iNetBharat.com » Food and Drink

Restaurants With Traditional Bengali Meal

Architadm — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:39:16 +0000

The cosmopolitan population in Kolkata loves to try out different cuisines with equal fervor. The city has several restaurants that offer a fine dining experience. While most restaurants offer a wide range of cuisines, the traditional Bengali meal and restaurants offering traditional Bengali meal still remains a popular choice especially among the non resident Bengalis. Some of the popular restaurants offering traditional Bengali meals include 6 Ballygunge Place, Aheli, Suruchi and Bhajohari Manna.

The highlight of these restaurants is the menu itself that includes a large variety of traditional Bengali food such as shorshe Ilish, loochi, cholar dal, begoon basunti, bhetki paturi, amer chutney to name a few. The ethnic décor and tableware help to create the perfect ambience

Importance of Fish in Bengali Diet

Architadm — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:10:04 +0000

Bengali cuisine encompasses food from the country of Bangladesh as well as the Indian state, West Bengal. Bengali cuisine is often considered to be synonymous with fish aptly described by the age old adage which states that fish and rice make a Bengali. The status of the guest was directly proportional to the weight of the fish cooked for dinner in Bengal previously.

Whether it is a marriage ceremony or a house warming party, fish dominates the main course of every Bengali meal. Bengalis have experimented with as many as forty varieties of freshwater fishes which includes Rohu, Koi, Tangra, Magur, Katla, Padba, prawn and many more. Hilsa is treated as an icon of Bengali culture. The breed of Hilsa migrating from the Lower Ganges is considered to be the best. Fishes also double up as exquisite gift items in Bengal

Bengali Sweets

iNetBharat — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:29:37 +0000

Remember the patishaptas made by grandma on special occasions? Or the chhanar payesh prepared by mother? Bengali cuisine is incomplete without an elaborate dessert section. Bengali sweets like rosogolla, sandesh, jilipi, chandrapuli, pantua and Mishti doi are an integral part of Bengali culture. How can one forget the taste of jilipis on a fresh morning? Or hot rosogollas after a five course Bengali meal?

The rosogolla is perhaps the most famous among all Bengali sweets. Sandesh comes a close second. Made from chhana, fresh cottage cheese, rosogolla and sandesh are examples of the uniqueness of Bengali sweets. Did you know the person famed for preparing sandesh for the first time was Nakur Moyra? Or that the sweet ladikeni was named after Lady Canning, in whose honor it was first prepared?

The classic examples of sweets from Bengal include those prepared in the household kitchens. The women of the house were expert cooks and were known for different kinds of sweets like patishapta (a roll made from rice flour with a filling of khowa kheer), payesh (kheer with rice), chandra puli (half-moon shaped sweets made from coconut), narkel naru (ladoos made from coconut) and so on.

Mishti doi, or sweetened yogurt, is considered one of the essentials of the dessert sections on auspicious occasions. Special occasions in Bengali households also mean the preparation of an array of special sweets. The most common among them is the malpoa. Made from semolina and flour, malpoas are fried and then dipped in thickened sugar syrup for that particular taste.

And who can forget the taste of pithes prepared by our moms and grandmas on special occasions? The wrapped pithes were usually made from rice flour and the filling inside ranged from sweetened khowa to a thickened coconut filling flavored with jaggery. Pithes were often accompanied by sweetened kheer or light liquid jaggery. The variations also included shapes like stars, crescent, and so on.

Bengali cuisine is known for its wide variety. This same variety is evident in its dessert section as well. Bengali sweets are known for their variety and also for the ways, in which the diverse ingredients were used, be it chhana or coconut.