CULINARY DESCENT TO KOLKATTA (CALCUTTA)

Allow me to use the word Calcutta when I left the city after my hotel management education in the year 1999. The name itself does not matter a lot especially when the culinary offering of the city is always on a high much to the delight of the people who were a part of the thriving food culture in the past.

Culture descends immensely o the city and the fervour has also sneaked into for the food, right from the roadside eatery lovingly called Thela to the numerous five star hotels which dots the city line now.

Bengali cuisine has left some vivid memories in my three year association with the city and one thing is for sure, cuisine always followed the people of Bengal who migrated to different parts of the world.

I was in Delhi few days back and was not surprised to see that so many restaurants has cropped up in recent years to offer the flavour of Bengal. One that stands out to my memory is the Chowringhee restaurant located in the eastern side of Delhi. Well I may confess that someone looking for exact authenticity with the knife of high expectation may discount the experience but not everyone thinks the same. As the regional preferences and adherence are making way to new found wisdom of global cuisine, it is only apt that even non-Bengalis are making a beeline for the good Bengali food.

Chowringee lane which is close to Park Street in Kolkata has actually the real hub of pan Indian cuisine where a mere stroll will send your sensory organs on frenzy until you become a part of it and join hands to savour the spirit of the place.

The odd gramophone playing in a street corner in some old musical shop, the indiscreet amalgamation of the life forces, a few hand rickshaw pullers in the bylane is all reminiscent of old Kolkata which has somehow survived the test of time. Of course in the last nine year since I left the city, a lot has changed but what has not is the gastronomic spirit of the place.

Session in food:

Bengali cuisine is vast and consists of an array of sumptuous and healthy vegetable preparations in addition to the most delicate and eponymous fish curries and some meat curries. I frankly do not think of other state or place in India which can offer so many varieties of fish and  the related preparation right from their own fried fish, numerous types macher jhol (fish curries) like doi maach, shorshe illish, macher kalia etc. and even in the lentil preparations like muro Ghunto which is fish head with lentils).

More than the red meat, chicken dishes are very popular and some of them you would come across can by Chicken rizala, murg firangi roast, chicken biryanis, slightly sweetened chicken curries etc. I would advise you to visit few Muslim restaurant around metro cinema who would offer you some of the best biryanis, kebabs, kormas, wraps, kulfis and falooda.

If you are looking for a bit of Chinatown in Calcutta, no other place qualifies better than Tangra. Food from Tangra is a distinct variety of traditional Chinese food adapted to Indian ingredients and the Bengali palate. This has spread to the rest of India, along with the recipes earlier unique to Tangra.. While the regular fare would be all types of popular oriental soups, all types of fancy sounding chicken dishes, wide repertoire of noodles and fried rice and not so famous desserts.

The challenge, though, lies in adapting to the Bengali palate which prefers sweet much more than any other taste. Sweetening the curries a little is quite common when you eat there and often results in complain. Most of the restaurants, however, have managed to find a solution by modifying and tweaking the taste as per the diners demand.

One sure you to get stunned is looking through the numerous varieties, lines and types of sweets which is almost incomparable and more than any other shops the one you are likely to cross very other minute in Calcutta would be the shops offering right from misti doi, numerous sondesh, kulfis, rosogulla and pantuas and calling it the sweet capital of the world would be no exaggeration.

Some of the future blogs will definitely be dedicated to sharing some of the popular Bengali recipes and if somebody has got some specific request, you can always let us know through sonzyskitchen. Hope you enjoyed the journey and wait for much more to come.

Bon appétit