Bengal is the place for some of the most mouth watering dishes available on the east of India. From popping aloo posto to luchi cholar dal, from a typical sunday menu of macher jhol to khosha pathar mangsho. Desserts such as payesh and rossogolla which will make you tongue swoon with flavours.

But has Bengal always been like this? No, we definitely know very much less about Bengal than we actually claim. The cuisine of its eastern sister is very less known, yes Bangladesh or in the past called East Bengal. An integral part of Bengal’s food history got lost just because of a number of factors which couldn’t have been controlled. One of the most important reasons were the Influence of the British and The Partition of Bengal in 1905.

Along with the rapid development and expansion of cities, the countryside got swallowed up, the migration and the new movements for freedom ;Everything contributed to the region’s culture and cuisine change.

Before chilis, tomatoes or any other vegetable or fruit, conquered Bengal. This region had much more different ways of making dishes. The influence of British to replace several crops and greens with cotton, indigo etc led to the activity of filling up fields and ponds resulting a permanent damage to recipes which could be dated back till the times of the Vedas.

Today, I will be telling you about 3 Lip Smacking Lost recipes of Bengal which will make you go back in time .

1. Chingrimacher Chine Kebab

The Ghosh family’s traditional celebration of Durga Puja at Pathuriaghata has been over 160 years old and is one of oldest amongst the aristocratic families prevalent in Calcutta during that time. Apart from the usual bhog, traditional homemade delicacies were offered to the Devi. Sweets such as chandrapuli, kheerer chapa and of course, narkol naru were made by the women of the household.

One of the most famous dishes of that time included Chingrimacher Chine Kebab.

Ingredients:

• 2 big lobsters
• 2 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
• 4 tbsp of onion paste
• 3 tbsp of ghee
• 1 tbsp of garam masala
• Salt and Sugar to taste

Method:

• Boil the lobsters and remove them from the shell. Keep the shell aside.
• Grind the flesh into a smooth paste and saute for 5 mins.  Add onion paste and ginger garlic paste respectively and cook for a while. Season it with salt, a pinch of sugar and garam masala.
• Place the filling on the shells and stir fry the shells with ghee brushed inside and out. Serve hot.

2. Kacha Aam diye Kosha Mangsho

This might sound a weird combo, eh? But the taste, flavours , aroma everything about it will make you head over heals. The origin of this recipe has remained a secret for generations. Some say this was made for the then Maharaj of Bengal, who was bored of having the same mutton dish. On the contrary, rumors say, some villagekmen started this so that the body remains cool although having a heavy meaty lunch.

But whatever it is , this brought us to a new dish whose succulent flavour makes us drool. Recently, some famous chef in the hotel industry has brought this dish into the world again and is reaching popularity again.

Ingredients:

• 500 gms of mutton shoulder cut
• 1 whole raw green mango grated
• 2-3 pointed gourd (potol) cut and peeled
• 4tbsp Curd
• 1/2 cup onion paste
• 2tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 2tsp red chili powder
• 3 tbsp ghee
• Oil for cooking
• Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

• Marinate the mutton with curd, ginger garlic paste, 1tbsp of ghee and onion paste. Keep it for 4hours atleast or overnight.
• Saute the pointed gourd in a pan till it is light brown, add salt and sprinkle turmeric powder. Saute some bay leaves and red chilli in the remaining ghee in a heavy bottom pan.
• Add the marinated mutton along with the marinade and cook it on a slow flame. Add turmeric and red chili powder and keep cooking till it changes colour. Spray water if it becomes too dry.
• Add 2 cups of water along with the grated mango and pointed gourd and cook in a slow flame for a while till the gravy becomes consistent and the meat is tender. Adjust seasoning.

3. Kheerer Litchu

Another lost recipe, but this time it is a dessert. Note that, the bengali homemakers were extremely talented while cooking and styling their food into marvels. This dish is a type of kheer which is shaped and sized like the fruit litchi, having the same delicious taste and a mesmerizing appeal to the eye. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an image of this outstanding work of art.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of full fat milk
• 1 cup of beetroot juice
• 4 tbsp of sugar
• 1tbsp of poppy seed, cloves

Method:

• Reduce the milk into a thick pliable dough consistency. Add sugar in between to get flavour. This becomes a kind of thick doughy rabri.
• Cool it down and shape it into oval litchi shaped balls. Embed poppy seed on the surface.
• Coat the litchis with beetroot juice and stick a clove on top to look like a perfect litchi. Serve cold or at normal temperature.

What’s on Sayan’s mind?

Bengal always has had a culture much more colourful and sophisticated, besides what we have known from childhood. It had a vast variety of cultivated greens, fish and fruits we have lost due course of time. Flour or dal based coconut sweets, pumpkin or ginger pithas, Choi( a pepper similar to chili), water lilly rafts and much much more.

The refugees, migrants, even the natives and their food faced huge discrimination resulting an extinction to traditional cooking. It’s our minimal duty to keep these dishes alive ; talk and learn from our grandparents about their childhood and their history with food. We never know what we will come up with.

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