masters degree in Biotechnology and also got a job as an Analyst. Kalyan travelled extensively in the US and started to cook full time, well sort of. And, finally, we got married November end. And that kind of would explain why we were missing in action last 3 months. Now with wedding prep, wedding and honeymoon over, we are back in business.

Expect an even more wonderful, sumptuous, finger licking food discourse this year from Cook Like a Bong. Let us all Eat Like a Bong.

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As of Bangalore, I found quite a few Durga pujas this year. The most popular being the Bengali Association Puja in Palace Ground and of course there are some more in Koramangala Kalyana Manthapa, 6th Block; another Durga puja a few steps from this one is the Durga Puja near Jyoti Nivas college. The fourth is near to the place where I stay now – the Sarjapur Road Total Mall.

Here’s a list for the Durga Puja timings for 2011.

Shahi tukra literally means “royal morsels”. The tale goes like this – one of the Nawabs of Awadh  – who was certainly not very famous for his generosity – used to distribute stale breads among his subjects on his rounds in and around the kingdom. Apparently, he had almost thousand chefs or khansamas in his kitchen. One of them came up with an idea. He dipped those stale breads; the nawab would distribute among his people, with sugar syrup and then pour thickened milk over it. And, the recipe for shahi tukra came up. This was one of the many stories anecdotes by Chitrita Banerjee in her book Amazon.

 There are many talks and discussions about the real origin of this rich and creamy bread pudding. Most believe it was the Moghuls who brought this recipe along with them. This dessert has become very popular in Southern parts of the Indian sub-continent; especially in Hyderabadi cuisine. You can find very few Hyderabadi restaurant or cook book which doesn’t have a recipe for shahi tukra.

Unlike most bread puddings which uses eggs this typical Mughlai dessert is eggless and is made with condensed milk, breads, saffron and dry fruits. The shahi tukda is also called double ka meetha as the bread swells to almost double its size after baking. The double ka meetha has become an indispensable dessert to serve after the rich meal on Bakrid or during Ramadan.

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of milk bread
• 1 liter full fat cream milk
• 200ml fresh cream
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup condensed milk
• ¼ cup raisins
• 2 tablespoon almond slices
• 4 tablespoon of clarified butter/ghee
• Few strands of saffron
• Edible silver foil for garnishing (optional)

Preparation:

• Boil the milk and cream in a thick bottom pan till it reduces to almost half its original volume
• Take out of flame and pour about 4 tablespoon of milk on 6-7 strands of saffron
• Mix the sugar and condensed milk with the milk in the pan and place it over flame again
• Pour in the now colored saffron milk, bring to boil with constant stirring
• Leave to get cooled
• Cut the crust out of the bread and cut into halves along its diagonal
• Heat about half tablespoon ghee in a pan for each bread slice and fry till golden brown
• Place the fried bread pieces in a baking tray and pour in about one-third of the milk on the bread pieces
• Bake it for about 5-7 minutes at 180°C. Take out from the oven and pour in some more milk over it and then bake for about 5-7 minutes more. Take out and pour the left out milk
• Bring to normal temperature and serve garnished with raisins, almond slices, saffron strands and edible silver foil.

Hot Tips – If you are keeping it in the fridge then always keep it covered. The shahi tukra tend to lose the moisture making the bread slices chewy. According to your love for sweets you can adjust the amount of sugar and condensed milk.

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You have read about our Bengali Food Bloggers Interview. We did a set of 6 interviews with various stars of the Bengali Food arena. Its been almost eighteen months and so we just thought of adding some more new names to the club. So,  to  start with here’s Kalyan Karmakar from Finely Chopped.

About Kalyan

He is a Bengali who moved to Mumbai more than a decade back.

Grew up largely at Calcutta and was at UK and Iran before that. Just like most Bengali he loves food, loves to write, loves to chat, loves to pontificate and all of these came together in his blog. His blog is almost a personal diary where he writes about the places he eats at or travel to, the dishes he cook,s folks whom he eat with and people he meet as he eats.

The blog is now three and a half years old.

Do you taste-test everything you make? Who is your guinea pig?

Yes I do eat everything I cook.

Guinea pig? Well my wife. My friends whom I call over to our house.

Most of them, including my wife, have returned for seconds

Tell us about your most loved food discovery

Asian Food. I just love the food of the Orient. The colours, the freshness, the textures, the flavours.

Specifically the discovery of the food of Malaysia. I had written Malaysia off after my first trip there. I saw it with a tourist’s and business traveller’s eyes.

Having read this a Bengali couple settled there then, whom I didn’t know, invited me over to stay with them. I returned to Malaysia and as promised, Arindam and Sasha  opened my eyes to the culinary wonders of Malaysia.

Travelling to different places and seeing them through the world of food gives me the greatest highs.

That’s as Bengali as you can get eh?

With your prolific food activities, how do you balance work, blog and personal life?

I guess you always find out time to do things that you are passionate about. I write about things which are a part of my life. I look for food stories when I am out. Write about them the  moment I get some time. Often at night. It happens. I have not given it much thought.

Your favourite kitchen equipment/appliance

My mortar and pestle. I was looking for this for a while but couldn’t find the right one.

Then I went to Chiang Mai where I attended a cooking class. There were these most astounding mortar and pestles there. Asked the instructors on where I could get it. Went to the market they pointed me to. Haggled with a sweet chubby little Chinese girl and walked back to the hotel with my prized possession.

This mortar and pestle was made with stone from Kanchanaburi close to where the River Kwai (from the movie) is. I got it back to India after paying for excess baggage. Is the pride of the kitchen and I use it very frequently for making things as diverse as Thai curry pastes to fresh Italian basil pesto mixes

One ingredient that frightens you the most? Why?

Vegetables! My sense of confidence just deserts me when I am at Lallu’s, the local vegetable shop, and I often have to ask them to identify things for me

No red blooded Bengali man really digs vegetables so it is always a bit of a challenge for me to find out more about vegetables and play with them. In fact I have recently started a vegetarian recipe section on the blog.

My wife, a Parsi, is even worse than me when it comes to vegetables

10 must haves in your fridge

1. Good cheese 2. Asian sauces – soy, fish, chilli, sriracha 3. Cold cuts 4. Fresh water fish 5. Milk 6. Desserts (not there as often as I’d like) 7. Juices

Look honestly I can’t think of ten because I live in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra where I get everything at my arm’s reach so I don’t bother to stock up

What would you eat for your last supper?

Bengali food I guess – Rice, rui machher mudo daal (daal with fish head), alu bhaaja – thick potato fries the way my mom makes them, doi posto ilish (Hilsa cooked in curd and poppy seeds), kosha mangsho (slow cooked mutton). Loads of mishti for desserts and a chocolate cake

Which celeb chef would you invite for dinner? Why?

Anthony Bourdain. He has hung up his chef’s gloves and is a writer and TV show host now but he is my biggest inspiration. Would love to just be in the same room as him forget cooking for him.

Hope this doesn’t get me a restraining order

List your 5 favourite posts from your blog. Which one of these you like the most, why?

This is the point in the interview which reminds me of seedy interviews on Doordarshan and film mags of Hollywood playback singers or actor. Of the “yeh sab hi mere bachche hain “types

Well honestly the ones I enjoy the most are around experiences I enjoy the most. Good food of course. Great discoveries. Some fantastic people that I met.

I’ll try to choose 5 which are top of mind:

1. Baara Haandi – Mumbai
2. The phuchkawallahs outside South City Mall, Calcutta
3. The markets of Chiang Mai
4. My first day at Penang and losing my Durian virginity
5. With the Hendricks at Sydney, Sydney fish market

I am going to add a sixth because I just love this guy – Ustad the Jalebi- Wallah

Tell us about some of the people you’ve met while working on your blog

Well to start with I have made some of best friends in recent years through the blog.

I assume you are talking more about folks who are in the ‘business’ in which case you have Vikram Doctor, food writer from Mumbai, Rushina Munshaw Ghildayal , blogger and writer from Mumbai, Xanthe Clay and Maunika Gowardhan who are food journalists, bloggers and chefs from the UK and Anjan Chatterjee of the Speciality Restaurant Group whom I met at a book launch.

Then there are some very kind folks whom I have not ‘met’ but I have interacted with quite a bit  virtually – blogger turned author turned TV personality Simon Majumdar, blogger and journalist Robyn Eckhardt of Eating Asia, Marryam Reshii and blogger  food writer Pamella Timms, both from delhi.

Gosh that’s quite a bit of name dropping.

Other than Bengali Cuisine, what cuisine interests you the most?

Asian or Oriental

1. Recommend 5 food blogs (some Bengali, if possible) to our readers

Well here are 4 Indian Bengali blogs I follow. Ironically none written out of Calcutta

1. Bong Mom’s Cook Book
2. Kichhu Khon
3. Preeoccupies
4. Cook like a Bong (no really!)

Which leaves number 5 and that  goes to Eating Asia. This is actually my favourite blog. Has everything I like – travel, food, the Orient, great pictures, the personal touch, going beyond the usual…

 And finally, 5 fav festive dishes

Ei re, am not a very ‘festive’ person nowadays. Mutton pulao daal of Parsi weddings, Luchi chholar daal of Bengali weddings, sorpatel from Goan and East Indian Christmas celebrations, biryani from my Muslim neighbours post Bakhri Eid, birthday cakes?… can’t think of any other.Possibly because I don’t really look for special occasions when I eat.

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Bengalis are renowned for their sweets. Be it east west north or south – the Bengali sweet has its own niche. Not much sweet, yet not too dull – the sweet has the exact quantity of sweetness as it should be to please anybody, and mind it not just the sweet lovers. It is the birthplace of sandesh. Even though rasogolla or rasgulla was not born here in Bengal, but very few people know that.

From sweets dipped in sugar syrups like the rasogolla, pantua, rajbhog to the dry and fried balushai and from soft and mushy steamed sandesh to the milk soaked rasomalai – Bengali sweet has it all.

There cannot be a meal complete without a piece of sweet at the end. A spoonful of chatni, a papad (poppadam) and a sweet is all you need to make the sweet loving Bengali praise your dinner menu.

While milk and milk products constitute more than ninety percent of the main ingredient in sweets. There are exceptions to this rule too. The patol misti, a one of a kind seasonal sweet is prepared with an outer covering of pointed gourd stuffed with khoya and small bits of sugar cubes (michri/mishri/misri) to give a nutty feel to it.

Ingredients:
8 Pointed gourds
200gms khoya
2 generous tablespoon of michri
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
5-6 green cardamom
Silver foil for garnishing (optional)

Preparation:

• Peel the pointed gourd/ patol with the back of a knife.
• Slit open the patol and take out the seeds from the inside, while doing so try not to puncture the outer coat
• Mix the water and sugar together and start boiling
• Let it boil till the sugar dissolves
• Gently place the pointed gourds inside the boiling syrup and boil till the coats get softened, but not absolutely gooey
• Take out, drain the excess syrup and let the coats get completed cooled
• Mix the khoya with the michri and stuff the coats gently with the khoya mixture
• If using the silver foil, wrap the sweets with the foil
• Keep the sweets on the upper rack of refrigerator till before serving

Hot Tips - While boiling the patol, don’t let it touch the base of the pan for long, it will change color then. Also if the syrup starts becoming too thick and caramelizing then pour in more water to make it thin. A syrup of one thred consistency is the best for boiling the pointed gourds. Thicker than that the sugar wont get inside the gourds.

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Eid is just a few days to go. And to celebrate this day of celebration here we are with some eid special recipes. To start with the celebration. Here’s guest from Sohini Biswas.

Ingredients:

• 10 hard boiled eggs
• Paste of 2 onion
• 2 teaspoon ginger paste
• 2 teaspoon garlic paste
• 3 tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 2 large plum tomatoes, you can use the canned ones too
• 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
• 2-3 tablespoon MDH Meat Masala
• 2 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves
• ½ cup Full fat milk/Cream
• Salt to taste

Preparation: 

• Slice the eggs in thin round slices.
• Heat oil in a wok and add the onion paste to it.
• Fry the onion paste till golden. Add ginger garlic paste and fry well.
• Once the paste is well cooked and changes color then add the tomato ketchup and the plum tomatoes.
• Cook well for 15-20 minutes.
• Add splashes of hot water whenever necessary but do NOT over flood it.
• The main secret it to cook the masala paste. The more gently you cook the better will be the taste.
• Add the cumin powder and meat masala, salt and keep cooking for at least 30 minutes, adding splashes of hot water whenever necessary.
• Add the eggs and mix well.
• Add the milk (or the cream) and mix well and cook on a high flame to reduce the extra liquid.
• Keep stirring otherwise it’ll burn at the bottom.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix.
• Take off heat once all the extra liquid has evaporated.
• Garnish with a few slices of boiled eggs and coriander leaves.
• Serve with Naan or Paratha.

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I truly believe what Sandip exclaims – maache bhaate Bangali (Fish and rice makes a Bengali). The smell of sautéed onions in macher jhol or sound of spluttering kalo jeera – will surely drive any fish lover crazy.

I still miss the sabji diye macher jhol. Even though I prepare it in my Bangalore home with Andhra rohu, there is no match to the fresh catch from the nearby pond in Kolkata. I miss the freshness of the local pond fishes. The fishes are mostly cold stored and comes to the market almost after 7 days after being caught. Any idea where to get fresh catch in Bangalore?

The not-so-fresh fishes do not add any taste to non-spicy curries, the only way of cooking such fishes is to make a curry with onions, garlic and ginger. I figured out, another way – fish fritters. I have fried the macher vada. If you are calorie conscious, you can also bake it after painting each fritter with little oil or fat. You can use this mix also to make patol-er korma or use it as a stuffing for sandwiches and burgers.

Ingredients:

200 gms rohu or any other fresh water fish
1 large potato, boiled and mashed
1 tablespoon rice flour
1 tablespoon semolina
1 medium size onion, chopped
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
A few sprigs of coriander leaves (optional), chopped
3-4 green chilies
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Preparation:

• Boil the fish pieces and carefully take out the bones
• Mix with the mashed potato and all other ingredients except the oil
• Make 1” balls with both your palms
• Press the balls from either side to make a flattened shape of half-inch width
• Heat oil in a frying pan
• As the oil gets piping hot, set the fritters to fry one side at a time
• Turn over as one side becomes almost brown in color
• Take out of flame and drain the excess oil patting with a kitchen towel
• Serve hot with tomato sauce and drinks of your choice

Hot Tips – If you want to make it as a burger filling, then prepare the balls larger in size. For making a fish bhurji, fry the onions first then add all other ingredients.

Monsoon has set sail in almost all parts of India, and hilsa, the monsoon queen has arrived in truck loads in the fish markets. But, this fish doesn’t come cheap, a kilogram ranges from 300 INR to 800 INR in India and almost 3-6$ for a pound in US. In spite of that hilsa makes it to the lunch plate in Bengali home.

While eating hilsa during monsoon is almost like a ritual among Bengali, another fish has its stand all through the year. Ask any Biologist, he’ll say its not a fish but a mere insect belonging to the same class as cockroaches and milipedes.  Oops, did you ever thing about that while having prawns/shrimps. I hope not.

Chingri maach (prawn fish) is one of the most loved “fishes” among all fish eaters. Fried or curried shrimps and prawns has its own place among the fish lovers. Whether, you put it in a gourd curry or steamed with mustard paste, shrimps/prawns are just unique to taste. And, when talking about chingri, how can we forget the irresistible authentic Bengali recipe – the chingrir malaikari.

Debjani Chaudhuri, our todays guest has sent a rather different recipe for preparing prawns. The tangy and tasty preparation has loads of mustard paste and raw mangoes to get that familiar yet so different taste of the prawns. Try Debjani’s achari murgh.

Ingredients:

• 250 gms Prawns (washed and deveined).
• 1 ½ tablespoon of yellow and black mustard seeds
• 1 raw mango
• 4-5 Green chilies
• 3 tablespoon mustard oil
• ½ teaspoon chili powder (optional)
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• A pinch sugar

Preparation:

• Grind the mustard seeds with 1-2 green chilies, coconut (if adding), and a pinch of salt and little water. Keep aside.
• Smear the prawns with little salt and turmeric and keep covered.
• Heat the oil and add 1-2 green chilies, when splutter, add the prawns.
• Sauté on low for a couple of minutes or till the prawns turn a little coral in color.
• Add the raw mango and a pinch of salt.
• Keep mixing with a very light hand till the raw smell of the mangoes is gone.
• Add the mustard paste and turmeric.
• Give it a good mix and cook on low heat, till it coats the prawns.
• Add 1 cup water.
• Mix, add sugar and salt and if required chili powder.
• Cover and let it simmer on low till all the water evaporates and the gravy coats the prawns.
• Turn off the gas and pour in a serving bowl before it become too thick.
• Treat your taste buds with hot and tangy Chingri Aam Kashundi.

Hot Tips – I personally like to keep the head for more flavors. One can omit according to wish. On un-availability of mustard paste, you can add kashundi. Add 3tsp of kashundi. I have cut it into small cubes, you can use it grated. You can add 3 tablespoon of grated coconut to balance the pungency of mustard n tart of green mango.

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Have you ever had that feeling of having something right that very moment? At times I get these freaky cravings of having something sweet.

It was almost midnight when I had one such seizure a couple of day’s back, this time it was for something chocolate. Here in Bangalore stepping out of the house to search for some open shop/ restaurant after 11.30pm is like searching for the blue moon. But, I had to have something with chocolate. There were no chocolate bars at home, so I took upon the task to prepare some chocolate brownies. After an entire day of work, it’s really a little tiresome to bake chocolate brownies, but nevertheless I tried to bake the easiest chocolate brownie that comes to mind.

30mins of working in the kitchen and I had a batch of a dozen chocolate brownie ready. I had tried preparing chocolate cakes in microwave previously, but they didn’t come out so spongy. This time, I didn’t take the chance and baked it in the oven.

I was a bit anxious as the brownies were eggless, but I using two bananas really helped. The inside was soft and layered, and yes of course my little brownie cupcakes really quenched my thirst of chocolate that night.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour/ maida
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ cup drinking chocolate
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 small bananas
• 400ml milk
• 100gms unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• A handful of walnuts/ pecans

Preparation:

• In a bowl mix the dry ingredients together the dry ingredients and keep aside
• In another bigger size bowl mash the bananas finely, pour in half the milk, and butter; whisk till it froths
• Gradually add the dry ingredients to the milk and fold in. Pour in more milk as and when required
• The batter should be little thick, but not very dry. Add the walnuts/ pecan to the batter
• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Pour the batter in equal proportions to the cupcake tray
• Bake for about 10mins, or till a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Let it cool for a couple of minutes before you gorge on those

Hot Tips – I used cupcake tray to bake the brownies, if you wish you can pour the patter in a baking tray and cut according to your wish once it’s done.

The chocolate brownies tasted best next day, when I had it with some ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

These sinful choco brownies goes to “Only Baked” event by Harini and also to Kid’s Delight – Mini Bites hosted by Champa.

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