In this short article, we will answer the question “What to expect from a Bengali restaurant?” and anticipate your experience in a Bengali restaurant by describing some traditional characteristics of them.
What to expect from a Bengali restaurant?
Bengali food may be divided into four distinct dishes types: charbya, which contains chewed meals like rice or fish; choya, which includes foods like ambal and tak; lehya, which includes foods like chutney that must be licked; and peya, which includes beverages, primarily milk.
Locale-specific Bengali cuisine
Specialities of Chittagong
Mezban banquets, where special “heavy” meals made with a lot of dairy and animal fat are offered, are well-liked throughout the region.
In these places, saltwater fish and seafood are widely available. In comparison to other areas of the nation, this area has greater availability of Shutki.
Specialities of Dhaka
The Mughlai cuisine that the Dhaka Nawabs introduced to Bengal included numerous Islamic characteristics that the Bangladeshi culinary scene has preserved in full.
Mughlai recipes were only available to the upper classes of colonial India due to their expensive production costs, and as Bangladesh’s economy developed, they steadily became more widely available.
The dish’s flavour is defined by its primary use of lamb, mutton, beef, yoghurt, and mild spices.
On important occasions like Eid and weddings, dishes like kebab, packed bread, kachi biriyani, roast lamb, duck, and chicken, patisapta, Kashmir tea, and korma are still offered.
Due to the high class of the meal, it was crucial to the dish’s feel to use an excessive amount of expensive ingredients, like ghee, and to make the food melt in the mouth.
Specialities from Kolkata
Many neighbourhood street sellers in Kolkata operate modest businesses where they market their handmade goods. Items like cheese (paneer) can be consumed on their own or turned into desserts like rosogollas and chanar payesh.
The various varieties of Kolkata payesh, vary in the use of different grains and ingredients like dates, figs, and berries, particularly milk. In addition to goods from Europe, like chocolate, Kolkata’s cuisine also draws inspiration from its Chinese population.
Puchka, often referred to as panipuri, is a popular Bengali street snack comprised of a fried dough coated with a potato and chickpea filling. It is typically sold in small kiosks next to those selling bhelpuri, masala chai, ghugni, and chaat.
Utensils
Boti is another element in Bengali cuisine (also called dao in some regional dialects). With both hands, the object being cut is held against the long, curved blade that is facing the user on a platform that is supported by one foot.
With this technique, you can effectively manage the cutting process and cut anything from giant pumpkins to shrimp. The majority of the sauces and stir-fries in Bengali cuisine are cooked in korais.
The flat-bottomed pot known as a dekchi is typically used for preparing rice or for cooking huge quantities of food. It has a thin, flat top that may be used to filter the starch out of the rice as you finish cooking it. Roti and paratha are prepared on a tawa.
The other popular culinary tool is a hari, which resembles a pot with a round bottom. The three containers listed above are available in a range of sizes and metal and alloy compositions.
- The wooden ghuntni (magic wand) for dal puree,
- the wooden belun chaki (round board and rolling pin),
- the metal khunti (flat metal spatula),
- the hata (ladle with a long handle),
- the jhanjri (round sieve-shaped spatula for frying food),
- the shanrashi (tweezers for removing containers from the fire),
- the shil nora (coars The only purpose of kuruni is to grate coconuts.
Cutlery is used in Bengali restaurants but is not a component of traditional Bengali food.
Dish sequence
Similar to a western lunch, the typical Bengali diet consists of a specific order of items. There are typically two sequences used, one for special dinners like weddings and the other for daily occurrences.
Bengalis typically eat while seated on the ground. They typically eat it without using silverware, with a side dish prepared from a huge banana or plantain leaf or from bowls fashioned from dried salt leaves that have been sewn together.
It is traditional to serve food and beverages to visitors that are appropriate for the time of their visit. With the possible exception of very old or very young members of the host family, guests are usually served first at meals.
Older men in the family are the first to serve (those of higher or older social standing). Before their wives, daughters-in-law, and cook, who are the last to dine, school-aged children are fed.
Before colonialism, following the meal order was a sign of social standing, but this was gradually fading due to the impact of British and Portuguese society and the rise of the middle class. Courses are frequently skipped or mixed in with the daily meals.
Younger housewives used to serve meals to diners plate by plate, but the effect of nuclear families and urbanisation has altered this. Every dish is often placed on platters in the middle of the table, and each guest feeds.
Traditional service procedures for ceremonial events like weddings have been replaced by professional catering and buffet-style feasts. However, these guidelines still apply to lavish ceremonial events and huge family gatherings.
Conclusion:
In this short article, we answered the question “What to expect from a Bengali restaurant?” and anticipated your experience in a Bengali restaurant by describing some traditional characteristics of them.