My mother — as I have often said — couldn’t (or perhaps wouldn’t) boil an egg. But she had friends who could not just boil eggs, but also turn them into various kinds of Bengali delicacies. One aunt, in particular, wielded magic in the kitchen. Sakti Mashi’s food was something to die for. Her vegetable dishes, cooked with just a sprinkling of spices, or her fish, with tangy mustard, would leave us licking our fingers.
I am reminded of her every time someone serves me good Bengali food. I developed a taste for the cuisine rather late in my life, but now I am a lifetime member of the Bengali food lovers’ club. I remember the time when you didn’t get Bengali food anywhere outside of Bengali homes in Delhi. The few places that were there — such as Basu Lodge in Gole Market — were like pice hotels, serving wholesome but basic dishes.
Chholar dal
With the Internet, all that has changed. There are Bengali takeaways and Bengali chefs who deliver on order. I had food delivered from one such outfit a few days ago. The food was outstanding, but first let me tell you about the platform that brings regional cuisine and patrons together.
It’s called homefoodi (Homefoodi.com; telephone no: 9560107937). This site and app opens up the world of Indian regional food. Homefoodi has enlisted an army of home cooks who offer all kinds of delicious regional delicacies — Bengali, Maharashtrian, Rajasthani, Tamil, among others. A team from Homefoodi tests out the chefs, taking particular interest in the cleanliness measures adopted by them. Right now, they only deliver to areas in Noida, Greater Noida and Indirapuram.
My food came from an outlet known as Kimbodonti Rannaghar, run by a formidable chef called Sharmila Maity. These are trying times, for not every ingredient is easily available. Fresh fish is a problem, so I had a Bengali meal without any kind of fish. Instead, there was a dish of bottle gourd and shrimps, called lau chingri (₹150). I had asked for chholar dal , or chana dal (₹60) and shukto — a delicate dish of mixed vegetables (₹75). The chef sent me a steamed egg curry, fried pumpkin flower fritters, and a dessert that I am greatly fond of, bhapa doi (steamed, sweetened and flavoured hung curd; ₹90).
We had a great Bong meal, indeed. First the dal . The Bengali chholar dal is mildly sweet, a taste that I have grown to like. It also has bits of fried coconut in it, which I love. I had that with some rice, and then ate the shukto — brinjal, drumsticks, broad beans, radish, bitter gourd, and other such veggies, cooked with fried dal balls in a light, mildly bitter sauce. This was excellent, and set the tone for the next dish, the lau chingri .
The lau chingri in our house is rather nice, but this was different, and equally tasty, I thought. I had a feeling the bottle gourd had been cooked in a bit of milk, which gave it a creamy consistency. The egg dish — steamed omelette pieces in a tomato gravy — was interesting, and I ended the very satisfactory meal with a delicious bowl of bhapa doi . It was different from my mother-in-law’s memorable version, but I enjoyed it. I thought it was almost like a cheesecake.
The meal opened up the floodgates of memory. I finished the last bit of the bhapa doi , and remembered the aunts. They are up there somewhere, tempering food with panch phoron . And I guess my mother is looking at a boiled egg with considerable interest.
The writer is a seasoned food critic
