Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques [This is not maintained any more. Updates are here: http://funcuisine.blogspot.com/]
Some Bengali Cooking Techniques Common steps in Bengali cooking: Important spices Paanch phoron: Turmeric (Holud): Cumin (Jeera): Coriander seeds (Dhone/Dhaniya): Nigela seeds (Kaalo Jeera/ Black Jeera/ Kalonji): Asafoetida (Hing): Omum seed (Joan/Ajwayan): Fennel seed (Mouri/Saunf): Fenugreek seed (Methi): Coconut milk: Cardamom (Elaach / Elaichi): Cinnamon (Daaruchini / Daalchini): Clove (Lavanga): Malabathrum (Tejpatta): Some recipes: Paanthaa-r maangso (Mutton curry): Murgi-r maangso (Chicken curry): A note on fish: Maach-er jhol(Fish curry): Kaalo jeera diye maacher jhol (Fish curry with nigella seeds): Maach-er jhaal (Fish curry with mustard paste): Naarkel chingri (Prawns in coconut milk): Kaanch kalaa-r koptaa (Raw-banana balls cooked in spicy gravy): Kumro-r chhakkaa (Dry dish with red gourd ): Jhinge posto (Ridge gourd in poppy-seed paste): Moog daal: Maacher maathaa diye moog daal:

Common steps in Bengali cooking:

Marination (often skipped for vegetables): oil, salt and turmeric powder is the common marinade for all vegetables, fish and meat. Red chilly powder is often added to it. For meat, some acidic item (curd/lemon juice/vinegar) is also commonly added to the marinade. 2. Phoron: In the second stage, oil is heated up in a hemispherical pot (kadaai) and spices are
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Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

added and cooked. Each spice gives out its best flavour at a particular temperature of the oil and should be cooked for only around a certain duration. Hence, the sequence of adding spices is considered important.

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

Heating the oil: First heat the pot until any water drops on it evaporate completely. Then add the oil. ii. If there are any bubbles in the oil, they will vanish when the oil is sufficiently hot. Also, when vapour starts emanating from the top of the oil, it is time to start adding the spices. iii. Items to be added to the oil first are called phoron (things that burst). These are usually dry spices. Most common is panch phoron, but may vary depending on the dish. Start your kitchen exhaust at full speed in this stage as the strong smell of the chemicals coming out of the spices mixed with oil vapour is bound to make you and your neighbours cough and sneeze. Let this go on for about 20 seconds (until the seeds are done with bursting, becoming darker in colour).
i.

Pasted and chopped spices: Second you can add the semi-dry spices and pastes. These will cool the oil down and prevent the phoron from getting charred. Ginger and garlic (paste or crushed) can be added in this stage. Add onion (chopped or paste) last in this stage. Keep mixing the spices and scraping the bottom of the pot with a spatula to prevent anything from sticking. If the spices still tend to stick to the pot, adding a little more oil will help. You may want to reduce the heat after adding all the spices. Keep cooking until the mixture of spices is golden. 4. Vegetables: Now add tomatoes, potatoes or other vegetables that go into the dish. If it is a meat dish, this the time to add the meat, too. Keep mixing the spices with the vegetables (or meat) until everything is evenly distributed. In case of meat, water will come out and you can reduce the heat and cover the pot and let it cook until completely/almost done (this is called kashaa which is a dish by itself if completely done, or you can add water midway and cook the meat in the gravy to make jhol). 5. Boiling: Add water (amount varying according to the nature of the dish). When the water starts boiling, add cumin, coriander, turmeric paste/powder. Leave at low/medium heat until vegetables are completely cooked. If you are cooking fish, add it last(when vegetables are almost done) and let it cook in the gravy for 510 minutes (usually the marinated fish is semi-fried in oil beforehand).
3. 6.

Finishing: For some dishes, additional dry spices are (roasted and) powdered and sprinkled on/ mixed with the food just before serving. For example, garam mashla (cardamom, cinnamon and cloves freshly smashed without roasting) is added to most spicy meat-dishes. Cumin seeds are freshly roasted and coarsely ground and mixed with fish/daal/vegetables to add fragrance. Coriander leaves, curry leaves or mint are also usually added at the end to retain the freshness of the flavour.

Important spices
Paanch phoron:
A combination of five spices: fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, cumin seeds and wild celery in equal amounts. Celery or black mustard can be used in stead of wild celery. This combination is very special to Bengali, Assamese and Oriya cuisine. It is often the first spice to be added into heated oil (along with dried red chilly and tej pata [bay leaf]) and other spices are added after these seeds stop bursting.

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

Garama Masala (Garom Mashlaa):

Literally this means hot spice. In Bengal the combination of three aromatic spices: green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves is used. However you get packed Garam Masala powder in in the market, that is usually different (dominated by cumin and coriander) from what we use as garam masala. Always ground the whole spices just before use. Otherwise the aroma fades. It is used only in special rich dishes like meat.

Turmeric (Holud):
Traditionally boiled and dried turmeric rhizomes were soaked in water to soften it and then ground to a paste. This maintains the maximum flavour of the spice. But because of the significant effort required in making the paste, powdered turmeric is most popular. Turmeric powder is almost ubiquitous in Bengali dishes. It is added to fish, meat and vegetables along with salt and red-chilly powder and oil as a common marinade. It is also added for colour and flavour to most dishes (during Boiling)

Cumin (Jeera):
Jeera or cumin seed is the next most common spice. Apart from being a component of paanch phoron it is used on its own in various ways. Cumin seeds are commonly used as phoron (stage 2) for fish dishes, where paanch phoron is not used. Paste of cumin seed is a common ingredient for jhol (added in step Boiling). For a strong flavour, it can be dry roasted and ground and added at the end (Finishing).

Coriander seeds (Dhone/Dhaniya):

Coriander seeds have a strong flavour and can be added to Daal along with paanch phoron (Phoron). Powdered/pasted coriander seed can be used in jhol along with/ in stead of cumin (Boiling). It is also used in tomato chutney for flavour.

Nigela seeds (Kaalo Jeera/ Black Jeera/ Kalonji):

This has a very special flavour and is rather specific to Bengali/east Indian cuisine. Apart from being part of paanch phoron it can be used on its own just like cumin. When used on its own, hardly any other spice needs to be added to that dish. Such dishes are usually very mild in taste. Most fresh water fishes, hilsa and pomphret can be cooked this way.

Asafoetida (Hing):
This has very strong flavour and often avoided(along with onion and garlic) by religious Hindus. On the other hand, foodies love it as it can add a very rich flavour to any food. However one should be economic in its use as any excess may spoil the taste. One common use of asafoetida is in the filling for parathas and kachouris.

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

Omum seed (Joan/Ajwayan):

This hot-tasting spice is used in parathas. It is also considered a digestive and chewed with a pinch of salt after meals. It can also be used as a phoron in daal.

Fennel seed (Mouri/Saunf):

This is one of the components of paanch phoron. It can be used as a phoron on its own when making chutney.

Fenugreek seed (Methi):

This is a bitter but aromatic spice and one of the components of paanch phoron. If you do not like the bitter taste, use in small amounts (in paanch phoron using 1/4-th the quantity of each of the other components will avoid the bitterness while adding sufficient flavour).

Coconut milk:
Most malai-curries (most commonly prawn malai-curry or narkel chingri and chicken malaicurry) are made from coconut milk. It is best to extract it fresh from a mature coconut. But it is also available as packed powder. Grate a fresh coconut. Mix a little warm water (~50 ml) and squeeze out the milk using your hand. If using powder, add 3 tablespoons(~20 g) of the milk solid to 1 cup of warm water (~150 ml).

Cardamom (Elaach / Elaichi):

Cardamom has a strong yet soothing flavour. So it can be used in very spicy meat dishes as well as very mildly flavoured deserts (like paayasam or khir). But unlike Sweden, in Bengal it is considered a very expensive and special spice. So it is used sparingly only in special dishes. Green cardamom is one of the ingredients of Garam Mashala (meaning hot spice).

Cinnamon (Daaruchini / Daalchini):

This has sweet aroma and a strong flavour. This is the major component of Garam Mashala. In meat dishes, keep the proportion of cinnamon high compared to cardamom. In deserts keep the cinnamon low compared to cardamom.

Clove (Lavanga):
This is the other ingredient of Garam Mashala. Clove has even stronger taste and smell than cinnamon. It creates a burning sensation in the tongue when chewed directly. Use it sparingly as it will dominate all other flavours in food and excess may make the taste unpleasantly strong. If you are adding whole cloves, four to six buds are enough for a dish for up to eight people and when ground, three to five buds will do the job.

Malabathrum (Tejpatta):
This is very commonly used as phoron. When using it as phoron, quickly follow it with other (wet) spices as it tends to get charred easily. It goes with almost every dish, from daal to meat to paayes

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

(khir). It adds aroma without changing the taste too much. Usually one or two big leaves are enough in a dish for five people.

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

Some recipes:
Paanthaa-r maangso (Mutton curry):
Ingredients: Goat meat - 500 g (neck and rib portions are the best) Curd 100 g (or 1 whole lemon or 2 teaspoons of vinegar) Tarmeric powder 3 teaspoonfuls (not heaped). Cumin powder 3 teaspoonfuls (not heaped). Coriander powder 2 teaspoonfuls (not heaped). Red chilly powder 1 teaspoonful (or according to taste). Salt 5 teaspoonfuls (not heaped, or according to taste). Green cardamom 5 pods Cinnamon stick 2 inches Clove 5 pieces Tejpatta(Malabathrum) 2 Cooking oil 8 tablespoons Onion 250 g Ginger paste 50 g Garlic 5 pods Green chilly 2 (or more according to taste) Optional Ingredients: Potatoes - 2 medium sized Asafoetida according to taste Cashew nuts 10 pieces Raisins 5 pieces Dried red chilly 2 (or more according to taste). Sugar 1/4 teaspoon. Procedure:
1. 2.

Clean the meat with water. Drain all the water. Add 2 teaspoonfuls of tarmeric powder, all the red chilly powder, 1 teaspoonful of coriander

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

powder, 2 teaspoonfuls of cumin powder, 3 teaspoonfuls of salt to the meat.

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

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10. 11. 12.

13. 14.

Pour 2 tablespoonfuls of oil on it and mix with your hand(which may be painful due to the chilly powder, but most effective) or a spatula. The longer you mix it the better. Add the curd or the vinegar or squeeze out the juice from the lemon and continue mixing. Curd will produce a thicker gravy. Once all the meat pieces are covered with the spice mixture, leave it for at least half an hour. Again, the longer you can marinate, the better. You can even leave it in the fridge overnight. If you want potatoes in the meat, cut them into quarters and stir-fry them until golden brown and slightly softer. Heat oil, add 1 inch of cinnamon stick, 2 tejpattas, 2 cardamom pods, 3 cloves and 2 green chillies (slit into two or chopped into smaller pieces). You may add a pinch of sugar (1/4 teaspoon or less) to get a dark red colour of the gravy. Once the tejpattas start getting dark (~15-20 s), add the cashews and the raisins (if at all) and then add the ginger paste and the smashed garlic. Stir for 20-30 s (until the garlic paste changes colour). Add the onion (chopped into ~2 mm thick long slices). Keep tossing andturning the spices with a spatula until the onion becomes golden brown. If it gets stuck at the bottom, add a teaspoonful of oil and keep scraping it off with the spatula. Add the marinated meat. Keep turning it around. A lot of water and melted fat will come out of it. Mix well with the spices. Add the cumin powder and the coriander powder. You can reduce the heat and cook it without adding any water and without covering the pot, making it relatively dry. This is called kashaa. No potatoes go into mutton kashaa. On the other hand, you can add water to drown the meat completely and cover the pot and cook in medium/low flame until the meat is almost cooked. If you want to add potatoes, add them at this stage. Both the meat and the potatoes should get done simultaneously. Add 1 teaspoonful of tarmeric powder and 2 teaspoonfuls of salt (or according to taste). When the meat is cooked, you can slit the rest of the green chillies and put them into the dish. This will add the flavour of green chilly without actually making it too spicy. Just before serving, smash two cardamom pods, 2 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon stick and sprinkle it into the dish. Mix it well with the meat. You can also add asafoetida at this stage. The dish can be garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

Murgi-r maangso (Chicken curry):

Same ingredients and process as mutton curry. Only use chicken meat in stead of goat. This takes much less time to cook. So change timings accordingly.

A note on fish:
The most popular and easily available fish in Bengal are the carps, particularly Rohu and Catla. Among catfish, walking catfish (maagur in Bengali) and stinging catfish (shing) are very common and easy to digest and also easy to eat for having fewer bones. Climbing perch (koi) is also very popular, but hard to eat without experience because of too many sharp bones. While the above are everyday

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

fish, Hilsa (ilish) and Chital are both the contenders for the top position for taste. But Hilsa is notorious for its innumerable small and sharp bones and needs some experience to eat efficiently. The most popular fish in restaurants is Bekti (distortoin of Bhetki in Bengali). It has few bones and can cut into boneless fillets. Another easy to eat and widely available fish is pomfret. Usually fresh water fish are sweetish and have a mild flavour. These are best cooked in light gravy (jhol). Sea/brakish water fish have strong taste and smell. If that is undesirable (as many Bengalis find it), a thick spicey gravy (jhaal) is good for cooking them. Depending on the nature of the fish, you can cook any fish using either of these two kinds of gravy. A friend living in London reports that Salmon jhol tastes better than any Bengali fish dish.

Maach-er jhol(Fish curry):

This is perhaps the most popular yet the most variable bengali dish. Every household has its own way of cooking fish. Ingredients: Fish 250 g Ginger paste 1 teaspoonful Onion 1 (medium sized, chopped into thin long slices) Cumin powder 1 teaspoonful Coriander powder 1/2 teaspoonful Tarmeric powder 1 teaspoonful Green chilly 2 (slit into two halves) Tejpatta 2 (optional) Potato 2 medium sized(optional) Procedure: Add half a teaspoonful of turmeric powder, salt and optionally some red chilly powder (1/ 2 a teaspoonful will be enough to give a flavour without making it spicey) to the fish. Pour two tablespoonfuls of cooking oil and mix (preferably rubbing in the spices with hand). Let it marinate for 10-15 minutes. 2. If you are using potatoes, chop each one into 8 pieces. When cooking small (whole) or thin (like pomphret) fish, the pieces should be long and thin (four longitudinal cuts like this: | - / \ or | | _). When it is thick pieces of fish (like rohu), they should be short and thick (two longitudinal cuts perpendicular to each other, one transverse cut). You may marinate them the same way as the fish this helps them cook fast. 3. Heat oil in a pan. When vapour rises from the surface of the oil, the bubbles on it vanish, it is hot enough. Now put some pieces of fish so that they don't touch each other and you have enough space to turn them around. No piece should touch the pan anywhere without oil.
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Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

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4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10.

Fry each side until it becomes golden brown. The fish tends to break easily when half-done. Take care not to poke the pieces when turning. If using potatoes, fry them in the same oil until golden brown. Now, in the same pan (add more oil if required about 5 tablespoonfuls should be there) add the tejpatta to the hot oil. This is the phoron. Now add green chillies. Then add ginger paste. Stir for about 15 seconds. Then add the onion. Fry them until starting to ecome brownish. Add the potatoes and mix so that the potatoes are quoted with the spices. Add water and cover the pan. Cook until potatoes are almost done. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix and then add the fish. The pieces should be just submerged in the gravy. Cook until the potatoes are completely done. (The trick is to add the fish at the right moment. If you put them too early, they get over-cooked and break into fragments. If you put them too late, the potatoes get overcooked which is more acceptable).

Kaalo jeera diye maacher jhol (Fish curry with nigella seeds):
Ingredients: Same as Maacher jhol, except that you need a teaspoonful of kaalo jeera (nigella seeds) and skip cumin and coriander powder. Procedure: Same as Maacher jhol, except that you add the nigella seeds along with the tejpatta.

Maach-er jhaal (Fish curry with mustard paste):

The main difference between jhol and jhaal is that the latter has a thicker gravy and is spicier. Jhaal literally means (spicy-hot, like the taste of chilly-pepper). In its most common form, jhaal gravy is based on mustard paste. Fish with strong smell (like most sea-fish and some carnivorous catfish like boal [wallago] ) are almost exclusively cooked this way as the mustard covers up the smell. Ingredients: Fish - 250 g Mustard - 1 teaspoonful Nigella seeds - teaspoonful (optional) Onion - 2 medium (optional) Green chilly - 2 (each slit into two) Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoonful Potatoes - 2 medium (optional). Procedure:
1. Marinate the fish the same way as in jhol. 2. You may fry the fish as in jhol. But this is optional as some people like the fishy-smell mixed

with mustard smell.

Some Bengali Cooking Techniques

Subhasis Ray

3. Potatoes, if added, are to be cut into long thin pieces (longitudinally | | - _ ) and can be fried

beforehand (just like jhol). 4. Chop the onions into long thin pieces. 5. The mustard should soaked in water to soften them (~10-15 minutes) and then ground to fine paste. 6. In heated oil, add the green chillies (and optionally the nigella seeds). After 10-15 seconds add the onion and fry until golden brown. 7. You may add the mustard paste now and stir it for about a minute so that it loses any excess water and becomes slightly darker in colour. You can skip the mustard at this stage and add it after adding water. 8. (Optional) Add the potatoes and fry for ~2 minutes 9. Add water. In jhaal the gravy is very thick. So control the amount of water so that after boiling it will reduce to just enough for dipping the fish. Some prefer the gravy to be like a thick coating of sauce on the fish. 10. Once the water starts boiling, add the turmeric powder and salt to taste. If you skipped the mustard paste in step 7, add it now. Stir and mix it well into the water. 11. Just like jhol, add the fish when the potatoes are almost done. If you are not adding potatoes, add the fish when the gravy starts to look uniform and well mixed. The onions should have become very soft by that time. 12. Cook until the fish gets done.

Naarkel chingri (Prawns in coconut milk): Kaanch kalaa-r koptaa (Raw-banana balls cooked in spicy gravy): Kumro-r chhakkaa (Dry dish with red gourd ): Jhinge posto (Ridge gourd in poppy-seed paste): Moog daal: Maacher maathaa diye moog daal: