Eat,Pray,Love

The Maach and the Bhaat

Radhika,a Bengali restaurant at University Circle,will lay out an elaborate fish platter in this festive period. “We will serve rohu kalia,mutton and chicken kosha and hilsa jhaal (cooked in white mustard),accompanied with begun bhaja (brinjal fry),chholar daal (chana daal),chaatni (Bong style chutney) and sweetened yellow pulao,” says Aditi Dey,owner.

The restaurant will have an outlet at the Bangiya Sanskriti Sansad,Congress Bhavan. Calcutta Plus,Shivarkar Chowk,is ready with their ‘Pujo Special Maccher Menu’ too at the Khadki Kalibari puja. “We bring in the blend of East and West Bengal,with hilsa sorshe (fish cooked in white mustard),the sweetened prawn malaikari with coconut milk,bhetki maachher paturi (spiced and roasted bhetki in banana leaves),shukto and rui kalia,” says Asit Kumar Das,owner.

Rosogolla in the land of puran poli!

Apart from the rosogolla,malai chomchom,there will be pantua,which is a concoction of gulab jamun,kheer kadam,shaped like a kadam flower and generously coated with mawa shavings. “The giant-sized rajbhog will be worth a bite,” says Pradeep Bhattacharya,owner of Deep at University Circle,who has his stall at Khadki Kalibari stocked up with dollops of ‘sin’.

The Mahishashuramardinis

The Bengali women are also ready to compete with their stall counterparts at the Bengalee Association,Siddhi Gardens,Anandam Association,Wanowrie and Poshchim Pune Bangiya Parishad,Aundh. “We manage the food section ourselves. This retains the essence of our land,” says Aparajita Mukherjee,the entertaiment coordinator at Wanowrie.

Ready to be served will be home-made patishaptas ,malpoas ,rosogollar payesh ,narkeler takti ,chandrapuli and the lobongo lotika. “There will also be arrangements of bhog from Saptami till Nabami. It will comprise of Bengali khichudi,authentic beguni,alur dum,labda,chatni and payesh,” says Debarati Basu,cultural secretary,Siddhi Gardens. And the ladies of these associations have kept their recipes secret! “Eat it,enjoy it,and wait for another year to gorge on it,” grins Sutapa Ghosh,who is preparing lobongo lotika for Poshchim Pune,Aundh.

The Puja snack

If you would not like to indulge in the full course maach mangsho,try munching on the vegetable chops,bhetki machher fish cutlet,dim devils,mangsher ghugni,the Mughlai parathas and the rolls. All the Puja snacks will be available at all the puja pandals.

To give Pune a taste of Poshchim Bongo,Food Court,Baner,is flying Shish Mohammed to Khadki. He is the brains and hands behind Kolkata’s most famous dum biryani restaurant,Shiraz. “I am bringing rose water,keura water,poppy seeds,white mustards from Kolkata,” says Shish. Radhika has already stocked up 50 kilos of khejur gur (date jaggery) to meet the gurer sondesh cravings of Puneiites. Calcutta Plus has hired Bishwanath Chakroborty and Anondo Shakra for the Bengali chomchoms and pantuas.