In Bengal, no festival can go by without some heavy weight cooking and a big silver thali of all your favourites to savour from! And I being a true blue bong, couldn’t really escape this in the festive air. This post is here to chronicle all the mouth-watering home food that I ever made and served in a traditional thali, quite as, many would be enjoying today!
The traditional Bengali thali can be so very tempting! Its
huge, lots of things to start and end with; and every dish is an absolute yum
from start to end. A lot like the picture below.
But finishing a whole thali of thus in one meal, is
definitely a difficult ask. This thali was served to me on my shadh
(Godhbharai- baby shower). It started with something bitter, shukto- a mix
vegetable curry made with all healthy vegetables like bitter gourd, raw banana,
raw papaya, eggplants etc, and delicately flavoured with a special Bengal spice
called randhuni.
Fried veggies and simple dal follows this, after which the
two dishes of fish are eaten. Sweet chutney and a big fare of different kinds
of desserts follow it. As I mentioned, it was a real treat for the whole
family, and after tasting a bit of everything, you are done! To grace an
occasion it was ok, but it definitely was not a simple home fare to be had more
than once in a year!
The next comes a relatively lighter version of the last
thali. The star attractions here were the awesome Dhokar Dalna- steamed lentil
dumplings which are fried and put in a simple curry delicately flavoured with
bay leaves, coriander and cumin paste; and Jhinge Posto- ridge gourd and
potatoes cooked with poppy seeds paste.
My little one had a ball and blast on the day he was fed
rice for the very first time- Annaprashan.
His tiny appetite was first quenched with a big spoon ful of
Payesh (missing from this picture) - a rice pudding made with milk and
delicately flavoured and sweetened with dates syrup (Khejur Gur). It was
mishti-mukhe start for him to enjoy the big journey of being a bong foodie for
all his life!
Now after talking about all of the most elaborate spreads of
last year, lets look at the more humble home-made fare I dished out yesterday
to welcome the big Bong new year- 1421.
It was a simple and easy to put together. The star
attractions were the Kacha Aamer Mosala diye Chutney- raw mango hot and sweet
pickle; and Murighonto- biryani made with Gobindo bhog rice (small grains but
very flavourful) and fish head.
That chronicles a beautiful year filled with lots of great
home-made bong food. It was fun and nostalgic to write it all down in this
lovely post. Hope all of you had fun reading it as much as I did writing it
down. So 1421, bring it on!! Shubho Nabo Barsho!!
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We are always eager to hear your take on food, my way!!!