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Shish Palonger Ghonto is another winter staple cooked with plenty of different vegetables like pumpkin, eggplant, cauliflower, radish, sweet potato and lentil dumplings. Shish palong means whole big spinach with hard stems only available in winter months in India. This is available in Asian groceries call Taiwanese spinach.
Chingri/Shrimp Malai Curry cooked in mildly spiced coconut based gravy is one of the divine dishes of Bengali cuisine served on special occasions or wedding ceremonies. Malai in Bengali means dairy cream but in this particular dish has no dairy in it. Now the question is if I ever wanted to know how the word “malai” came from, not really. Did my grand mothers and mother's generations know? I am not so sure as we never questioned about it. All I know is how my mother made it so finger licking without using overpowering spices and I make exactly the same way. Malai Curry is very close to our heart.
Once upon a time we ate carbohydrate rich food for breakfast or lunch or dinner almost everyday without thinking twice about calorie. We never knew calorie counting back then. We were very active all the time, went to school by walking, played well in the alley or open space, visited friend’s house by walking and we did so many fun outdoor activities. So whatever we consumed easily got burned out. Life style has changed now. Watching carbohydrate is very important these days for us. I am not saying giving up any of our favorite food but enjoying once in a blue moon. I don’t make just potato curries very often. They are so special that I we can enjoy with roti just for one meal then no carbohydrate for other meals during the day. It balances out pretty good and it satisfies our craving without feeling guilty.
During the rainy season Hilsa is at its finest test and it is made in different varieties from simple thin runny stew type to thick gravy type with minimal spices. This is another variation at my maternal aunt's in-laws house who were from Faridpur in erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh. I heard that other district of Bangladesh also make it similarly. When I tasted for the first time, I liked it so much that has since become a family favorite. Hilsha's alluring flavor is nicely balanced with slight pungent mustard paste and sweet pumpkin. Trust me this thin soupy Hilsha tastes out of this world!
Bengalis are fish lovers and they are not averse to eat most part of fish except for scales and fins. A mixed vegetables and fish head mishmash is a special dish known as ChyaNchra made in almost every Bengali household and Bengali ceremony like weddings or annoprashon(baby's first rice eating ceremony)for lunch. Fish stakes are prepared into a delicious main dish at formal dinner in the actual ceremony and fish heads need to be used up somehow; so this famous dish got created with vegetables, fish heads, oils and gills with some spices. This recipe has been passed down for generations in Bengali households and it tastes insanely delicious! It's a delicacy we grew up with but unfortunately it's not that much appreciated dish among younger generation anymore.
Veggies are my all time favorites. I never get board of eating veggie dishes. Bengali or other Indian regional cuisines make immense variety of seasonal veggie dishes so many different ways with different spices, be it stir-fry with minimal spices, cooked in mildly spiced gravy or dry type. This water spinach curry with mixed vegetables gently spiced with ginger is slightly time consuming but it is worth the effort to have variety of vegetables all together in one dish. It can be served with steamed rice or roti. I learned it from one of my friend's mom who is originally from Dhaka in erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh.
A lightly spiced soupy type Hilsa curry with eggplant, small taro and amaranth stems is nothing but one of the simplest yet tastiest one dish meal with plain simple rice that I learned from one of my maternal cousins whose paternal family belongs to Faridpur district of Bangladesh. It's a popular Hilsha curry in my cousin's household during the rainy season when Hilshas are very abundant. Most Hilsha curries are tempered with nigella seeds, but a tempering of celery seeds in this recipe makes the difference and it turns out so darn delicious.
I love asparagus and shrimp both and this dry type curry is a simple yet flavorful recipe sure to please Bengali's palate. The pungent mustard paste and the grated coconut are a great combination and stands out in the curry. This dish is inspired by Kochur Loti/ taro stolon, abundantly available in West Bengal and Bangladesh but hard to find here in the United States.
This is an exiting yet very forgiving recipe! Bengalis love curries made with freshly ground mustard paste mostly with variety of fish and seafood. Unlike fish and seafood, I never tested Mustard Chicken Curry while growing up; in fact it was not popular back then. When I became a full-fledged home chef after moving to US, I started exploring so many new dishes either I heard from others or saw in the magazine. The first time I thought of trying chicken curry with mustard paste, I knew it would taste great. Indeed it produced a lip smacking pungent, spicy and bit tangy chicken curry that goes well with rice and sometimes I love to pair with Gondhoraj Pulao and Ghee Bhat.
This duck curry was my first try to make it differently with lots of garlic, roasted ground spice mix, ghee, along with onion, ginger, tomato paste and it turned out extraordinarily finger licking dish to serve with fancy Gobindobhog rice.
Gondhoraj Pulao made with the most alluring flavor of Gobindo bhog rice (specially grown in West Bengal) and the distinctively fragrant Thai kaffir lime juice(close cousin of the gondhoraaj lebu), zest and leaves as a side dish that wonderfully pairs with any Bengali veg or non veg main dishes. It is super easy, quick to make and tastes amazingly refreshing! Use lots of kaffir lime leaves until the flavor really comes through.
Mustard fish curry with eggplant is a signature dish in Bengali cuisine. The gravy is so delicious that it tastes great whatever fish you make it with. There are many versions of making mustard fish. This recipe is with Eggplant in mustard paste along with little bit of onion-garlic and tomato turns out super delicious with the pungent flavor of mustard oil.This recipe is very easy to prepare and it is served with plain rice often.
Chicken Kosha is one of the simplest chicken dish with great flavor that requires just a few ingredients you have on hand. This chicken dish is supposed to be on the spicy side but it doesn't have to be awfully spicy. You can adjust spiciness to your liking and still relish the spicy flavors.
Goalondo or Goalundo Ghat on the southern bank of the Padma river was the last railway station during British era (erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh) from Kolkata-Dhaka route established by the Eastern Bengal Railway where travelers would continue their over night journey by steamer service from Goalondo Ghat to reach Narayanganj railway station to catch the train for preferred destination. The boatman of the steamer would cook a simplest chicken curry for the travelers with country chicken and limited ingredients resulting in a wonderfully rustic, gorgeously fiery colored and very unique flavored curry served with plain steamed rice. And that is how famous chicken curry got its name Goalando Chicken Curry or Goalando Steamer Chicken Curry.
Sabur Khichuri is another comforting meal in Bengali households especially during Durga Pooja. People who observe fasting for any Hindu ritual, consume grain free pure vegetarian Satvik food afterwards. Bengali Sabur Khichuri is very different than Sabudana Khichdi from other states of India which is dry type. This one uses roasted mung bean along with veggies like cauliflower, potato, carrot, peas, green beans and peas etc.This no onion and no garlic recipe. The aroma of the roasted mung bean and the sauteed veggies with spices takes me down to memory lane. It tastes divine as is. You can always add fried eggplant, Papad and sweet chutney with it! Try this Sabur Khichuri. This is absolute one dish wonder whether fasting or not.
Macher Charchari is an absolute charred deliciousness to die for and it is made with seasonal vegetables along with generous amount of onion and garlic sometimes. Bengali cuisine has very unique names of cooking methods for vegtarian dish and non-vegetarian dish, such as jhal. jhol, kosha, ghonto, ghyat, bhaja, pora, labra and last but not least chorchori or charchari. Today's post is Charchari and it's a Bengali delicacy with dry type charred mixed vegetables dish or sometimes veggies mixed with small fish and fish head.
