COOK BOOK
Classic contemporary
SABITA RADHAKRISHNA
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A cache of traditional recipes from a classic Bengali cookbook translated for the modern lifestyle.
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Pumpkin Flower Fritters and Other Classic Recipes from a Bengali Kitchen, Renuka Devi Choudhurani, translated by Sheila Lahiri-Choudhury, published by Black Kite, Rs. 295.
Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
A sumptuous Bengali spread...
Any effort to document age-old family recipes, retrieving them from the annals of time, needs to be appreciated. Renuka Devi Choudhurani’s Bengali cookbooks Rakamari Niramish Boi and Rakamari Amish Rannnar Boi are classics, valued greatly by traditional Bengali families. Culling from a collection of 700 recipes, a cache of recipes suited for contemporary lifestyles, and translating them painstakingly from Bengali, Sheila Lahiri-Choudhury’s work can be called an act of love.
Sheila acknowledges her mother-in-law’s culinary expertise and refers to her as an excellent teacher who loved to guide the young cooks and pass on the traditional gems of fine cooking. Renuka Devi in her Amaar Katha speaks of her collection from friends from various regions, plus Bengali families who gave her the old recipes, which she experimented upon, finally compiling the whole lot into a book. Renuka Devi was married at the tender age of 10 into a zamindari family, and it was her father-in-law who initiated her into the art of cooking. Of course, the “itinerant bawarchis and specialist cooks” also contributed to the training.
But Sheila would have done well to select only typical Bangla recipes instead of adding on items like Kashmir Mutton Pulao, and Mutton Shahi Pulao, which one can pick up from any North Indian cookbook.
Distinct flavour
Mustard and mustard oil give the food a distinct flavour. And which true blooded Bengali will not crave for carp, rohu or hilsa fish? There is a separate section on hilsa for newer enthusiasts. There are special instructions by the author on how to select the hilsa (it should weigh above one kg, otherwise there are too many bones) and how it is to be cut and cleaned. You have a pick of recipes with rohu fish like Rohu Curry (Rohu Machher Kalia) or Fresh Rohu in Yoghurt (Kancha Doi Machch) besides others.
The book is also a vegetarian delight as you will find scores of recipes for dals and lentils, vegetables, and some very delicate dishes like pumpkin flower fritters which are batter fried. Other edible flowers include fritters of water hyacinths, jasmine leaf, agasthya flowers, even of jute leaves, mustard and drumstick flowers. Odd recipes like Baba Ganoush and aubergine cutlets trespass into what could have been a pure Bengali cookbook, nevertheless the recipes are inviting as they are easy to follow. One of the first recipes I looked for was that of panch phoren, the five spice powder which is used in many Bengali recipes. It is present only in the glossary, which describes it as cumin, nigella, fenugreek, fennel and radhuni seeds. What is the proportion, how are they to be used, and what are radhuni seeds? What is the split dal referred to ….toor, channa or masoor? These small details deter people from trying out the particular recipes.
The chutney chapter is useful to most who could use the chutneys as dips for green vegetables, or eaten with idli-dosais, or as bread topping. I would recommend the bottle gourd chutney and the green mango chutney with mustard if you can stand the tangy fire of ground mustard.
Sorely missed
I missed the recipes for traditional Bengali sweets like the rasogolla, sandesh and mishti doi. The focus is on payas, which according to the author, is one of the most popular desserts in Bengal, akin to payasam of South India. The recipes include rice and flat rice, wheat payas and those made with fruits like pineapple, grape and custard apple, not to forget vegetable and paneer payas. Similar is the paramannya served on religious occasions. A cookbook can be termed user friendly only when ingredients are listed in the order of usage, which unfortunately is not there in the book. A good editor with a sound knowledge of the regional cooking could have put right these factors. It is hoped that the second edition will bring in these welcome changes.
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