The Bong Connection

Of the several reminders of Calcutta left with this generation8217;s Kolkata, is a delightful bunch of contraries...

Winter and traditional Bengali delicacies can well take the steam off the chill in the air

Of the several reminders of Calcutta left with this generation8217;s Kolkata, is a delightful bunch of contraries. The ghoti and the bangal, who come out of their perfectly suave urbane closets on a night over daab chingri, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, the bylanes of the North and the freshness of the South. And if you are not the sort for such intricacies, contraries in Kolkata sure come in the form of Ilish Machher Paturi and Chingri Maccher Malaikari. While it8217;s difficult to say which has an edge over the other, Bengali food and its glory is mostly monopolized by things non-vegetarian8212;Rui Machher Kalia, Kakrar Jhol, Mourola Machher Jhal, Kochi Pathar Jhol and the likes. However, at a city restaurant which announced its revamped winter menu, the meats were given quite a run for their glory by the simple nalen gur. Be it the nalen gurer rosogolla or the gurer payesh, Bengali desserts in winter takes the steam out of the whole fish-meat hegemony in Bengali cuisine.

Tero Parban, a Bengali specialty restaurant on Purna Das Road in south Kolkata, has organised the Seet Parbon, a festival that celebrates the winter delicacies in Bengal. 8220;We have tried to rustle up all the old school Bengali delicacies, especially sweets and desserts. These are things that you can8217;t always make at home because you don8217;t get that kind of time,8221; says Subrata Ghose Chaudhuri, director, Tero Parban.

But then, can fish and prawns be far behind in a Bengali food festival? So, you have a interesting variety in prawn and crab. Take for example the Mohun Bagan Chingri. 8220;It8217;s a lobster cooked in two different gravies. One is a green gravy with spinach and pudina, the other8217;s a red one,8221; says Ghose Chaudhuri. The nomenclature of the dishes is probably done as meticulously as the food itself. Sample this: Lajjabati Chingri, which has prawn cooked with gourd leaves or Jugalbandi, which is a concoction of crab meat and prawns.

8220;Most of these dishes are ones that are part of the culinary traditions of East Bengal now Bangladesh and our state for a long time now but we don8217;t quite know about them. We toured across Bangladesh and Bengal before coming up with the menu,8221; says Ghose Chaudhuri.