#epicureanfeast

The word Paturi literally means wrapped in leaves. Traditionally kolapata or banana leaves are used to prepare paturis. They not only serve as a wrap to parcel the fish but also imparts their flavor to the dish. Soft under matured banana leaves are perfect to use for paturi as they fold easily without ripping. Other leaf choices for making paturi are pumpkin leaves, colocasia leaves and gourd…

Posto is a traditional Bengali dish. The dish is slightly spiced, and posto or poppy seed paste is the star of the dish. Here, I present you snake gourd/chichinga posto with chingri(prawns). Snake gourd is a seasonal vegetable and tastes amazing when cooked with posto. This is actually a very simple preparation, and can easily be a part of your regular meals at home. Chichinga Chingri…

Murgir Kofta Curry/Chicken kofta curry

I was in my school then. Getting down the bus, we(me and my sister) used to run to reach home only to watch a television soap which was popular on Doordarshan. This was the television time created by us before our music or tution teacher arrives. One day as we reach home, I find my mother, who had an off-day from work sitting in front of the television set and carefully scribbling notes in her…

Chhatur Barfi/ Sattu ki Barfi

Chhatu or Sattu is often consumed as drink in summer particularly in Bihar and by many Bihari immigrants in Bengal. while making a barfi from Sattu is not very common, I had this barfi once brought home by one of my father’s colleague from Bihar. Oh! my it was so delicious.

It has been a while since I have prepared a dessert at home. While I was craving for a sweet, I decided to prepare some…

Rui r Dumpukht/Dum Rohu

Dum pukht or  Dum is a cooking skill in which food is slow cooked over a lazy flame. Dum means ‘to cook food on low flame’ and pukht means ‘process of cooking’. This is how the name “dumpukht” has been coined. The most popular dish cooked in this style is Dum biriyani. In a traditional dumpukht meat and vegetables along with spices and the fat are all taken in a same heavy bottomed pot, sealed…

Kalojeera r Ada eggless cookies/Nigella seeds and Ginger cookies

I quiet remember, when I was a child my mother used to bring some cookies home from a local bakery in Jalpaiguri. All I remembered was it had lot of kalojeera in it. It has been more than a year now since I have been to India. I was craving for these cookies since few days now and therefore has been nagging my mother and sister as to what else were the ingredients.

In years now, their tastes…

Narikel r Dudh Polao/Polao with coconut milk

It’s Sunday morning. Lazily, I wake up and enter the kitchen for preparing the day’s meal. Sunday is almost fixed to “meat day” in my house. As I was marinading the meat to prepare kosha mangsho, my husband tells me.

Ajke kichu special rice banao.

The idea of this polao was on my mind for some time now.

This would be the perfect occasion to experiment, I thought.

Immediately I rush…

Assamese cuisine is quite similar to Bengali cuisine. Both are centered on the main ingredient — rice. Due to the huge availability of fresh vegetables in the hills, they also have a wide variety of vegetarian dishes. However, they are also fish lovers like us. Jalpaiguri, my hometown, being quiet closer to Assam border shares a lot of dishes with Assam cuisine. This sorsori or chochori(as we…