When I was a child, Durga puja was synonymous with a revival of everything that the Bengali community held dear. It was a period of intense soul searching — digging out age-old social customs, musical and fashion traditions and cultural roots and observing them to the tiniest detail.
Religion happily gave way to an upsurge of a celebration of life, of the Bengali cultural identity and spirit — the elusive ‘Bangaliyana’ that every Bengali worth his/her salt coveted and sought.
The palate has always played an important role in every aspect of a true-blue Bengali’s life and Durga puja would be rung in with frenzied shopping for new clothes, shoes, home furnishings, gifts for loved ones as well as planning meals with family and friends.
My recollection of mealtimes during Durga puja is varied. I have spent several Puja holidays travelling — on jungle safaris, cross-country car trips, mountain treks or simply taking a break in small town. So my meals during this time ranged from a simple rice, yellow dal and alu sabzi rustled up by the chowkidar of a forest bungalow, a quick meal of hot roti-tadka dal with a plate of raw salad at a roadside dhaba , memorable meals with family and friends at Kolkata’s Chinese restaurants to a riotous Bengali feast on banana leaf plates.
The last often began with a large ladleful of fragrant sweet pulao (as bhog prasad ).
Then we moved on to steaming Gobindobhog rice with a dollop of ghee in the centre, crisp-fried vadis , shukto (bitters), savoury moong dal with crisp potato fries on the side, vegetable cutlets stuffed with crunchy peanuts, a seasonal vegetable curry, the choicest of fried fish, mutton curry ( paanthar mangshor Banglajhol cooked without a trace of onion or garlic; therefore said to be ‘vegetarian’), sweet chutney, thick payesh with an abundance of raisins and nuts (as bhogprasad ), mishti doi and sandesh or sweets like rosogolla or pantua . Homemade bonde (sweet yellow bundi balls soaked in sugar syrup) scooped out from the depths of an earthen handi often finished the meal. Needless to say that the last morsel was polished off.
Bulbul Biswas remembers the khichudi bhog served at the community Durga puja of Bhopal’s Arera Colony where she lived as a child. “There would be khichudi and laabda — the mixed vegetable curry with an abundance of green leafy vegetables which left the dish pleasantly moist — with the usual fries. Special dishes or items offered by individual families would be graciously accepted. People often offered bowls of homemade payesh .”
Her husband Soumitra Biswas spent a good part of his childhood in the Kharagpur railway colony where his father was posted. The Biswas family would spend the first two days of Puja checking out all the images in their locality and then catch the train to Kolkata on Mahashtami for their ancestral family home in Shyambajar.
“The sixth and seventh days were marked for pure vegetarian meals, completely devoid of meat, fish or even onions or garlic,” remembers Soumitra. “And rice was banned on both these days. So one had luchi (or poori if one had lived in the north, north-central or western India) with an enviable range of vegetarian curries and fries.”
The meal often ended with a sweet tomato chutney or mango candy-raisins-and-dates chutney, followed by a simple dinner of fruits, sweets and mishti doi .
After all, Navami was not too distant a dream. And Vijaya Dashami would only usher in a wave of blessings from the family elders, bonhomie with friends and the best of Bengali sweets to last till the next festival!
Mango candy and dates chutney (Aamshotto aar khejurer chutney)
Ingredients
Dates (whole) 500 gm
Raisins 50 gm
Tamarind paste 2 tsp
Paanch phoron mix 2/3rds tsp (dry mix of whole nigella, randhuni, fennel, fenugreek and cumin seeds)
Dry red chillies (whole) 3-4
Mustard oil 1 tbsp
Salt and sugar to taste
Water 1-2 cups
Method: Wash dates and raisins properly and soak in a cup of water for 15 minutes. Deseed the dates and chop lengthwise. Chop mango candy into small cubes.
Heat the oil in a wok and add paanchphoron and dry red chillies. When they splutter, add the dates and raisins along with the water. Add salt and sugar and let it boil lightly. Lower the heat; cover and cook for 5-6 minutes. Add mango candy and tamarind paste; cover and cook on simmer. Check after five minutes whether the mixture has thickened and taste it. Add more salt/ sugar if required. The taste should be a perfect blend of sweet and sour.
Take it off the heat when the chutney has thickened and the ingredients have blended well. Pour into a ceramic or glass bowl and set aside to cool after adding a pinch of roasted cumin powder from top.
Serve at the end of the meal with fried papad before serving the sweets and desserts
Pujobarir mutton
Ingredients
Mutton 500 gm (chopped to cooking size with bone)
Potatoes 250 gm (halved)
Coriander powder/paste 2 tsp
Cumin powder/ paste 2 tsp
Turmeric powder/paste 1 tsp
Kashmiri red chilli powder 2 tsp
Ginger paste 1 tbsp
Curd 2 tbsp
Green chillies (paste/ whole) 4 (optional)
Bay leaves 3
Garam masala powder (with nutmeg)/paste 1 tsp
Cardamom & clove (whole) 2-3 of each
Refined oil 150 gm
Ghee 2 tsp
Salt and sugar to taste
Method: Marinate the mutton and potatoes separately in a mixture of curd, turmeric paste/powder and Kashmiri chilli powder for an hour. Heat oil in the wok, add the halved potatoes, brown them and set side. Now add the bay leaves, whole cloves and cardamom. When they splutter, add the whole green chillies (optional) and the other spices (except the ghee and garam masala powder/paste). Reduce heat to medium and saute well. Add the mutton and stirfry. Add the potatoes and cook together for some time.
Add salt and sugar (to taste), add required water for pressure cooking and pour into pressure cooker. Pressure cook the meat for 10-15 minutes and remove from fire.
Add ghee and garam masala powder to the gravy just before serving and mix well. Serve hot with plain rice, pulao or luchi/poori.
Ganga-Jamuna fish
Ingredients
Becty fish fillets 500 gm (chopped into cooking size pieces)
Mustard oil 4 tbsp
Green chillies (whole) 4
Nigella seeds (kala jeera) a pinch
Tomato puree 2 tbsp
Mustard paste 1 tbsp
Turmeric paste/powder
Green chilli paste (optional) 2 tsp
Two frying pans
Salt to taste
Method: Wash the fish pieces properly, pat dry and marinate in turmeric and salt for 15 minutes. Pour two tbsp of oil in a wide-bottomed frying pan and add the fish pieces one by one when oil smokes. Fry lightly on both sides, add just enough water to cover the pieces, lower heat and cook with the lid on for five minutes. Lift the pieces out of the water when done and set aside. Set aside the remaining water.
Wipe the frying pan dry, add one tbsp oil and let it smoke. Add half a pinch of the nigella seeds. When they splutter, add tomato puree and two whole green chillies. Stir, add a little water, cover and simmer on medium heat till the flavours mix and the gravy thickens.
In the second frying pan, add the remaining oil and let it smoke. Add the remaining nigella seeds. When they splutter, add the mustard paste and the other two green chillies. Add turmeric paste and a little water. Cover and simmer on medium heat till the flavours mix and the gravy thickens. The two gravies should be thick like a spreading sauce when done.
Spread the two sauces — one yellow sauce and the other a red sauce — on either side of the fish pieces. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice or pulao.
