Kolkata is one of those places that are identified more by its taste than by its architecture, location, climate, or people. I mean, mention the name of the city to a non-Calcuttan and they will immediately go “O Kolkata…Rosogolla”, or “O Kolkata…Phuchka”, or “O Kolkata…Macher jhol”. They will hardly ever say “O Kolkata…Howrah Bridge” or…
This chingri maach bata recipe is my mom’s grandma’s, who I have heard was the most amazing cook that ever lived. My mom tells me that boro dida would take so much care to make each and every dish that her presence in the kitchen had a very calming effect. She fried red chilies, ground…
Some of you know that I have been dabbling in a little bit of creative writing. What none of you know, however, is that most of my stories come from my dreams and are overwhelmingly unresolved, like my stories. But last night I had the most perfect and finished dream/nightmare, with an intense plot, climax,…
It’s been nearly a year since I have been to Kolkata, and will likely be another until I can go back. And I have realized, unsurprisingly, that it’s the food I miss most about Kolkata. And of all of the foods, I miss chili chicken the most. Anyone who knows me knows that I am…
Some of my best recipes are the ones that came out of kitchen accidents/mishaps. I used frozen grated coconut to make the patishapta stuffing, but it just wouldn’t come together even after trying for an hour. So I added chocolate to bind the stuffing and also because chocolate makes everything better. The result was FANTASTIC!…
2020 (Every year) has taught me that 1. At the end of the year no one remembers who won which argument. All people remember is the dignity with which you walk away from a petty situation. 2. No matter what you achieve in life, there will always be some people who will say mean and…
It’s funny how many different stories there exist about how this iconic dish got its name. According to one story, the number 65 marks the year the recipe for chicken 65 was invented in. Another story claims that this was the 65th item on the menu in an army canteen in Chennai. According to another…
Traditionally, Shukto (Bengali) requires a long list of ingredients. An authentic shukto has potatoes, sweet potatoes, bitter gourd, drumsticks, eggplant, papaya, plantains, snow peas, white radish, and bori (recipe on the blog). This means that it is impossible to make shukto just for 2 people. Shukto seems like an unreasonable choice for everyday cooking. Which…
Banana is one of the few ingredients that I prefer to eat when it goes bad (in banana bread). Every week I buy a dozen bananas, at least half of which inevitably go bad. And every week I make banana bread. Sometimes with nuts, sometimes with berries, sometimes with chocolate chips. Sometimes I add sugar,…
Grapes chutney with coconut milk Writing a food blog is a complicated and difficult business because it’s hard to find new inspirations and invent new recipes every day. But on some days magic makes itself and genius happen. Also, on these very days, words are elusive and hard, apparently. Anyway, long story short, I was…
Conserving food is the norm where I come from. It doesn’t matter how abundant food may be, using up every ounce of ingredients––even vegetable peels and fish bones––is the practice back home. This fish curry with cauliflower and eggplant is a recipe that I grew up eating. My mom would make a different fish recipe…
What is Kolkata style fish fry? For those of you who are not from Kolkata, fish fry is not the typical Bengali maach bhaja (fried fish steak) that has become a marker of authentic Bengali cuisine. This is rather the anglicized version of maach bhaja— thick fillets of fish marinated with flavorful herbs, breaded with bread crumbs…
What is goat curry? Goat curry is basically small cuts of goat slow-cooked or pressure-cooked in a gravy made with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and aromatic spices. There are as many varieties of goat curries in India as there are dialects and more. That is to say that there is no one way of making it….
What is butter chicken? Butter chicken is one of the most internationally famous Indian dishes. It is basically morsels of chicken, usually kebabs, that are then simmered in a tomato and cream based gravy. Butter chicken is obviously made with a lot of butter. The high dairy content in this dish makes it a very…
What is coconut chutney? Coconut chutney is a famous yet simple South Indian condiment made with grated coconut and a mix of fresh spices and herbs. Coconut, fried gram, ginger/garlic, and chilies are ground together, and then some oil tempered with red chili, mustard seeds, and curry leaves is drizzled on top to get this…
What is chicken curry? A polite reminder that Chicken curry is nothing but chicken in a simple tomato and onion based gravy. The word ‘curry’ by no means is a singular representation of Indian cuisine. Every Indian recipe is NOT a curry. Even this chicken curry recipe is not universal. Everyone has a different version…
Narkel bori die lau er ghonto Beginners always find cooking Indian food daunting because most popular Indian dishes require a long list of spices; spices that non-Indian kitchens have no use for. And this explains the “curry-powder” phenomenon. The problem is, what passes or is recognized as Indian food is usually the rich, greasy, spicey,…
Rainbow pancakes are so fun to make and they look so pretty that we have been making these every alternate day. Most of the rainbow pancake recipes that I have read online are too elaborate, and, frankly, too much work for breakfast. So I have used a boxed pancake mix for these. I tried a…
How to make Bengali fish butter fry? The Bengali fish butter fry is probably a malapropism of fish batter fry but remains totally acceptable because it does taste melt-in-your-mouth buttery. Fish butter fry or fish batter fry is not commonly made in Bengali home kitchens. This is one of those Bengali recipes that is implicated…
When I think of childhood summers, I can still smell and taste the distinct flavors of my grandma’s mango pickle: pickle oil slathered on a roti rolled into an afternoon snack, pickle oil mashed with potatoes and onions to go with rice and dal, pickle straight up. My grandma, who wasn’t fond of cooking and…
I frequently get asked how to cook pulao, specifically, how to cook the Bengali style basanti pulao. I will be honest with you. I don’t cook pulao very often. Pulao, I think, is haughty and temperamental. It looks at the cook with disdain and judges them. If it doesn’t like what it sees, it sweats and…
Did you know that organic eggplants are highly sustainable with low water and carbon footprints? And as long as no pesticides are used, they cause no significant damage to air, water, land, soil, forests, etc. If you are trying to go vegan or eat and cook more consciously, this is a great vegetable to incorporate…
Sausage and jalapeño mac and cheese This is by far the most requested recipe on my blog. This is also the recipe that I make almost every alternate day because my son LOVES mac and cheese. And what’s there not to love? It’s just pasta, lots of cheese and a good white sauce. The best…
When you are trying to keep overwhelming emotions at bay and trying not to crumble under the pressure of a burdened heart, the only thing that really seems to help is lots and lots of comfort food. That is if the bottles of wine and tub of chocolate ice cream are not doing their usual…
Aloo Posto, the most popular Bengali dish. When people talk about Bengali food, they mostly talk about fish, or rosogolla, or misti doi. It’s astounding to me how little people know about the everyday Bengali vegetarian fare, which constitutes such a massive part of the Bengali cuisine. Take for example Aloo Posto. I have met…
Every Bengali family has its own recipe for a dhone patar chutney. While I love dhone pata (cilantro) in any form, my boro pishi‘s (oldest aunt) dhone patar chatni has to be the best dhone patar chutney or cilantro chutney anyone has ever tried. If you don’t believe me, try this recipe. It’s pretty simple and…
Dolly’s Tea Shop is a tiny tea room tucked away in one corner of Dakshinapan, Kolkata. Although, neither the prettiest nor the most impressive eatery in town, it still has a distinct charm of its own that got me hooked nearly two decades ago. Decorated with wooden tea chests, paper lanterns, and cane chairs, this place…
What is “chilli chicken”? The Indian Chili chicken or Chilli chicken is an Indo-Chinese dish––crispy batter fried nuggets of chicken cooked in soy sauce flavored with garlic and ginger and a whole lot of fresh Thai green chilies. It can be either dry chilli chicken to be had as an appetizer or hors d’oeuvres, or…
I made this spinach and oatmeal pancake quite by accident several years ago, and to this day it remains my most favorite oatmeal pancake recipe. I do not like to eat sugary breakfasts because they make me feel bloated all day. Plus, spiking blood sugar early in the day makes me crave more sugar throughout…
Chicken Tandoori is undoubtedly the most popular Indian delicacy across the world. Yet, the history of Chicken Tandoori recipe dates back only to 1920. It is first known to have been prepared in a Peshwari restaurant named Moti Mahal (now in Pakistan) by an experimental chef Mr. Gurjal. The popularity of chicken tandoori is largely…
This chingri maach bata recipe is my mom’s grandma’s, who I have heard was the most amazing cook that ever lived. My mom tells me that boro dida would take so much care to make each and every dish that her presence in the kitchen had a very calming effect. She fried red chilies, ground…
It’s been nearly a year since I have been to Kolkata, and will likely be another until I can go back. And I have realized, unsurprisingly, that it’s the food I miss most about Kolkata. And of all of the foods, I miss chili chicken the most. Anyone who knows me knows that I am…
Do you love Bengali fish steak curries but feel intimidated to make one yourself? Do you believe that Bengali fish curries are complex recipes that belong only in grandmas’ kitchens? It is true that Bengali fish curries may seem daunting for many at first, especially if you live outside of India/Bengal, but trust me, they…
Any Bengali with a teeny bit of sunlit space has a potted lime plant. We brighten up our dals with gondhoraj lime, we juice up a boring meal with a wedge of lime, and no bier bari (wedding) is complete without a side serving of nun lebu (salt and lime wedge). So, it’s a shame that lime…
Believe me when I say that this lebu pata die bhetki macher paturi recipe is so damn good that I couldn’t even wait to take pictures of the finished product. They were all gone within 15 minutes of cooking. And that’s saying a lot because I am a food blogger; prioritizing photography over eating is…
Aamsotto tetul die maach This is not the recipe I set out to make. I had some coconut sitting in the fridge, which I wanted to use before it went bad. So I thought I will make Goan fish curry with lots of red chilies and tamarind. But as I started prepping, I realized I…
People always ask me how pujos here are different from Kolkata pujos. Honestly, once you are inside the pujo madaps with your friends and family, and as long as there is dhaak and enough loud Bengalis, they don’t feel very different. If you are in Houston Durga Bari, you will not miss Kolkata at all, and arguably the Houston pujo…
What to make when you can’t find palm for taler bora? Tal/Palm fruit is to Bengali Augusts what pumpkin is to American Octobers: no one likes it but everybody wants it (albeit there are some folks who actually love palm). The traditional Bengali taler bora is the quintessential janmastami bhog. It was janmastami last week, and just…
What is summer without mangoes? Actually, the right question is: what is summer without Indian mangoes? We get mangoes here in the USA, but they pale in comparison to their Indian counterparts. They don’t have the smell, sweetness, or juiciness of the mangoes that I have grown up eating. So, I try to make as…
For those of you uninitiated in Indian food, Kulfi is basically an ice-cream made with thickened milk and no eggs. Flavored with cardamoms and saffron, Kulfi is the most flavorful dessert I have ever had, and I have had a lot of desserts in my life. Just ask my weighing scale. The recipe is surprisingly…
Update: I recently tried making Nolen gurer ice cream again, but with sweetened condensed milk and grated coconut this time, as I was out of condensed coconut milk. I have to say that I like it even better this way. The grated coconut adds a nice bite while maintaining a creamy texture. I am going…
Most of the time I fail to post a timely Indian festival-related recipe because the traditional Indian Calendar follows lunar positions and I neither have nor know how to read a moon calendar. There are only four exceptions to my moon calendar ignorance (and there are at least 15 major Indian festivals), namely Holi, Diwali,…
Breakfast has been a challenge lately. With my 5 months old still struggling to establish a sleeping and feeding routine, mornings have been groggy. On top of that, our toaster, probably envious of the attention being heaped on our son, now demands that we stand next to it while attentively holding down the latch knob…
2016 has been a year of confounding international tragedies. The ugly spectacle of civil discourse defying elections, the disastrous war in Syria that unfolded before billions of apathetic social media users, the ravages caused by Zika, Dengue and cholera, the indelible effects of climate change, the terror attacks that shocked the world…every bad thing that could…
To say I have a sweet tooth would be an understatement. In reality all my teeth are sweet. I plan my meals around desserts. I have never ordered appetizers in restaurants because I always save room and money for desserts. But I take no responsibility for this affliction. A 1907 issue of The Journal of Tropical…
On Friday June 26th, the Supreme Court of United States ruled same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, a landmark decision that sweeps away state bans on gay unions in 13 states. Yesterday, marriage equality became a law of the American land, and with that the world became a little better place to live. To learn…