Bengali New Year recipes

This Bengali New Year (Poila Baishakh), relish in the goodness of Bengali food with authentic Bong cuisine recreated by Chef Prasenjit Ghosh at 25 Parganas at Hotel Sahara Star. He also shares some recipes for you to try at home.

Snacking option
When it comes to Bong food, you will not run out of options to snack on. Vegetable chop, beet bora, alu bhaja, beguni, khasta kochuri, singara and the list goes on. These crispy, deep fried snacks taste so amazing that you don’t mind cheating with your diet a little. A cup of tea makes for the perfect combination.

Here’s one of the exotic recipe: Beet Bora (Beetroot cutlets)
You need: carrot (1), beetroot (2), potato (1), peanuts (5 gms), green chilli paste (1 tea spoon), garam masala powder (a pinch), cumin powder (a pinch), coriander powder, salt, sugar, breadcrumbs (for coating) and oil (for frying).
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and give a good, semi-solid structure before you roll the preparation into cylindrical shapes. Once the shape is defined, apply the breadcrumb for the outer coating and shallow fry it. Serve it hot.

For the mains
A proper Bengali meal is meant to be sumptuous and elaborate – for both lunch or dinner. Some of the Indian breads like – Radhaballobhi, luchi, matorshuti kochuri, Dhakai porota are best accompanied by alu dom, chanar dallah or ghugni.

Here’s a quick recipe to try: Radhaballobhi and Narkel diye cholar dal (Puri and Dal)
You need for Radhaballobhi: Refined floor, Urad dal and saunf mixture.
Method: Prepare dough and make a round shape to which you can add the stuffing of Urad dal mixture. Flatten it into the size of a roti and then deep fry it.
You need for Narkel diye cholar dal: Boiled channa dal (100 gms), coconut chopped (20 gms), bay leaves (2), red chilly powder (1 tea spoon), turmeric (1 tea spoon), coriander, ghee (10 Gms), fennel seeds (1 tea spoon), ginger (5 gms), hing (a pinch) and saunf (a pinch).
Method of cooking: Add ghee to the hot pan followed by bayleaf, chopped ginger, green chilly paste, a pinch of turmeric, pinch of salt and very little sugar, little hing and fried coconut. Add the boiled channa dal to it and let it cook till it gets ready.

Dessert delicacy
Bengali’s are born with a ‘sweet tooth’ so don’t get spoilt for choice when you select your desserts. Well, Nolen gur ice-cream, roshogolla, sandesh, chamcham, malpua, pithay, payesh and the likes will make you forget your calorie count with every bite.

Here’s a quick recipe to try: Nolen gur ice-cream
You need: Milk (1 liter), mawa (500gm), nolen gur/jaggery, (1 cup)
Method to prepare: Take the jaggery in a sauce pan, add 1 tbsp water and place on low flame. The jaggery will start to melt, stir occasionally to get smooth syrup. Add one more tea spoon of water if you find the syrup is very thick. Keep it aside. Next, mix the mawa with 1/4 cup milk and use a whisk or a spoon to blend it smoothly. Keep it aside. Finally, mix the rest of the milk and jaggery, place on low flame and stir till it starts to simmer. Whisk gently on low flame for 2 minutes and the milk will start to thicken to a custard base. Take off from the oven and allow it to cool down. Next, pour in a flat metal tray, cover tightly with cling wrap and freeze. After 2 hours, take it out and using a fork start beating it. The idea here is to break as much ice crystals as possible. Cover and again freeze for 2 hrs. Do this at-least for 5 more times. Freeze over night and serve next day with some syrup drizzled on top.