Fried neem leaves with brinjal. Lau or lauki — bottle gourd. Potol or parwal — pointed gourd. These might not sound like delicacies to most, particularly if you happen to’re not from japanese India. However for Bengalis, come Boisakh, which is the primary month of the Bengali calendar, these greens take delight of place at mealtimes.
Poila Boisakh, which uaully falls on April 14 – April 15, this yr – marks the Bengali New 12 months. It’s believed that King Shashank, who is taken into account the primary unbiased ruler of a unified polity within the Bengal area, launched the Bengali calendar. The start of this period is estimated thus far again to 594 within the Gregorian calendar. That explains the timing of Boisakh and Poila Boisakh that marks the start of the harvest season and the opening of recent accounting ledgers referred to as Haal Khaata.
The day is one among celebration — households come collectively, youngsters and adults obtain new garments, and naturally, there’s a feast that celebrates seasonal elements and summer time flavours.
Whereas everybody loves speaking in regards to the fish, prawn and mutton delicacies within the Bengali delicacies, I need to shine a lightweight on some unsung heroes, the greens. That is the time of yr when shukto makes an look on tables — a lightweight stew of blended greens cooked in milk with just a little ghee, and tempered with panch phoron, the Bengali five-spice combine. Shukto is barely bitter as a result of karela or bitter gourd is likely one of the greens within the combine, together with potol, potatoes and drumsticks. Bitter greens are a staple throughout this season, particularly at lunch, as they’re believed to have a cooling impact on the physique.
Neem begun — neem leaves fried with chopped brinjal — is commonly served with a lightweight dal. The bitterness is often adopted by a light fish curry after which a candy or bitter ambal or chutney.
The three cooling greens — potol (pointed gourd), jhinge (ridge gourd), and lauki (bottle gourd) — are indigenous to Bengal and hint their roots to pre-Aryan agricultural traditions. Lauki is so liked that in East Bengal, it’s even was a dessert with sugar, ghee and evaporated milk. It’s additionally cooked with coconut, brown chickpeas (chola), and crushed lentil dumplings (bori) to make the much-loved seasonal favorite Lau Ghonto. Or with shrimp, as Lau Chingri.
Potol or parwal appears to be the love and pleasure of Bengalis; together with me, I’ve to say. We scoop it out and stuff it with fillings like home made chhena, mashed fish or spiced mutton as a dolma after which prepare dinner it in a gravy. Bengalis may also merely peel it, slice into wedges, fry frivolously and serve it with dal. It’s additionally a standard addition to fish curries. And to indicate that there’s some methodology to this oddball mad love for potol, Ayurveda considers it a treatment for worms, fevers, coughs, wind and bile.
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Potol or parwal appears to be the love and pleasure of Bengalis. We scoop it out and stuff it with fillings like home made chhena, mashed fish or spiced mutton as a dolma after which prepare dinner it in a gravy (Picture: Freepik)
One other distinctive custom of Boisakh and the summer time months is the vary of bitter dals. In East Bengal, particularly in Hindu properties, it’s frequent to serve three or 4 kinds of dal in a single meal. A meal would possibly begin with a bitter vegetable dal, adopted by a couple of vegetable dishes, then a roasted moong dal with fish head, and eventually a bitter dal made with inexperienced mango, tamarind or star fruit, served simply earlier than the chutney and dessert. Through the summer time, Bengalis skip roasting their moong dal earlier than cooking.
A standard Poila Boisakh meal usually consists of crisp fried greens, a bitter preparation, at the least another vegetable dish, luchi (puffed bread), dal, shukto, a barbecue, maacher kalia (a wealthy fish curry), maangshor jhol or kosha maangsho (mutton), adopted by chutney or ambol, and naturally, mishti doi, sandesh, and different sweets. It’s a beautiful time for the Bengali desk with new greens, flavours and preparations making their seasonal debut.
I additionally needed to maneuver away from the same old suspects and share one among my private favourites: Lemon Dal, often made in Bengali Muslim properties in Dhaka. It’s a thick, creamy dal, strained after cooking, and served in a bowl lined with slices of aromatic kagaji or gondhoraj lebu (lemon).
Kancha Moong Dal
250 gms moong dal – washed and rinsed at the least three to 4 instances
750 mls water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 dried pink chilis
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
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Technique
*Convey the water to a boil, add the dal and a teaspoon of salt and turmeric. When the dal is cooked, take away from the flame. I typically pressure-cook it for 3 to 4 whistles.
*Take a small pan, wait until it heats up, add some vegetable oil.
*As soon as the oil begins smoking, add the pink chilis and the mustard seeds. As they begin spluttering, add the grated ginger and the bay leaves. Stir for a minute after which pour over the dal. Place the pan with the dal on a excessive flame, add just a little sugar and stir.
*To make the Lemon dal, merely prepare dinner the moong dal in keeping with this recipe. Then use a big sieve to pressure the dal, this makes it very clean. Convey the sieved dal to a boil once more.
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*Then pour the dal right into a bowl lined with the lemon slices, cowl for about 5 minutes in order that the dal absorbs the style of the lemon.
*Serve this with rice.
Solely warning, this can be a dal which might’t be reheated because the lemon will make it bitter. So my tip to serve that is to make the dal beforehand. Maintain your serving bowl lined with lemon, and simply earlier than serving your meal, pour the recent dal into the bowl.
Subsequent week, I’ll be writing on a few of my favorite Goan and Konkani preparations.