Thursday, April 17, 2008

Traditional Bengali Curries


Click the image on the left to view the cookbook.
Like many coastal cuisines, fish and coconuts are extensively used in Bengali cuisine. Fish is so much a part of the daily diet that it even forms a part of the traditionally vegetarian Brahmin diet. Unlike North Indian cuisine, parboiled rice is a staple. The flood prone land does not support a large dairy industry and so dairy products like ghee, milk or yogurt are not extensively used in daily cooking. A typical Bengali meal consists of Rice, Dal, Vegetables and Fish. This apparent simplicity hides the fact that over 18 different types of cooking techniques are called upon to produce an array of delicious curries.
The curry base : See Column 1
Mustard paste, khus khus paste, pulses, vegetables, yogurt, onion- tomato are all used as curry bases across the state. A selection of popular curries is listed below:

The Bengali Raita is very similar to a regular North Indian raita, and uses most salad vegetables. As mentioned above, yogurt is still not a part of the daily diet in Bengali homes. But raita is gaining popularity and will very likely be regarded as a Traditional Bengali curry a few decades down the line.
The Posto is a unique Bengali curry built on khus khus paste.
Shorse Jhol is another unique curry made from a paste of mustard seeds.
Shukto is a combination of the Posto and Shorse Jhol as it is made from mustard seeds and khus khus, both blended together. It usually has a mix of vegetables, with atleast one bitter vegetable.
Rezala is Mogul curry made by simmering a wide variety of goodies in flavoured yogurt. It has to be cooked on low heat with constant stirring to prevent the yogurt from splitting.
Dalna can be dry or have a stew like consistency and is made from onions, tomato and coconuts. Dhokkar ( refried chana dal patties) is commonly used in a Dalna.
Shak is a dry spinach curry. It can be made from any leafy vegetable.
A variety of dals like Masoor dal, Mung dal and Chana dal are cooked across the state.
Ambal is one of the very few Bengali dishes which use tamarind.

Flavouring : See column 2
The usual North Indian flaourings of cumin, garam masala, turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, ginger, chili, kalonji, are all used in Bengali cuisine. Cinnamon , cloves, cardamom are occasionally used. A mixture of five spices, the Panch Phoran is widely used. Unlike North Indian curries, mustard oil is extensively used. Coconut oil / sesame oil / Asafetida / curry leaves are almost never used. Traditionally, a curry base is often paired with a particular flavouring. For example, a Rezala (Column 1 , row 4) is usually flavoured by bay leaves, cardamom and cloves ( Column 2, row 3). This is because a Rezala is a Mogul curry and so uses typical Mogul flavourings. However, it is not a crime to flavor a Rezala with Panch Phoran. Similarly feel free to experiment with various flavouring options listed in column 2.

Goodies : See Column 3
Traditional curries use select pairings of a curry base and goodies. For example, dals are usually paired with Dhokkar. Similarly, a shukto always has bittergourd, eggplant and plantain. But feel free to use your favourite goodies in the curries above. They might not be traditional, but they’ll very likely be delicious. Though listed here, mushroom and paneer are not frequently used in Bengali curries. However, a wide variety of veggies and leafy greens are used. Dhokkar is commonly used as a vegetable substitute. (Dhokkar : Boil Chana dal. Mash and pat into a sheet. Cut into diamond shapes. Shallow fry in oil. Add to simmering curry).

What makes a curry a Bengali Curry ?
1. Use of mustard oil
2. Use of mustard paste & khus khus paste as curry bases.
3. Use of panch phoran for flavouring
4. The use of fried chana dal patties (Dhokkar) as a vegetable substitute.
5. Use of sugar in curries and
6. The huge array of cooking techniques.

And that's my entry for Sandeepa's Regional Cuisines of India, reposted for Lakshmi's SWC - West Bengal.

Food Consultancy / Licensing / Crash Courses

Contact siramki@gmail.com for complete Food consultancy from concept to completion.

Customised one page cookbooks now available for pressure cooker / microwave / mixie / masala & other cooking product manufacturers. Replace bulky recipe books with easy to refer One page cookbooks and watch your sales soar !

Twecipies

Cooking is fun - Duplication is a pain !

"It is extraordinary to me that the idea of creating thousands of recipes by mixing building blocks takes immediately to people or it doesn’t take at all. .... If it doesn’t grab a person right away, ... you can talk to him for years and show him demos, and it doesn’t make any difference. They just don’t seem able to grasp the concept, simple as it is". ( Thanks Warren Buffett !)

"What's angering about instructions in many cookbooks is that they imply there's only one way to cook a dish - their way. And that presumption wipes out all the creativity." Cook dishes your way - Download  1001 South Indian curries now and learn to cook, not to duplicate ! ( Thanks Robert Pirsig !)

"Recipe purity is no different from racial purity or linguistic purity. It just does not exist. Cuisines are alive and change all the time. What is traditional today was esoteric just a few decades back. So being a 'foodist' is as bad as being a racist !

About Me

My photo
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Okay, let me start from the very beginning. 1500 crore years ago, with a Big Bang, the Universe is born. It expands dramatically. Hydrogen forms, contracts under gravity and lights up, forming stars. Some stars explode, dusting space with the building blocks of life. These condense into planets, one of which is Earth. Over time, self replicating molecules appear, multiply and become more complex. They create elaborate survival machines (cells, plants, animals). A variety of lifeforms evolve. Soon, humans arise, discover fire, invent language, agriculture and religion. Civilisations rise and fall. Alexander marches into India. Moguls establish an empire. Britain follows. Independence. Partition. Bloodshed. The license raj is in full sway. I'm born. India struggles to find its place. Liberalisation. The Internet arrives! I move from Tirupur to Chennai. Start a company. Expand into Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East. Poof! Dot com bust. Funding dries up. Struggle. Retire. Discover the joy of cooking, giving, friendships and the pleasures of a simple life. Life seems less complicated. Pizza Republic, Pita Bite and Bhojan Express bloom !

Looking for Treatment?