Spinach is one of those greens that can be cooked quickly and makes an amazing side for rice. The Bengali style spinach stir fry is cooked in minimal spices and the frangrant of the five spice concoction, panch phoron makes this simple recipe amazing. Some people add onions too, but I like to keep it…
Poppy has been used as a remedy of number of ailments for hundreds of years, but during Mughal ages it started to become a recreational drug. During the British era, thousands of paddy fields in Bengal were transformed into poppy fields by the British raj to extract the drug. The dried out pods, which are…
I moved to USA almost 9 years ago. After the initial excitement of trying out new type of food, my Bengali food loving mind started to long for very Bengali recipes that I called mundane when maa used to cook. Getting hold of Malabar spinach to cook chanchhara , or just a nice block of…
Durga puja has already started. As Bengal gets decked up with all the pandals and the puja shopping almost come to an end, I on the other hand, living thousands of miles away is waiting for this weekend to arrive. The Durga puja in the US is held during weekends just for the convenience of the attendees.
Pathar mangsho (goat meat) can easily be classified as a comfort food as well as an exotic Bengali dish. Some would say, why such a rich and spicy food be called comfort food. The answer is in the meal, garam garam bhaat (warm white rice) with pathar mangsho (mutton curry) and a slice of gandoraj lebu – do you want anything else from this world?
Its probably because Bengal being such a fertile land and with loads of rivers the balance between vegetables and fish is always there. Whereas in the Western parts of India though the majority of population is vegetarian they mostly stick to different types of lentils for their daily home made recipes.What is your opinion of this?
Whatever it be, a twelve course Bengali meal or a weekend bbq, jamai shashthi is all about the food you serve to your son-in-law. So, here’s a my contribution to the menu, meatballs. Meatballs are very popular American food, inspired by the American meatballs here’s my Bengali take on meatballs.
Though I almost hate ripe papayas, but I’m in love with the raw green ones. The raw papaya has high amount of the papain enzyme. It is good for the skin as well as the heart. But, its most important benefit is it helps as a digestive enzyme. And, probably because of this the dida (grandmother from mom’s side) also used to put a few slices of papaya when she prepared mutton curry, to tenderize the meat.
Shrimps have their own way of making a boring curry like lau-er tarkari (bottle gourd curry) or kumro boti into something with a wonderful taste and gives a different feel to the texture. And, when it comes to talking about shrimps how can chingrir malaikari (shrimps in sweet coconut gravy) be far behind. This sweet and thick authentic Bengali recipe is a pride of the Bengali kitchen. It cooks almost instantly, but is one of the most coveted recipes.
Payesh is offered as bhog during pujas, and also as a sweet treat for every birthday. Payesh has a special place in the menu to bid farewell to your loved ones. A Bengali occasion without payesh is yet to be heard of.
Do you think you can live on burgers and sandwiches for the rest of your life? The answer is definitely a “no”. The food that with grew eating is what gives comfort to the soul – the comfort food. It might be as dull and non-spicy as the masoor dal and aloo seddho, but it has it own place in the heart and not to mention the stomach.
The very Bengali snack – chirer pulao. Though similar to poha, chirer pulao has a much different texture and taste. Try it and you’ll know.
Fan us on Facebook . You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email Every day when you see the sun setting over the Hudson there seems to be a part of your heart which sails away to those sunsets over Princep Ghat. While still I’m starting to groove to the American way of life, every cell within me drags…
Fan us on Facebook . You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email When it comes to vegetarian recipes, Bengalis have countless options to serve. Even though we are branded as the fish loving and fish eating class, there is not a single household who does not have a purely vegetarian dish to serve for each meal, and dal…
Fan us on Facebook . You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email Lentils are most of the most popular sources of protein for vegetarians or vegans. Though for some weird reason, we Bengalis consider the red chief lentil or masoor dal as non-veg. I have searched, but didn’t get any answer to that. Do you know why? Masoor…