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Some Bengali snacks too
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Bengali sweets have always been popular, but there are delicious snacks too, as found in Abhinandan in East Delhi, says Rahul Verma
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All that they need is a good lobbyist, and you'll see how they'll vie with the national snack champions, the idli and dosa
SERVICE WITH A SMILE A boy holds a tray of goodies at Abhinandan Photo: S. Subramanium
You must have heard that old one. Question: What do you get when you put two Bengalis together? Answer: Two football clubs, or three Durga Puja committees. To that I may add another must-have - a stall for Bengali sweets or snacks. If you go to Chittaranjan Park, known in some circles as West Bengal Extension Counter, you'll see how true this is. There are sweet shops everywhere, and little counters where you get the most delectable of snacks. And these days, you don't even have to go all the way to Chittaranjan Park for a snacky meal. If there's a cluster of Bengalis in any corner of the city, you'll find a Bengali food stall. Just take Mayur Vihar Phase I and Indraprastha Extension. Since there are quite a few Bengalis in these two areas (as indicated by the number of Durga Pujas that are held in the neighbourhood), there is no dearth of Bengali snacks and sweets.
Shingaras and dorbeshes
You can eat your shingara - potato and cauliflower samosa - and then rinse your mouth with a juicy roshogollah. Langchas - something like an elongated gulab-jamun - are there in plenty, as are dorbeshes - laddoos made out of juicy boondis - and chhaina sondeshes made with syrupy palm jaggery.
But while Bengali sweets are as well known across the country as say, the Punjabi chholey-bhaturey, Bengali snacks have maintained a low profile. And I have always been puzzled by the fact that the Bong snack - despite its wide range hasn't made a national mark. The range is truly enormous. There are cutlets and chops made out of vegetables, prawns, chicken, egg and mutton. You have all kinds of rolls, Mughlai paranthas (made with eggs) and dhakai paranthas (which are somewhat flaky). All that they need is a good lobbyist, and you'll see how they'll vie with the national snack champions, the idli and dosa.
One little place, which is doing its bit for the Bengali snack eater is Abhinandan in I.P. Extension. I used to often see its board (written in broad Bengali letters, with small English subtitles), but the shop was always shut. Then, one day a friend ordered some fish cutlets from Abhinandan.
The cutlets - thin slices of fish fillet crumbed and fried - were great to eat, so I went back to the shop. This time, I found it open - and saw that it had all kind of things from chops and cutlets (mostly around Rs.10 a piece) and even Mughlai paranthas (Rs.25).
The shop, open in the evenings, is next to Ramkrishna Vihar Society in Chandra Vihar, Patparganj. If you give them notice, they'll conjure up a simple thali consisting of rice, sabzi, daal and fish curry for Rs.40.
The stuff is good, even though the marketing is a bit poor. But I am okay with that. For I'd rather have a snack stall, even it is shut most of the day, than a Durga Puja committee.
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