Bengali cuisine
[5] Many Bengali food traditions draw from social activities, such as adda, Poila Boishakh, Eid and Durga Puja.
[6] Such dishes as biryani, korma and bhuna had once been meals of the higher courts, but the cooks of the Mughals brought their recipes to the lower and middle classes.
The exiles brought with them hundreds of cooks and masalchis (spice mixers), and as their royal patronage and wealth diminished, they became interspersed into the local population.
These cooks came with the knowledge of a very wide range of spices (most notably jafran and mace), the extensive use of ghee, and marinating meat with yoghurt and chilli.
Further innovations include chap (ribs slow cooked on a tawa), rezala (meat in a thin yogurt and cardamom gravy) and kathi roll (kebabs in a wrap).
[7] Furthermore, traditional desserts had been primarily based on rice pastes and jaggery, but under Mughal influence moved towards significantly increased use of milk, cream, and sugar along with expensive spices such as cardamom and saffron.
[10] These economic and social restrictions influenced Bengali widows to create a brand new set of meals that utilized only vegetables and cheap spices.
[11][12] During the colonial period, many Western food shops were established in Kolkata, making puff pastries, channa, chocolate, and chips especially popular.
[11] As a result of a multi-cultural community, Kolkata city's cuisine continuously changes, and takes heavy influence from Chinese and European palates.
[12][13] Bengali cuisine can be subdivided into four different types of dishes: eatables (খাদ্য, ভক্ষ্য, or ভোজ্য); চর্ব্য, chôrbyô, or chewables, such as rice or fish; চোষ্য, choshyô, or suckables, such as ambal and tak; লেহ্য, lehyô, or lickables, like chutney; and পেয়, peyô, or drinkables which includes drinks, mainly milk.
For example, South Bengali districts around the Sundarbans boast of the expensive chui jhal chilli, which they peel and chop into small pieces to be cooked in their dishes and give off a strong aroma.
On the other hand, North Bengal are the homes of many Bengali desserts such as the Mishti doi of Bogra, the Kachagolla of Natore and the Chomchom of Porabari.
However, other regions also have famous desserts like the Balish Mishti (pillow-sweet) of Netrokona, the Monda of Muktagachha, the Red Yoghurt of Nabadwip and the famed Roshmolai of Comilla.
[16] Historically Mezbani is a traditional regional feast where people are invited to enjoy a meal with white rice and beef, besides other dishes rich in animal fat and dairy.
Due to the high costs of producing Mughlai food, the recipes were limited to the elite classes in colonial India, and slowly expanded as Bangladesh's economy grew.
Such dishes as kebab; stuffed breads; kacchi biriyani; roast lamb, duck, and chicken; patisapta; Kashmiri tea; and korma are still served at special occasions like Eid and weddings.
[24] Haji biryani is a dish, invented by a restaurateur in 1939, made with highly seasoned rice, goat's meat and number of spices and nuts.
[36] Calcuttan immigrants to other countries have started carrying this abroad as well;[35] Indian Chinese restaurants have appeared in many places in the United States and UK.
[38] Tibetans brought their own taste preferences to add to the genre, such as the popular momo (a kind of dumpling) or thukpa (a hearty noodle soup).
Food taken during adda consists usually of mishti or sweetmeats, tea, and coffee, although heartier meats such as fried fish may be brought out as well.
[41] In the post-colonial era, the adda has been fading due to the more rigid structure of work and exploitative perceptions of unnecessary laziness.
The tradition even has an equivalent to the Greek symposium, as students may meet for a study session over food or have a teacher teach in a more relaxed environment.
[43] Sylhet boasts a variation of the famous pilaf dish – Akhni polao – in which the rice is cooked after and the chicken pieces are cut.
They also proudly hold the heritage of Beef Hatkora, a rice dish consisting of a wild citrus fruit not found in other parts of Bengal.
[48] A flat metal spatula, khunti, is used often, along with hata (scoop with a long handle), jhanjri (round-shaped sieve-like spatula to deep-fry food), the shanrashi (pincers to remove vessels from the fire), the ghuntni (wooden hand blender) for puréeing dal, the wooden belun chaki (round pastry board and rolling pin), and the shil nora, which is a rough form of a mortar and pestle or grinding stone.
[50] Prior to colonisation, adherence to meal order was a marker of social status, but with British and Portuguese influence and the growth of the middle class, this has slowly disappeared.
The Portuguese friar Sebastien Manrique, travelling in the region in the 17th century, noted the multitude of milk-based foods and sweets prepared in traditional ways.
This was due to the fact that the know-how involved in synthesizing such a sweet was unknown before being experimentally developed by Nobin Chandra Das and then constantly improved and further standardized by his successors.
[57] It is this method that creates the fine, smooth modern "chhana" with high binding capacity – which is now the staple raw material for Bengali confectioners.
Alternative recipes can be made of coconut shavings and jaggery, raisins, chopped nuts, oatmeal, khoa, nutmeg, cardamom, or poppy seeds, among other ingredients.
