The Bengali Lunch Spread

This is my 50th post and its a tribute to my parents.

I was lucky enough to be born in a traditional Bengali family.And a joint family for the matter.Whereas my uncle was a guardian of the house,my father too contributed to running the family.It is a practice that continues even to this date.And I consider myself even more fortunate because my aunty can cook up a storm of Bengali dishes which you will only find in a handful of Bengali homes.Bazaar was(and continues to be) done every morning by uncle and father. And boy should you listen to my aunty scolding uncle over the huge amount of vegetables and ingredients he used to bring home.The article below is the description of a lunch in a normal Bengali home.

A Bengali lunch typically starts with a "saag" along with kasundi. That is followed by a bhaja (or fries).It may range from bitter gourd,aubergine,potato,mishti kumro,chichingga r chech-kimkhosha bhaja. Children typically love potato fries;which when mapped to foreign shores equals "French Fries".That is followed by a Dal(Pulses): Moong,Musur,Bewli,Arhar,Matar,Chola etc. Dal is usually accompanied by a salad or consumed with the fries. The Bengali salad consists of thinly sliced(jhiri-jhiri) cumcumber,onion and tomato-all  mixed together and added a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and left for a couple of hours. The Dal done, then comes the day's vegetable bazaar. But there certain conditions too. For example, if Bewli(r) Dal is being served then its accompaniment needs to be a vegetable based on poppy seeds curry.Chola(r) Dal is sweet and goes
great with a fry. Or Musur Dal(I feel its the tastiest one) that goes great with the "Bengali" salad.  Vegetable curries may vary from Mochar Ghonto,Lau Ghonto,Panch Mishali Sobji,Jhinge Posto,Potol Dalna,Badha Kopir Ghonto,Lau er Jhol,Chalkumror ghonto,Fulkopir Dalna. Amongst the set of Bengali vegetable preparations available, there are some which are accompaniments(as I mentioned above) with the dal whereas the others are complete by themselves.

The vegetable is followed by the fish.Fishes and Bengalis are close synonyms and need no introduction.When we had gone to Pushkar Lake, I still remember the priest would not allow us near the lake, lest we catch the fishes!So, the fish curry, pretty much completes the meal. Chutney is served as the dessert and at times Dahi too is served.Most Bengali homes, in the old days, used to have fish curries which were based on sorsey(mustard), jeerey bata(cumin seed paste), garam masala;but hardly used onion.Onion-Ginger paste was only used in "Kalia" which are thick and rich Bengali curries.

Many Bengali households,even to this day, maintain a "eat only veg" day.Normally it is Saturday or Thursday.During a veg day, Dhoka,Paneer(Chana) becomes the main item of the lunch.

Also to be mentioned is the Sunday Meal. Normally the Bengali will not be having Chicken or Mutton in the week days.Fish serves as the chief protein source.But on a Sunday,apart from the regular courses,mostly Mutton(and Chicken only in a few cases) is a must. The idea of a Sunday lunch is an event by itself.All the kids and the male members  of the family will sit together for lunch which will be served by the female members.And because Sunday is a holiday,so everyone will be present and there may be an occassional guest who might be invited. All in all, its a great time which every one looks up to.We used to look up to Sunday because that was the day when we could have meat.But later these things changed. Chicken or Meat is no more special.Chicken has become a staple diet and repeated almost every other day in the house.Infact, fishes have become the Special meal!

In winters Oranges are shared by the family members in the warmth of the sunshine on the balcony.There are also numerous other features of a Bengali lunch which I would like to share at some other time!

Thanks for reading.Bon apetit!