Foodie and Festivity

It is often said that no celebration is quite complete without food and when the celebration is as big as Durga Puja, foods and feasting are sure to be grand. Friendly feasts, family gathering, sumptuous meals and tasty homemade delicacies are a must in these four-five fun filled days. Every Bengali has some special memories of Durga Puja relating to food and feasting. And for foodies like me, it is the best occasion to gorge all the lip smacking varieties of dishes ranging from appetizers to desserts.

Believe it or not, I get the first feel of festivity when I give a pre-Puja visit to my aunt’s house and watch her making coconut and sesame laddoos for the Puja. The smell of jaggery, coconut, roasted sesame and camphor fills the air and to me it is the undeniable sign that the festivity is knocking at the door. There is more such undeniable foodie moments associated with festivity.

Thinking of puja, can the smell and taste of khichuri bhog be missed out? The sweet smells of govindbhog rice, mung dal and seasonal vegetables cooked together gives a heavenly taste to the earthy khichuri. Other dishes cooked for Prasad like chalkumror ghonto, pillaf and fried stuff also taste a lot different than the usual dishes. But my favorite Prasad is chaler payesh, a dessert cooked with milk, rice, sugar and dry fruits. The homemade gulabjamun and pantuas also are a great attraction of Prasad. It feels great to have the Prasad sitting with your family and friends. Whether you have cooked Prasad or fruits and sweets, enjoying it with the entire family makes it an event to remember.

Many aristocrat Bengali families of north Kolkata still bear the legacy of traditional feasts that are held at the ancestral homes. In these feasts many vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes are served along with the Prasad. The dishes include sukto, beguni, dhoka, chhenar dalna, paneer dishes, mochar ghonto and potoler dolma in the vegetarian platter and ilish macher jhal, parshe macher jhal, bhetki fry, ilish paturi and macher kalia in the non-vegetarian platter. No matter how busy I am during the pujas I never miss a hearty feast at my aunt’s house in Kumartolly at Ashtami morning. It gives be an extremely enjoyable and at the same time relaxing feel to reunite with my greater family for a traditional Bengali feast and indulge in the Bengali delicacies like luchi, alur dum, chenar dalna, bhat, ilish mach and payesh cooked with a liberal use of spices and dollops of love.

For many Bengali families, Puja is the time to relish some home cooked food. Bengali mothers are wives cook up eclectic dishes for the entire family that tastes and smells great. Every family looks forward to these four days for an entire year. It is the time they can enjoy some time with family and friends and indulge into a wide array of home cooked dishes. When it comes to home cooked dishes, Bengali cuisine leads the way. You are sure to find traditional Bengali delicacies like tel koi, chitol macher muitha, kochi pathar jhol, muri ghonto, shorshe ilish, daab chingri, pulao, and ghee bhat on the menu. The vegetarian alternatives include sukto, a variety of friend stuff, ghontos, dalnas and jhals. All these mouthwatering dishes recreate a truly Bengali atmosphere at the dining table. Eating these delicacies in bell metal utensils sitting on the floor can give you a true feel of authentic Bengali traditions. To me enjoying home cooked food in the cozy comfort of home can be the most satisfactory meal as it’s specially prepared for me with special attention to my preferences. But the most important ingredient of this meal is love and respect to the relationship that binds us together.

Eating out is also one of the most popular dining options during the puja. No one wants to sweat it out at the kitchen and wants to go out for pandal hopping instead. In those festive days people standing in long, never ending queues in front of the restaurants is a common sight. It is pretty distressing and disgusting to stand in one such long queue. But once the long wait gets over you are sure to get a huge satisfaction gorging on your favorite dishes. But if you want to avoid the hazard of standing in a queue then home delivery is another available alternative. During the pujas, many renowned restaurants offer thalis consisting authentic Bengali food for a given price. If you take my advice, opting for these thalis can be a great idea as you can taste a wide range of Bengali dishes at minimum price.

No discussion on Bengali festive food can be complete without a special mention about the street foods. During the Pujas, many temporary street food stalls are made near every puja pandals. When it comes to street food, fuchka and churmur tops the popularity list. The crispy puffed wheat balls stuffed with spicy mashed potatoes and tamarind water are a tasty snack loved by almost everyone. Those who have not tasted these salty snacks with a splash of sourness inside have truly cheated his taste buds. Different chats like raj kachori, dahi kachori, fruit chat, papri chat and jhalmuri, ghugni, kati rolls, chowmeins and pakoras (the very thought of all these spicy snacks and dishes brings water to my mouth)are also hot favorites of the foodies all over West Bengal. Paan and ice creams are the best ways to end the meal in a sweet note.

But the food saga continues beyond the festivity. At dashami, the last day of the festive season friends and families gather for a grand feast in which homemade sweets and snacks like nimki, jibegaja and elojhelos are served with the traditional Bengali sandesh and ghugni.

The homemade sweets and savories are generally made of flour. The flour dough is spread on a flat surface and cut into different designs. Then they are fried and stored. For jibegaja and elojehlo the same fried stuff is dipped into thick sugar syrup. Naru or laddoos are also served with other sweet dishes at the feast. Though I am not fond of nimkis, jigegaja and narus are my favorite sweets for the feast. After all, not every day I get the chance to gorge on these homemade sweets.

Preparation of these homemade sweets and savories is an art which is on the verge of extinction in out fast paced daily lives. Another such long extinct dashami delicacy is siddhi or a delicious Bengali drink prepared with milk, bhang, sweet fennel, rose water, keora water, sugar, almond, raisin and pistachio paste. This light intoxicated drink consumed at the dashami feast used to give the drinker a feel of ecstasy for time being.

The gourmet affair continues for four to five more days during which the neighbors and relatives visit each other’s house with sweets and home cooked delicacies. These days of extended gourmet affair come as a great indulging opportunity for the food lovers of Bengal.