Bengal or, as she is lovingly referred to, "Sonar Bangla" (Golden Bengal), is made up of the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh (formerly East Bengal). The people of Bengal farm the fertile Ganges Delta for rice and vegetables and fish the regions myriad rivers. If you haven't yet visited this uniquely beautiful land, here is a glimse of it below. These pictures are of Ashuria, a small village in Birbhum district of West Bengal, India.
`` The skies are pure blue brushed by wisps of white clouds. A land of green and gold rolls out to the horizon. Yellow mustard flowers and purple brinjal punctuate the green of the paddy fields. Now and again a huddle of huts crowd around a duck pond, fringed with stately palms, lanky papaya trees and untidy clumps of banana. This is Sonar Bangla. '' | ||
If you would like to learn more about Bengal and her people you should definitely visit the the following websites:
- The West Bengal Home Page (by Arghya Chatterjee)
- Virtual Bangladesh (by Zunaid Kazi)
A Bengali Bazzar
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Inside the Bengali Kitchen
With the shopping done, the scene shifts to the ranna bari (cookhouse). The storage, cooking and eating areas in a Bengali home were a separate unit and the domain of the womenfolk. This barrack-like cookhouse was a row of rooms running parallel to a wide airy veranda often used as the dining space. In an orthodox Bengali home, fish and vegetables were cooked over separate fires, rice over another and meat, if cooked at all was done in a portable bucket fire outside the kitchen. However, recipes that were once cooked on these cowpat, wood or charcoal fires have now been adapted to emerge almost perfect from the gas, electric and microwave ovens that are in use today. Here are some essential items you are sure to spot if you ever take a peek into a Bengali kitchen (even today!). The staple food, rice, is bought by the sack and stored in huge containers. Pure golden mustard oil, that pungent Bengali cooking medium is usually stored in zinc lined tins. Large square tins are usually used to store the favorite Bengali snack food - muri (puffed rice). Achaars (pickles), spices, dals and ghee are kept in various sized bottles and jars on a shelf. And you will find many baskets, large and small, lidded and unlidded strewn all over the floor to store vegetables that just arrived from the market. Among the cooking vessels, the karais (woks) where most of the cooking and frying is done, the tawa (griddle) on which rotis and parotas are made, the handi - a special large pot for cooking rice and the handleless modification of the sauce pan - the rimmed, deep, flat-bottomed dekchi are all hallmarks of the Bengali kitchen. And of course you will also find the pressure cooker which is indispensable to any Indian kitchen. As for the other utensils you absolutely can't do without the hatha (ladle), the khunti (metal spatula), the jhanjri (perforated spoon), the sharashi (pincers to remove vessels from the fire), the ghuntni (wooden hand blender) for puréeing dal and the old wooden chaki belon (round pastry board and rolling pin). The action in the kitchen begins with the cutting of fish and vegetables and the grinding of spices. And this is when the two star attractions of the Bengali kitchen - the sil nora (grinding stone) and the boti (a cutting tool) appear. The items to be ground are put on the heavy sil, a pentagonal slab of stone and are crushed over and over by its moving partner the nora, a smooth black stone you hold with your hands. This inseperable pair lasts longer than a lifetime and is usually handed down from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. Although knives and peelers have made their debut into the modern Bengali kitchen, the boti, that unique cutting tool, has not yet been ousted. Boti, the Bengali woman's pride and joy and her proverbial weapon, is fitted on a wooden stand and held in place by the feet on the floor so that both hands are free. The blade of the versatile boti varies and is sharp enough to cut off the head of the toughest carp and yet safe enough to peel vegetables (with some skill that is!). |
Common Bengali Cooking Styles
AMBAL : A sour dish made either with several vegetables or with fish, the sourness being produced by the addition of tamarind pulp.BHAJA : Anything fried, either by itself or in batter.
BHAPA : Fish or vegetables steamed with oil and spices. A classic steaming technique is to wrap the fish in banana leaf to give it a faint musky, smoky scent.
BHATE : Any vegetable, such as potatoes, beans, pumpkins or even dal, first boiled whole and then mashed and seasoned with mustard oil or ghee and spices.
BHUNA : A term of Urdu origin, meaning fried for a long time with ground and whole spices over high heat. Usually applied to meat.
CHACHCHARI : 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 phoron. The skin and bone of large fish like bhetki or chitol can be made into a chachchari called kanta-chachchari, kanta, meaning fish-bone.
CHHANCHRA : A combination dish made with different vegetables, portions of fish head and fish oil (entrails).
CHHENCHKI : Tiny pieces of one or more vegetable - or, sometimes even the peels (of potatoes, lau, pumpkin or patol for example) - usually flavored with panch-phoron or whole mustard seeds or kala jeera. Chopped onion and garlic can also be used, but hardly any ground spices.
DALNA : Mixed vegetables or eggs, cooked in a medium thick gravy seasoned with groung spices, especially garom mashla and a touch of ghee.
DAM : Vegetables, especially potatoes, or meat, cooked over a covered pot slowly over a low heat.
GHANTO : Different complementary vegtables (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 (boris) are often added to the ghanto. Ghee is commonly added at the end. Non-vegitarian ghantos are also made, with fish or fish heads added to vegetables. The famous murighanto is made with fish heads cooked in a fine variety of rice. Some ghantos are very dry while others a thick and juicy.
JHAL : Literally, hot. A great favorite in West 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 flavoring of panch-phoron or kala jeera. Being dryish it is often eaten with a little bit of dal pored over the rice.
JHOL : A light fish or vegetable stew seasoned with ground spices like ginger, cumin, corriander, chilli and turmeric with pieces of fish and longitudinal slices of vegetables floating in it. The gravy is thin yet extreamely flavorful. Whole green chillies are usually added at the end and green corriander leaves are used to season for extra taste.
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 onion paste and garom mashla.
KOFTAS (or Boras) : Ground meat or vegetable croquettes bound together by spices and/or eggs served alone or in savory gravy.
KORMA : Another term of Urdu origin, meaning meat or chicken cooked in a mild yoghurt based sauce with ghee instead of oil.
PORA : Literally, burnt. Vegetables are wrapped in leaves and roasted over a wood or charcoal fire. Some, like eggplants (brinjals/aubergines), are put directly over the flames. Before eating the roasted vegetable is mixed with oil and spices.
TARKARI : A general term often used in Bengal the way `curry' is used in English. Originally from Persian, 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.
Eating and Serving Bengali Food
The Bengali people are perhaps the greatest food lovers in the Indian subcontinent. A leisurely meal of many items which requires long hours of labour and ingenuity in the kitchen has long been a major part of Bengali culture. The traditional way of serving food is on the floor, where individual pieces of carpet, called asans, are spread for each person to sit on. In front of this seat is placed a large platter made of bell metal/steel or on a large piece of fresh cut banana leaf. Around this platter a number of small metal or earthen bowls are arrayed in which portions of dal, vegetables, fish, meat chutney and dessert are served. In the center of the platter sits a small mound of piping hot rice flanked by vegetable fritters, wedges of lime, whole green chillies and perhaps a bit of pickle. Finally in the center of the mound a liitle hole is made to pour in a spoonful of ghee to flavour the initial mouthfuls of rice. The approach to food is essentially tactile. As in all of India, Bengalis eat everything with their fingers. What, after all, could be better to pick out treacherous bones of fish like hilsa and koi? Apart from this functional aspect, the fingers also provide an awareness of texture which becomes as important as that felt by the tongue. The various mashed vegetables or different rice or varieties of fish we eat are all appreciated by the fingers before they enter the mouth. Whether you have five dishes or sixty, the most important part of eating in Bengal is eating each dish seperately with a little bit of rice in order to savour its individual bouquet. The more delicate tastes always come first and it is only by graduating from these to stronger ones that you can accommodate the whole range of taste. Vegetables, especially the bitter ones, are the first item followed by dal, perhaps accompanied by fries or fritters of fish and vegetables. After this comes any of the complex vegetable dishes like ghanto or chachchari, followed by the important fish jhol as well as other fish preparations. Meat will always follow fish, and chutneys and ambals will provide the refeshing touch of tartness to make the tongue anticipate the sweet dishes. |
A History of Bengali Cuisine and Cookery
A distinct culinary tradition emerged in Bengal based on the availability of local ingredients. The great river systems, heat and humidity combine with the fertile soil to allow rice and an abundance of vegetables to thrive; these became the corner stones of the diet. Mangoes, bananas, coconuts, and cane sugar grew in abundance; fish, milk, and meat were plentiful; yogurt and spices such as ginger and black mustard would season the dishes. Even though fish and meat were generally popular, there was a predisposition to vegitarianism, based on religious principles, that has continued to the present. Strict vegetarians also omit onion and garlic from their diet, foods that "heat rather than cool", preferring to substitute a garlicky-flavored spice called asafoetida. The taboo against the consumption of fish and meat became even stronger with the flowering of religions such as Jainism and Buddhism. But with the decline of Buddhism in the ensuing centuries, fish and meat returned to the menu. Rice, the staple of Bengalis since ancient times, has remained untouched by the currents of religious change and its preparation has held to a continuing high standard. One crop a year was sufficient to sustain the people, providing ample leisure time for the Bengalis to pursue cultural ideals: folklore, music, and the culinary arts. The 16th-century Mongol kings left their mark on the cooking of Northern India, which to this day is known as moghlai cooking. With the introduction of Islam, Bengali Moslems adopted dishes such as kababs, koftas and biriyani from their Moghul conquerors. But the major portion of Bengali Hindu cuisine retained its original characteristics except that the use of onion and garlic became more popular. The European traders introduced food from the New World - potatoes, chillies, and tomatoes. Bengalis incorporated them into their diet, combining them with a variety of native ingredients creating new dishes. Then as now, Bengali cooking is mostly confined to the home. Dishes are carefully prepared according to recipes handed down through generations. Modern Bengalis have become culinary innovators. They search for, and experiment with, foreign culinary ideas, incorporating such new food items as noodles, soy bean and custard into an increasingly cosmopolitan bill of fare. But in their hearts, they still delight in such traditional dishes as maacher chochori and rosogolla.
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How Bengali Cuisine Differs from other Indian Cuisines
Translation Table for Ingredients
BENGALI | HINDI | ENGLISH | |
MILK PRODUCTS | chhana | paneer | cottage cheese |
doi | dahi | yogurt | |
ghee | ghee | clarified butter | |
ghole | lassi | yogurt drink | |
khoa/kheer | khoya | thickened milk | |
payesh | kheer | rice pudding | |
CEREALS | atta | atta | whole wheat flour |
bhaat | chawal | cooked rice | |
chaler guro | chawal atta | rice flour | |
chirey | chura, poha | flattened or beaten rice | |
moida | maida | wheat flour | |
moori | moori | puffed rice | |
sewai | sewai | vermicelli | |
siddha chaal | ushna chawal | parboiled rice | |
sooji | sooji | semolina | |
LENTILS | arhar dal | toor/toovar dal | split pigeon peas |
besan | besan | chickpea flour | |
bori | bori | small sundried cones of lentil paste | |
kabuli chhola | kabuli chana | chick peas | |
chholar dal | chana dal | bengal gram | |
kalai/biuli dal | urad dal | black gram | |
matar dal | matar dal | dried peas | |
munger dal | moong dal | moong beans or green gram | |
musurir dal | masoor dal | red lentil | |
papar | papad | poppadum | |
V E G E T A B L E S | alu | alu | potato |
bandha kopi | bund gobi | cabbage | |
begoon | baigan | brinjal/aubergine/eggplant | |
enchor | kancha kanthal | green jackfruit | |
gajar | gajar | carrot | |
jhingey | torai | ridged gourd | |
kanch kala | kacha kela | green banana/plantain | |
khosha | chhilke | peels, scrapings | |
kochu | ghuiyan | taro/arum root | |
korola, ucchey | karela | bitter gourd/melon | |
kumro | kaddu | red pumpkin | |
lau | lauki | white/bottle gourd | |
matarshuti | hara matar | green peas | |
mocha | kele-ka-phool | banana blossom/spadex | |
moolo | mooli | daikon/horse radish | |
neem pata | neem patti | margosa leaves | |
ole | ole | elephant yam | |
paan | paan | betle leaf | |
palang saag | palak | spinach | |
phulkopi | gobi | cauliflower | |
piaj | piaz | onion | |
piaj koli | piaz patti | spring onion shoots | |
potol | parval/palwal | pointed gourd | |
ranga alu | shakarkhand | sweet potato | |
saag | saag | leafy vegetables | |
salgam | salgam | turnip | |
shosha | kheera | cucumber | |
sheem | seem | broad bean | |
sorshey saag | sarso-ki-saag | mustard greens | |
thor | kele-ki-tana | white pith of banana plant stem | |
FRUIT and NUTS | aam | aam | mango |
anaras | ananas | pineapple | |
caju | caju | cashew | |
chine badam | mung phali | peanut | |
kala | kela | banana | |
kamala lebu | santra | orange | |
kancha aam | keri/kacha aam | unripe/green mango | |
kanthal | kathal | jackfruit | |
kishmish | kismis | raisin | |
kool | ber | Indian plum | |
lebu | nimbu | lemon | |
narkel | nariyal | coconut | |
pepey | papita | papaya [ripe=fruit, unripe=veg] | |
pesta | pista | pistachio | |
peyara | amrood | guava | |
tentul | imli | tamarind | |
FISH | bhetki | bhetki machchi | beckti |
chingri | jhinga | prawns/shrimp | |
gurjali | ravas | Indian salmon | |
ilish | hilsa machchi | hilsa | |
kankra | kakkra | crab | |
koi | - | climbing perch | |
maachh | machchi | fish | |
maachher dim | machchi-ka-anda | roe | |
magur, shinghi, tangra | magur, singhi, tangra | cat fish | |
pabda | pupta | Indian butter fish | |
parshey | boi | mullet | |
rui, mrigel, katla | rohu, mirgel, katla | carp, buffalo fish | |
shole | shole | murrel | |
topshey | topsi | mango fish | |
MEAT and POULTRY | bherar mangsho | bheri | mutton |
chaap | chaap | rib chop | |
dim | anda | egg | |
gorur mangsho | gai-ka-gosht | beef | |
hansh | batak | duck | |
keema | keema | mince/ground meat | |
khashi | khashi | fattened castrated goat | |
mangsho | gosht | meat | |
murgi | murgh | chicken | |
pantha | bakri | goat | |
suwarer mangsho | suwar-ka-gosht | pork | |
BREADS | kochuri | kachori | fried wheat pastry with seasoned filling |
luchi | luchi | puffed fried fllour bread | |
porota | paratha | thick crispy bread grilled in ghee | |
pau ruti | pau roti | loaf bread | |
ruti | chapati | unleavened whole wheat flour bread | |
S P I C E S and S | ada | adrak | ginger |
boro elach | bara elaichi | black cardamon | |
daruchini | dalchini | cinamon | |
dhoney | dhania | coriander seeds | |
dhoney patta | dhania patta | cilantro/coriander leaves | |
(choto) elach | elaichi | green cardamon | |
garam mashla | garam masala | cloves, cinamon, cardamons (and black pepper for the rest of India but not Bengal) | |
gol morich | kala mirch | black pepper | |
halud | haldi | turmeric | |
hing | hing | asafoetida | |
jaffran | zaffran | saffron | |
jaiphal | jaiphal | nutmeg | |
jaitri | javitri | mace | |
(sada) jeera | jeera | cumin | |
jowan, randhuni | jwain | carom seeds | |
kala jeera | kalonji | nigella | |
kancha lanka | hara mirich | green chilli | |
kari pata | kari patta | curry leaves | |
labongo | lavang | cloves | |
mashla | masale | spices | |
mauri | saunf | aniseed/fennel | |
methi | methi dana | fenugreek seeds | |
noon, laban | namak | salt | |
panch phoron | panch phoran | five spice: aniseed, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and nigella | |
postho | khus khus | poppy seeds | |
pudina pata | pudina patti | mint leaves | |
rasoon | lasoon | garlic | |
rai sorsey | rai sarson | mustard seeds | |
shukno lanka | sukha lal mirich | red dried chilli | |
tej pata | tej patta | bay leaf | |
til | til | sesame seed |
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