Coastal food sampling in Bombay

This post is long overdue. I had been to Bombay this November and my greatest foodie-buddie AP took me on a food tour. We sampled food in Bombay, Thane and Pune, trying make as wide a sampling as possible within a couple of days (I had to increase the number of meals in a day to accommodate all the variety).

Day 1:
Bombay - lunch at Sindhu Durga at Dadar West (land mark Maharashtra Navanirman Sena head quarters).
Sindhu Durga serves primarily Malwani/Konkani food. Our menu consisted of the following:

Mori mashala fry (spicy shark  fry)

Jawala Bhajji (jawala - tiny prawns, Bengali: কুচো চিংড়ি/ঘুষো চিংড়ি, bhajji - fry)
- This was dominated by fresh green chilli and chopped ginger.

Bombil fry - Bombil or Bombay duck is perhaps the favourite of coastal Maharashtra. In Bengali it is called bamaloh or loita (লইট্যা/লোটে)  and more popular among people from East Bengal. Most West Bengali's feel disgusted by its slithery look and thus this is one of the cheapest fish there. But let me assure you, it tastes fantastic when cooked properly. Sindhu Durga did a great job of this.

Rawas fry - Rawas is Indian Salmon, though I am not sure I know it. From images on the web it looks very similar to "ভোলা" in Bengali.

Kokamwati - Kokam is a fruit commonly used as spice in the west coast of India. It is somewhat sour in taste. Kokamwati is a tangy drink prepared from kokam.

Aamati - this is just spicy gravy (ঝোল in Bengali) accompanying rice.

[Malvani food eaten elsewhere]
Mutton Sagoti - Sagoti is a spicy curry with meat or fish. This has thick gravy.

Day 2:
Morning-Afternoon - Thane
Mamaledaraji mishal pav(adjacent to Collector's office, opposite Jila Parishad) - World's best mishal pav is available here (according to AP). Unfortunately, it is closed on Sunday, so I could not try it. In stead we had Mishal pav in a nearby restaurant and had this very special sweet made from the milk of postpartum cow.

Mahesh Lunch Home
Another common friend SD living in Thane took us to this place. Great food again, and here is our menu:

Crab soup - very similar to sweet corn soup, with crab meat in stead of corn

Surmai mashala fry - Surmai/Vanjaram is one of the more expensive fishes in India. This dish was not a dry fry, but had a kokam based thick gravy.

Prawn koliwada - crispy fried prawns

Clam masala - clams fried with lots of chopped onion, ginger and green chilli

Day 2 (evening):

Tea centre (next to Churchgate) - Thanks to AP and RS for taking me here. As the name suggests, this place is dedicated to tea. It in deed has a wide variety of fancy tea. We tried White tea, Earl Grey, Camomile and Herbal tea. This is the first commercial establishment where I found tea served in its full glory.

Roadside kebabs - We at some kebabs at a roadside stall near World Trade Centre in Bombay. This was a discovery of RS who is a regular customer now. The owner claims that his grandfather was a cook at Bade Miyan and that he inherits the recipes. The kebabs were good, if not exceptional. We missed kheeri kebab (kebab prepared from the meet of cow udder, supposed to be very juicy and should melt in the mouth) which, according to RS, is the most fantastic product of this shop.

Gokul's - is an unusual bar in Bombay. While it attracts very posh customers, the ambience is intentionally kept un-posh.

Baghdadi - a very busy restaurant a few steps off Gokul's on the other side of the road. The food is very cheap but not extraordinary.

Maggi noodles with leftovers - the ideal PhD diet

I should not take credit for this one: perhaps every grad student invents this one in by their second year. Wondering why it took me over five years to find out? Because I can actually cook!

Bragging apart, if you have some tasty left-overs from a Sunday lunch (or  parceled something from the restaurant because you are single and their serving sizes are too big for one person) and you are too lazy/drunk to go out for dinner, then this is a good choice.

Ingredients: 

Any noodles you have in stock.
Any leftover food you have.


Procedure:

1. Cook the noodles (I assume you are an expert with whatever you regularly eat) until 1 minute is left for it to get done.
2. Add the leftover food.
3. Cook for 1 more minute so that the noodles are fully done and the leftover stuff becomes warm.
4. Mix with a spoon and eat.

Stir-fried mushroom with chili-garlic-ginger

This was an impromptu by SK. I only helped with stirring!

Ingredients: 
Mushrooms - 200 g
Green chili - 5
Garlic - 10-15 cloves
Onion - 1 big
Ginger - 1" stick
Salt - according to taste
Soy sauce - 1/2 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Chop the mushrooms into quarters by slicing it twice along the length (through the stock and head) in perpendicular directions.
2. Chop the ginger into thick shreds (~1 mm thick). Chop the garlic cloves coarsely. Chop the green chilies into thick rings (0.5-1 cm wide). Chop the onions into long thick slices.
3. Heat the butter in a pan. Add the onions and fry until golden. Add the mushrooms. Add the soy sauce. Stir slowly.
4. As water starts coming out of the mushrooms, add the chopped chili, garlic and ginger. Add salt. Stir slowly and mix. Depending on the amount of water, you may want to cook it on high flame.
5. Take it off the flame when the mushrooms become soft. Don't cook too much lest the mushrooms become soggy. They should rather be slightly undercooked so as to maintain the crispiness. The point of adding the chopped chili, garlic and ginger late is to keep them also slightly undercooked and fresh.

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Bengali version
==========================

উপকরণ:
 

মাশরুম - ২০০ গ্রাম

কাঁচা লংকা - ৫ টি
রসুন - ১০ - ১৫ কোয়া
আদা - ১ ইঞ্চ লম্বা টুকরো
পেঁয়াজ - ১ টি বড়
সয়া সস - ১/২ কাপ
মাখন/রান্নার তেল - ২  টেবিল চামচ
লবন - স্বাদমত
 


 পদ্ধতি:

1.  মাশরুম গুলি-কে লম্বা-লম্বি চার টুকরো করে কাটুন.
2. আদা সরুসরু করে কুচি করুন. পেঁয়াজকেও লম্বা টুকরো করে কাটুন. রসুনকোয়াগুলিও অল্প কুচিয়ে নিন. কাঁচা লংকাগুলি চাকা চাকা করে কুচি করুন.
3. একটি চ্যাপ্টা পাত্রে বা কড়াই-তে তেল বা মাখন গরম করুন. গরম হয়ে গেলে পেঁয়াজ কুচি ছেড়ে দিয়ে হালকা করে ভাজুন. এর পর মাশরুম ছেড়ে দিন. ওপরে সয়া সস ছড়িয়ে দিন. ধীরে ধীরে নেড়ে মিশিয়ে দিন.
4. মাশরুম থেকে জল বেরোতে শুরু করলে বাকি মশলা ঢেলে দিন. হালকা করে নেড়েচেড়ে মিশিয়ে দিন. খুব বেশি জল বেরোলে বেশি তাপে রান্না করুন.
5. মাশরুম মোটামুটি নরম হয়ে এলে নামিয়ে নিন. মাশরুম যেন বেশি সেদ্ধ না হয় - তাতে কুড়মুড়ে ভাব-টা নষ্ট হয়ে যাবে. লংকা, রসুন আর আদাকুচি দেরিতে দেবার কারণ-ও একটু কাঁচা ভাব বজায় রাখা. এটি খেতে স্যালাড আর চচ্চড়ি-র মাঝামাঝি হবে. বেশি করে লংকা, আদা আর রসুন দেওয়ায় বেশ ঝাল ঝাল হবে.

Lentil soup with fish head (maachher matha diye mug daal)

This dish is a minor variation of regular moong daal. But it tastes fantastic.

Ingredients:

Head of a large rohu (or head of any large freshwater fish with enough brains and flesh and not too bony)
Rest of the ingredients are the same as lentil soup.

Procedure:

Same as regular lentil soup, except that you have to boil the fish head along with the lentils. You may want to break up the head with a spoon in step 4.

Mutton raan with fenugreek seeds

This was a greenhorn project (I never cooked any tandoori dishes before) fully from imagination. But I liked the end-product. This was done in a microwave-tandur combo oven. So I cannot guarantee the timings will be same on other systems.

Ingredients:
Lamb/goat raan (hind leg along with the buttock and the thigh) - 1 (~1Kg)
Ginger paste - 50 g
Cumin powder - 4 tbsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder -  4 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Nigella seeds - 1 tsp
Green chilies - 8-10
Salt - 4 tbsp (or according to taste)
Oil/Ghee - 1.5 cup

Procedure:

1. Wash the leg and make shallow pricks on the outer surface with a fork.
2. Marinate it with oil, salt, ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder and red chili powder. Mix it well with your hands and and rub it on the meat for some time (10-15 minutes) and spread it evenly.
3. Make a small slit through the middle of the green chilies. Keep the stalk intact.
4. Now make some evenly spaced deep  (up to the centre) holes into the meat with a sharp and narrow knife.
5. Insert the green chilies into some of these holes (only the stalk should stick out). In others insert a few fenugreek seeds (3-4) and nigella seeds (6-8) with the back of a spoon or something blunt.
6. Keep at room temperature for at least 3 hours.
7. Put it in tandoor (convection)-microwave combi mode of your oven at 360 mW power and 180 C temperature for 45-60 minutes. I had to do trial and error here: initially I wrapped it in an aluminium foil and put it in tandoor only mode for 20 minutes. It dried up and was uncooked. So I applied some ghee on its surface and put it for another 20 minutes in combi-mode twice (remove the aluminium foil when using combi/microwave ) dabbing it with some ghee. At the end it was slightly undercooked inside and hence it had to be put in full microwave mode at 240 mW for 5 minutes.

Reasoning behind the recipe:

While ginger paste, chili, cumin and coriander powders are very common ingredients, the unique flavour of the dish came from the fenugreek and nigella seeds. The reason I thought of adding them was that these whole dry seeds give out the best of their fragrance when dry roasted. Both the seeds have very pleasant and delicious smell (roasted and powdered nigella seed is a very effective component of baits for pond-fish in Bengal). So whole seeds seemed ideal for roasted dishes. Also I did not want them to loose all the smell in convection and it should rather go into the meat - hence I buried them into the flesh. At the end, it turned out just the way I wanted.

Bengali version below:
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তন্দুরী রান 

এইটি আমার প্রথম তন্দুরী রান্নার অভিজ্ঞতা. কিন্তু শেষ পর্যন্ত বেশ ভালই দাঁড়ায়.

উপকরণ:

পাঁঠার পিছনের পা - ১ টি গোটা (১ - ১.৩ কেজি )

আদা বাটা - ৫০ গ্রাম

লংকা গুঁড়ো - ১ চা চামচ
ধনে গুঁড়ো - ৪ টেবিল চামচ
মেথি - ১ চা চামচ
কালো জিরা - ১ চা চামচ
কাঁচা লংকা - ৮-১০ টি
লবণ - ৪ টেবিল চামচ বা স্বাদমত
তেল বা ঘি - ১.৫ কাপ 

পদ্ধতি:

১। রান-টি জলে ধুয়ে পরিষ্কার করে নিয়ে একটি কাঁটা চামচ দিয়ে বাইরেটায় ফুটো ফুটো করে দিন।
২। ১ কাপ তেল বা ঘি, লবণ, জিরা গুঁড়ো, ধনে গুঁড়ো, লংকাগুঁড়ো রান-এর গায়ে ভাল করে মাখিয়ে দিন। যত বেশি সময় ধরে ঘষে ঘষে মাখাবেন তত স্বাদ খুলবে।
৩। এবার রান-এর গায়ে একটি সরু ছুরি দিয়ে সমান দূরত্বে গভীর কিছু ছিদ্র করুন (রান-এর প্রায় কেন্দ্র পর্যন্ত)।
৪। কাঁচালংকাগুলির মাঝখানে ছুরি দিয়ে একটি করে ছোটো ছিদ্র করে দিন।   রান-এর গায়ের ছিদ্রগুলির মধ্যে একটি করে লংকা ঢুকিয়ে দিন যেন শুধু বোঁটাটুকু বেরিয়ে থাকে। কিছু ছিদ্রে ৩-৪ দানা মেথি ও ৭-৮ দানা কালোজিরা ভরে চামচের পিছনদিক দিয়ে ঠুসে দিন।
৫। এই অবস্থায় অন্ততঃ ৩ ঘণ্টা রেখে দিন।
৬। এবারে তন্দুর-এ দিয়ে রান্না করুন। অবশিষ্ট তেল/ঘি একটি তুলি বা চামচ দিয়ে মাঝে মাঝে মাংসের গায়ে বুলিয়ে দিন যাতে শুকনো না হয়ে যায়। (আমি ইলেকট্রিক্যাল অভেন-এ রান্না করেছিলাম। এতে combi-mode-এ ১৮০ ডিগ্রী উষ্ণতায় এবং ৩৬০ মিলিওয়াট শক্তি-তে প্রায় ১ ঘণ্টা রান্না করার পরে মাংসের গায়ে চামচ দিয়ে ঘি বুলিয়ে দিতে হবে। শেষে ৫ মিনিট পুরোপুরি microwave mode-এ ২৪০ মিলিওয়াট শক্তি তে রান্না করার পর মাংস ভিতর অবধি সিদ্ধ হয়ে গেছিল।) মাংস সিদ্ধ হয়েছে কি না বোঝার জন্যে একটি কাঁটা চামচ ওর মধ্যে গেঁথে দিন। সহজেই মাঝখান পর্যন্ত ঢুকে গেলে বুঝতে হবে যে মাংস রান্না হয়ে গেছে।

Tomato chutney (টমাটো চাটনি, )

Chutney is something between a pickle and a desert. It is normally eaten after the main dish but before the desert. On an ordinary day, most Bengalees finish their meal licking a few spoonfuls of chutney (chutney literally means something to be licked and belongs to "chushya (चुष्य)" class of food). It is commonly sweet and sour and usually based on some sour vegetable. Tomato chutney is the most popular form of it. The base is tomato and sugar. The flavour is created by cumin, nigella, fenugreek, fennel and mustard seed, dry red chili and bay leaves.

The character of chutney can vary from  almost completely sour to tangy to completely sweet (by increasing the proportion of sugar).


Ingredients:

Tomato - 250 g (chopped into 8 pieces each)

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Paanch phoron - 1 tbsp

Dried red chili - 2

Bay leaves - 2

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Dried mango pulp (mango bar/ আমসত্ত্ব , आम पापड) - 50 g (optional) chopped into 1/2" cubes

Dried dates - 5-10 pieces (optional) with seeds removed and split into 2 - 4

Procedure:

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan.
2. Add red chilies, bay leaves and paanchphoron. 
3. After 20 seconds add the tomatoes.
4. Sauté the tomatoes until the skin starts coming off.
5. Add the dates and the dried mango pulp and sauté' for 1/2 a minute.
6. Add the sugar, keep mixing until it starts melting and dissolving into the juice of the tomato. (If you prefer the taste of caramelized sugar, then add the sugar before the tomatoes and let it melt and add the tomatoes as the sugar starts to caramelize).
7. Add two cups of water and the salt. If you want it to be tangy, add a little extra salt and squeeze some lemon juice into the dish at the end. If you want it to be completely sweet, skip the salt.
8. Bring it to boil, and keep it in low flame until the tomatoes are cooked. You may need to scrape anything sticking to the bottom once in a while. 
9. You may grind some dry roasted cumin and sprinkle it on top before serving. Garnishing with some chopped coriander leaves will also add flavour. 

NOTE: You can add many other fruits into chutney: grapes, chopped apple,  pomegranate, chopped pineapple go well with chutney. You need to add the pineapple early (while saute-ing ), whereas  the others are better added towards the end to keep them fresh.

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Bengali version:
=======================


টমেটো চাটনী
উপকরণ:
টমেটো - ২৫০ গ্রাম
চিনি - ১/২ কাপ বা স্বাদমত
পাঁচফোড়ন - ১ টেবিল চামচ
শুকনো লংকা - ২ টি
তেজপাতা - ২ টি
লবণ - ১/৪ চা চামচ বা স্বাদমত
আমসত্ত্ব - ৫০ গ্রাম (সম্ভব হলে)
শুকনো খেজুর - ৫-১০ টি
কিশমিশ্ - ১০-২০ টি

পদ্ধতি:
১। টমেটো গুলি ৮ টুকরো করে কাটুন।
২। খেজুরগুলি বীজ বাদ দিয়ে জলে ধুয়ে রাখুন।
৩। আমসত্ত্ব ১/২" পুরু ও ১" চৌকো টুকরো করে কেটে রাখুন।
৩। কড়ায় তেল গরম করে তাতে শুকনো লংকা, পাঁচফোড়ন ও তেজপাতা ফোড়ন দিন।
৪। ফোড়ন বাদামী হয়ে এলে (১৫-২০ সেকেণ্ড পরে) টমেটো কুচি দিয়ে দিন। টমেটো গলে গেলে চিনি দিন এবং চিনি গলে যাওয়া পর্যন্ত খুন্তি দিয়ে নাড়াতে থাকুন।  (আগে চিনি-ও দিতে পারেন, এক্ষেত্রে চিনি গলে গিয়ে বাদামী হতে শুরু করলে টমেটো দিন। অনেকে caramelized চিনির স্বাদ পছন্দ করেন)।
৫। এবার খেজুর, কিশমিশ্, আমসত্ত্ব দিয়ে খুন্তি দিয়ে মিশিয়ে দিন। মিনিট খানিক নাড়াচাড়া করুন।
৬। দু কাপ জল দিয়ে লবণ দিয়ে দিন।
৭। টমেটো সিদ্ধ না হওয়া পর্যন্ত কম আঁচে ফোটান।
৮। পরিবেশন করার আগে ১/৪ চা চামচ জিরা ভেজে গুঁড়ো করে ছড়িয়ে দিন। ধনেপাতা কুচিও ছড়িয়ে দিতে পারেন।

পুনশ্চ:চাটনীতে অনেক ফল-ই দেওয়া যায়। আঙ্গুর, বেদানা, আপেলকুচি, আনারসের কুচি জল ফুটে ওঠার পরে দিতে পারেন।

Ridge gourd with poppy seeds (ঝিঙে পোস্ত)

This is one of the simplest yet tastiest vegetarian bengali dishes. It is best eaten with rice and moong daal.

Ingredients:

Poppy seeds (Hindi: khas khas, Bengali: posto) - 2 tbsp

Onion (optional) - 1 medium (chopped into long thin slices)

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Bay leaves - 2-3

Green chili - 3

Ridge gourd - 500 g

Potato - 200 g

Cooking oil - 4 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Soak the poppy seeds in water for 1/2-1 hour and grind into a fine paste.Adding a pinch of salt helps in grinding. You may also want to grind a green chili along with it for enhanced taste.
2. Peel the the potatoes and chop them into into 0.5" cubes. 
3. Peel the ridge gourds (you may leave some skin) and chop them into 1"-2" long and 1/2"-3/4" thick pieces.
4. Heat 2 tablespoonfuls of oil in a pan and fry the potatoes till golden brown and keep aside.
5. Heat 2 tablespoonfuls of oil (use the oil left over from frying the potatoes, add more if needed), and add the bay leaves followed by green chilies and onions. Fry until the onions turn golden.
6. Add the poppy seed paste and keep stirring in medium heat for a minute.
7. Add the potatoes and the ridge gourd and add the turmeric powder. Mix until the poppy seed paste is evenly distributed. 
8. Add two cups of water and and salt to taste (1 tsp should be enough).
9. Cover and cook in low flame until the potatoes and the ridge gourds are done.

Lentil soup with golden gram ( মুগ ডাল, मुंग दाल)

Ingredients (for serving 4 people):

Moog daal (Golden gram) - 100 g(note - daal refers to the broken and husked lentils)

Paanch phoron - 2 tbsp

Bay leaves - 3

Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Onion (optional) - 1 medium (chopped into long thin slices)

Green chili - 2 (slit into two)

Dried red chili - 2

Ghee or oil - 4 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Dry roast the daal until a strong fragrance comes out. You have to keep stirring and mixing to roast it evenly. Stop as soon as you start noticing some of the lentils getting brown (once you get the idea of the smell, stop a little earlier - just before it starts getting brown). This is the specialbengali/east indian step in the process and gives it a unique flavour, rest of India cooks it without frying.
2. Boil the daal in a pressure cooker (possibly with 5 cups of water). You can boil it in regular pot as well. But it takes a long time to get done. And if the water is hard, then it may actually get tough with boiling. So pressure cooking is your best option. Cook up to  two or three whistles depending on whether you like it a little grainy or totally mashed.
3. In a wok (usually a kadai) heat up the ghee or oil. Add the dried red chilies, bay leaves and paanch phoron and let it splutter for 20 seconds. Then add the green chilies and the onion.
4. Once the onion becomes soft and transparent or golden brown (depending on your taste), pour the boiled daal. Add turmeric powder and salt to taste.
5. Add more water if it is too thick. Bring it to boil and then take it off the stove.
6. Dry roast the cumin seeds (often done by holding it in a metal ladle over a low flame) to a dark brown colour. Then grind it into a coarse powder and sprinkle it over the daal. Adding dollop of butter or ghee at the end will enhance the flavour.
7. You may garnish this with chopped coriander leaves and serve. Daal is a the most popular side dish in most of India. In the east, where the rice is cooked plain (with water only, no salt or spices), it is mixed with rice in the plate to create a background taste and eaten with another side dish (usually a vegetable dish or fried fish) as the foreground.

Hilsa curry with eggplant ( বেগুন দিয়ে ইলিশ ঝোল )

 Ingredients:

Hilsa - 500 g (buy ~650 g - which should become ~500 g after cleaning)

Eggplant - 200 g (1 medium)
Potatoes - 2 medium (optional)

Green chili - 3 (slit longitudinally)

Nigella seeds - 1 teaspoonful

Turmeric powder - 1.5 teaspoonful

Red chili powder - 1 teaspoonful (or less if you want it less spicy)

Salt - according to taste

Hilsa is considered the King of Fishes in terms of taste. It takes minimal effort to cook but maximum effort to eat. Its flesh is very soft, has a lot of oil and a special strong smell which is considered so delicious that whatever way it is cooked, it tastes great. Actually, the only strong spice that goes with Hilsa is mustard, anything else will kill the special flavour of the fish itself. It is also one of the few fishes that do not always need to be fried before cooking.
But one must be very careful when eating Hilsa. It is said that every kilogram of Hilsa has 10,000 bones. The bones (especially in flesh around the spine) are vey small, so you can start chewing the fish and separate the bones in your mouth by feeling them and moving them between your teeth  slowly with your tongue. The bones in the belly meat are bigger and are better separated with fingers.

Procedure:

1. Marinate the fish with 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of turmeric, 1 teaspoonful of red chili powder for 15 minutes.
2. Chop the eggplant into ~3" long, ~1.5" wide and ~1" thick pieces. If it is a big one, first cut it crosswise into 3" long parts. Then take each part and have it lengthwise. Then make parallel 1" thick cuts lengthwise.
3. If adding potatoes, chop them into long thick pieces [ 1 crosswise cut, three parallel lengthwise cuts ( ||| ) and another two lengthwise cuts perpendicular to these three (=)] or about the same size as the eggplant.
4. Marinate the eggplant pieces with 1/2 teaspoonful of tureric powder and 1/2 teaspoonful of salt and 1 tablespoonful of oil. It tends to  absorb the oil fast. So mix these quickly (or add more oil) and evenly to give the eggplant pieces an even quote of the spices.
5. Lightly stir fry the eggplant pieces.
6. If using potatoes, lightly stir fry them too.
7. In whatever oil is left over (1 tablespoonful should be enough), add the nigella seeds as phoron. Within 10-20 seconds, add the slit green chilis. 
8. Add water after ~20-30 seconds. 
9. If you are using potatoes add them now and let cook until they are almost cooked. Then add the eggplant pieces and the marinated fish. Otherwise, add the eggplant pieces and the fish right away.
10. Cook until the fish is done (another 10 minutes in medium/low flame with cover) .
11. You may garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Odori Don - dancing-squid rice bowl (may look disgusting!)

I have never cooked or tasted this dish and I am not sure I would enjoy it (I did not like raw squid in my first attempt). There is a bit of neuroscience involved (remember Hodgkin and Huxley and the Squid giant neuron?). Posting it for the
novelty.

Begun Basanti (বেগুন বাসন্তী, बेगुन बासंती ) - egg-plant curry with curd and mustard paste

I used this recipe with slight variation: http://saffronstreaks.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/begun-basanti-eggplants-in-mustard-sauce-bengali-style/

There are many variations of this recipe and also different recipes with the same name in the Internet.

The following modification were made from the above mentioned page:

Ingredients: 

Instead of yellow mustard, I used black mustard. This has much stronger flavour, so I added only 2/3 tablespoonful (still the mustard flavour hit you at every bite).

Procedure:

Instead of mixing the mustard with the curd, I first fried the mustard and ginger paste in oil tempered with a 1 teaspoonful of nigella seeds.

Then added the beaten curd mixed with chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt.

Brought the mixture to boil.

In another pan, put a layer of golden-fried onions, then a layer of semi-fried eggplant, then another layer of onions and another layer of eggplant.

Poured the boiling mixture of curd and spices on top.

Covered it and cooked for 5 minutes.

==============================
Bengali version:
==============================
বেগুন বাসন্তী

বেগুন বাসন্তী যে ঠিক কি আমার জানা নেই। ইণ্টারনেটে বেগুন রান্নার রেসিপি খুঁজতে খুঁজতে বেগুন বাসন্তী নামে একাধিক খাবারের সন্ধান পেলাম যাদের মধ্যে বেগুন প্রধান উপকরণ হওয়া ছাড়া আর কোনো মিল নেই।

সব দেখে শুনে এই রেসিপি-টি মনে হল সহজ এবং সুস্বাদু হবে। তাই একেই একটু এদিক ওদিক করে চমত্কার একটা  ডিশ্ হয়ে গেল।

উপকরণ:
বেগুন - ১ টি বড়
পেঁয়াজ - ২ টি বড়
সাদা সর্ষে - ৪-৫ টেবিল চামচ (আমি কালো সর্ষে ২-৩ টেবিল চামচ ব্যবহার করেছিলাম)
কালো জিরা - ১ চা চামচ
দই - ১/২ কাপ
কাঁচালংকা - ৩-৪ টি
আদা বাটা - ১ চা চামচ
হলুদ গুঁড়ো - ১/৪ চা চামচ
জিরা গুঁড়ো - ১ চা চামচ
ধনে গুঁড়ো - ১/২ চা চামচ
লংকা গুঁড়ো - ১ চা চামচ (বা স্বাদ মত)
গরম জল - ১/২ কাপ
লবণ এবং চিনি - স্বাদমত
সর্ষের তেল - ভাজা ও রান্নার জন্যে দরকার মত
ধনে পাতা কুচি - শেষে সাজানোর জন্যে

পদ্ধতি:
১। সর্ষে ১-২ ঘণ্টা জলে ভিজিয়ে রেখে ২-টি কাঁচালংকা সহ মিহি করে বাটুন
২। বেগুনটিকে লম্বালম্বি মোটা ফালি করে কাটুন (প্রথমে দৈর্ঘ্য বরাবর আড়াআড়ি দুবার কেটে চারটি সমান ভাগ করুন, তারপর প্রতিটি ভাগকে লম্বা লম্বা ফালি করুন - যেমন বেগুনী-তে দেওয়া হয়, তবে অনেক পুরু হবে)। বেগুন-এ সামান্য লবণ, হলুদ গুঁড়ো ও সর্ষের তেল দিয়ে মাখিয়ে রাখুন।
৩। দই এর সাথে লংকা গুঁড়ো, জিরা গুঁড়ো, ধনে গুঁড়ো, চিনি এবং লবণ দিয়ে ভালো করে ফেটিয়ে রাখুন।
৪। বেগুনের টুকরো গুলি হাল্কা করে ভেজে রাখুন।
৫। পেঁয়াজগুলিকে সরু লম্বা কুচি করে সোনালি করে ভেজে রাখুন।
৬। গরম তেলে কালো জিরা ফোড়ন দিয়ে তাতে সর্ষে বাটা আর আদা বাটা দিযে নাড়তে থাকুন। খানিকটা ভাজা হলে ফেটানো দই ঢেলে দিয়ে ভালো করে মেশান।
৭। দই ফুটতে ফুটতে আর একটি গভীর কড়ায় বা প্রেসার কুকারে এক পরত ভাজা পেঁয়াজ ছড়িয়ে তার উপর এক পরত আধভাজা বেগুন, তার উপরে আবার এক পরত পেঁয়াজ ভাজা, এরকম করে স্তরে স্তরে সাজিয়ে অল্প আঁচে দিন।
৮। ফুটন্ত দৈ-এর মিশ্রণ এই বেগুন ও পেঁয়াজ-এর উপর ঢেলে দিয়ে ঢাকা দিয়ে দিন। বেশি ঘন হয়ে গেলে গরম জল মিশিয়ে দিন।
৯। ৫ মিনিট ফোটার পর বেগুনগুলি সিদ্ধ হয়ে যাবে। তখন নামিয়ে উপরে ধনেপাতাকুচি ছড়িয়ে পরিবেশন করুন।

Jhaal jhinge (Hot ridge-gourd)

Ingredients:
Ridge gourd - 300 g
Onion (medium) - 1  (long thick slices)
Green chili - 5-10 (whole or slit into two longitudinally)
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Oil - 1/4 cup
Salt - according to taste
Any hard drink (according to taste) with >= 45% alcohol v/v - 350 ml or more

Procedure:

1. Remove the outer hard part of the skin of the ridge gourd. Chop it into 2" long and 1/2" thick pieces (should come to the shape and size of the green chilies after cooking).
2. Heat the oil in a deep pan.
3. Add the onion and fry until soft.
4. Add the chilies.
5. When the chilies start to lose colour, add the ridge gourd.
6. Keep tossing and mixing with a spatula until the ridge gourd softens and loses colour.
7. The ridge gourd should release a lot of water. You can add 1/2 a cup of water if required. Add turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well.
8. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes (until the ridge gourd is completely done)
   . The end result should have little gravy, but not completely dry either.
9. Serve the alcohol to your subject first.
10. Once you are convinced that the chap is drunk, serve the "jhaal jhinge" (preferably with some white rice).
11. The subject will get all shaken up (especially when chewing a green chili - which is now indiscernible from the gourd) and appreciate the food, while struggling to figure out if they are selling hot ridge gourd in the market these days. Keep ample ample amount of drinking water and/or sugar handy.
12. If the subject is bigger than you, make sure you have a life-insurance before starting any of this.
13. If you are not using alcohol, reduce the amount of chili to 1-2.

Kumro-r chhakkaa (Dry pumpkin curry)

Ingredients:
Pumpkin - 300 g
Sprouted gram - 50 g
Dried red chili -  2
Tejpatta - 2
Paanch phoron - 2 teaspoonfuls
Green chili - 1 (chopped)
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoonful
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Onion - 2  medium (chopped into long thin slices)
Sugar - 1 pinch
Oil - 1/2 cup

Procedure:

1. Wash the red gourd, remove seeds and peel it. Cut it into 1" cubes.
2. Mix 1/2 teaspoonful salt and 1/2 teaspoonful turmeric powder with the pumpkin pieces.
3. Chop the onions into thin long slices.
4. Chop the green chilies.
5. Heat the oil in a pan.
6. Add the paanch phoron, red chilies and tejpatta.
7. After the spices get brown (20-30 seconds), add the green chili and the onion.
8. When the onion becomes soft, add the sprouted grams. Cook for 5 minutes at medium heat.
9. Add the pumpkin. Sprinkle the turmeric, coriander and cumin powder and a pinch of sugar. Stir and mix well.
10. Cover and cook under low heat for ~15 minutes (until the pumpkin pieces are well done). If the pumpkin is too dry, it may tend to get stuck at the bottom of the pan. Dash a little water to avoid this.

Kaanch kalaa-r koptaa (Raw-banana balls cooked in spicy gravy)

Ingredients:
For  banana balls:
Raw banana - 3
Red chili powder - 1/4 teaspoonful
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoonful
Coriander seeds - 1/2 teaspoonful
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoonful
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1/2" stick
Green cardamom - 2 pods
Asafoetida - 1 dash (optional)

For gravy:
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Green chili - 3
Onion - 2 medium (chopped to thin slices/ grated coarsely)
Ginger paste - 3/4 teaspoonful
Garlic paste (optional) - 1/2 teaspoonful (or 3 pods smashed)
Tejpatta - 2
Oil - 1/2 cup

Procedure:

1. First boil the raw bananas in water. After they are cooked, remove the peels.
2. Dry roast the mustard, cumin and coriander seeds. Powder them along with the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. These are the spices that go into making the banana balls and are not fixed. Experiment with other spices like ajwain, fenugreek, fennel and nigella seeds. I have tried fennel and nigella seeds and they go fine.
3. Mix this powder, red chili powder, salt to taste (1/2 teaspoonful should be enough) and a dash of asafoetida with the peeled banana and mash it. If it is too watery, you may add a couple of tablespoons of flour. Mix it all as evenly as you can.
4. Make small balls out of the mashed banana (about 3 cm in diameter). 
5. Heat two tablespoonfuls of oil in a pan and fry the banana balls to golden brown. You may need to do a few batches of frying. Add more oil as required.
6. In the same oil add the green chillies and tejpatta. After 10-15 seconds add the ginger paste and the garlic paste. After another 20-30 seconds add the onion and fry it till golden brown.
7. Add a cup of water and bring to boil.
8. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Add salt to taste. Mix it well.
9. Once the gravy starts boiling again, place the banana-balls into it so that they are just dipped in the gravy and are separated from one another.
10. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. The gravy should become quite thick.
11. You may garnish it with chopped coriander leaves before serving. If you want to make it stand out as a special dish, spread additional powdered garam masala on top just before serving.

Narkel chingri (Prawns cooked in coconut milk also called prawn malai curry)

Ingredients:
Prawns - 250 g (medium sized - 2-3 inches long)
Coconut - 1(or coconut milk - 1.5 cup)
Chili powder - 1/2 teaspoonful
Green chili - 2
Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoonful
Salt - according to taste
Cooking oil - 3 tablespoonfuls
Tejpatta - 2-3
Sugar  - 1 pinch
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoonful (optional)
Coriander powder - 1 pinch (optional)
Ginger paste - 1 teaspoonful (optional)
Coriander leaves - 10-20 (optional)

Procedure:

1. Extract the milk from the coconut. You can buy packed coconut milk (powder) in the market but that lacks the flavour of fresh coconut. To extract milk from the coconut, first break it and then grate the kernel. Next take a handful of the grated kernel and squeeze out the milk into a container. You can also take it in a piece of clean cloth and squeeze. Usually not all the milk comes out in the first go. Mix a little warm water (~1/4 cup) into the grated kernel and squeeze it again to extract the remaining milk.
2. Clean the prawns if necessary: remove the shell (leave the bit over tail - which is hard to remove anyway) and the legs and the eyes and the antennae. You can soak them in a little warm water to ease the cleaning. The shell is tightly connected to the flesh in fresh prawns, and the staler it gets the looser the shell becomes. Next, devein the prawns: make a slit on the back of each prawn to reach the blue/black-ish vein (which is the animals gut) and pull it out. You can find videos in youtube showing how to do it.
3. Mix turmeric powder, 1 tablespoonful of oil, chili powder and salt with the prawns and let it marinate for 10-15 minutes.
4. Heat 2 tablespoonfuls of oil in a pan and lightly fry the prawns. They will turn golden brown, the shells turning orange/red. Take them out of the pan and keep aside.
5. Add the sugar and the tejpatta into the same pan (hopefully with some oil left in it, add more if you want).
6. Slit the green chilies into two halves and put them into the pan. Add the ginger paste (optional).
7. After stir-frying for about 20-30 seconds (as the chilies fade in colour and become soft and the ginger paste turns brown), pour the coconut milk. Bring it to boil.
8. Add the coriander and cumin powder and mix it into the coconut milk. Add salt according to taste.
9. Add the prawns and cover the pan. Cook until the prawns are done. Prawns take really short time to cook (5-10 minutes of boiling, and they are already half cooked by frying). If you cook them for too long they become rubbery. Break a piece after about 7 minutes and see if the inside has turned opaque white. That is an indicator of being cooked enough. Correctly cooked fresh prawns will be soft and juicy.
10. Remove the pan from heat, garnish with chopped coriander leaves before serving.

Maach-er jhaal (Fish curry with mustard paste)

The main difference between jhol and jhaal is that the latter has a thicker gravy and is spicier. “Jhaal” literally means (spicy-hot, like the taste of chilly-pepper). In its most common form, jhaal gravy is based on mustard paste. Fish with strong smell (like most sea-fish and some carnivorous catfish like boal [wallago] ) are almost exclusively cooked this way as the mustard covers up the smell.

Ingredients:

Fish - 250 g

Mustard - 1 teaspoonful

Nigella seeds - ½ teaspoonful (optional)

Onion - 2 medium (optional)

Green chilly - 2 (each slit into two)

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoonful

Potatoes - 2 medium (optional).

Procedure:

1. Marinate the fish the same way as in jhol.
2. You may fry the fish as in jhol. But this is optional as some people like the fishy-smell mixed with mustard smell.
3. Potatoes, if added, are to be cut into long thin pieces (longitudinally | | - _ ) and can be fried beforehand (just like jhol).
4. Chop the onions into long thin pieces.
5. The mustard should soaked in water to soften them (~10-15 minutes) and then ground to fine paste.
6. In heated oil, add the green chillies (and optionally the nigella seeds). After 10-15 seconds add the onion and fry until golden brown.
7. You may add the mustard paste now and stir it for about a minute so that it loses any excess water and becomes slightly darker in colour. You can skip the mustard at this stage and add it after adding water.
8. (Optional) Add the potatoes and fry for ~2 minutes
9. Add water. In jhaal the gravy is very thick. So control the amount of water so that after boiling it will reduce to just enough for dipping the fish. Some prefer the gravy to be like a thick coating of sauce on the fish.
10. Once the water starts boiling, add the turmeric powder and salt to taste. If you skipped the mustard paste in step 7, add it now. Stir and mix it well into the water.
11. Just like jhol, add the fish when the potatoes are almost done. If you are not adding potatoes, add the fish when the gravy starts to look uniform and well mixed. The onions should have become very soft by that time.
12. Cook until the fish gets done.

Kaalo jeera diye maacher jhol (Fish curry with nigella seeds)

Same as “Maacher jhol”, except that you need a teaspoonful of kaalo jeera (nigella seeds) and skip cumin and coriander powder.

Procedure:

Same as “Maacher jhol”, except that you add the nigella seeds along with the tejpatta.

Maach-er jhol(Fish curry)

This is perhaps the most popular yet the most variable bengali dish. Every household has its own way of cooking fish.

Ingredients:

Fish – 250 g

Ginger paste – 1 teaspoonful

Onion – 1 (medium sized, chopped into thin long slices)

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoonful

Coriander powder – 1/2 teaspoonful

Tarmeric powder – 1 teaspoonful

Green chilly – 2 (slit into two halves)

Tejpatta – 2 (optional)

Potato – 2 medium sized(optional)

Procedure:

1. Add half a teaspoonful of turmeric powder, salt and optionally some red chilly powder (1/2 a teaspoonful will be enough to give a flavour without making it spicey) to the fish. Pour two tablespoonfuls of cooking oil and mix (preferably rubbing in the spices with hand). Let it marinate for 10-15 minutes.
2. If you are using potatoes, chop each one into 8 pieces. When cooking small (whole) or thin (like pomphret) fish, the pieces should be long and thin (four longitudinal cuts like this: | - / \ or | | =). When it is thick pieces of fish (like rohu), they should be short and thick (two longitudinal cuts perpendicular to each other, one transverse cut). You may marinate them the same way as the fish – this helps them cook fast.
3. Heat oil in a pan. When vapour rises from the surface of the oil, the bubbles on it vanish, it is hot enough. Now put some pieces of fish so that they don't touch each other and you have enough space to turn them around. No piece should touch the pan anywhere without oil.
4. Fry each side until it becomes golden brown. The fish tends to break easily when half-done. Take care not to poke the pieces when turning.
5. If using potatoes, fry them in the same oil until golden brown.
6. Now, in the same pan (add more oil if required – about 5 tablespoonfuls should be there) add the tejpatta to the hot oil. This is the phoron. Now add green chillies. Then add ginger paste. Stir for about 15 seconds. Then add the onion. Fry them until starting to ecome brownish.
7. Add the potatoes and mix so that the potatoes are quoted with the spices.
8. Add water and cover the pan. Cook until potatoes are almost done.
9. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix and then add the fish. The pieces should be just submerged in the gravy.
10. Cook until the potatoes are completely done. (The trick is to add the fish at the right moment. If you put them too early, they get over-cooked and break into fragments. If you put them too late, the potatoes get overcooked – which is more acceptable).

A note on fish

The most popular and easily available fish in Bengal are the carps, particularly Rohu and Catla. Among catfish, walking catfish (maagur in Bengali) and stinging catfish (shingi) are very common and easy to digest and also easy to eat for having fewer bones. Climbing perch (koi) is also very popular, but hard to eat without experience because of too many sharp bones. While the above are everyday fish, Hilsa (ilish) and Chital are both the contenders for the top position for taste. But Hilsa is notorious for its innumerable small and sharp bones and needs some experience to eat efficiently.

The most popular fish in restaurants is Bekti (distortoin of Bhetki in Bengali). It has few bones and can cut into boneless fillets. Another easy to eat and widely available fish is pomfret.

Usually fresh water fish are sweetish and have a mild flavour. These are best cooked in light gravy (jhol). Sea/brakish water fish have strong taste and smell. If that is undesirable (as many Bengalis find it), a thick spicey gravy (jhaal) is good for cooking them. Depending on the nature of the fish, you can cook any fish using either of these two kinds of gravy. A friend living in London reports that Salmon jhol tastes better than any Bengali fish dish.

Murgi-r maangso (Chicken curry)

Same ingredients and process as mutton curry. Only use chicken meat in stead of goat. This takes much less time to cook. So change timings accordingly.
Also, chicken meat has a much milder taste and flavour than mutton. So you may want to tone down the spices a bit.

Paanthaa-r maangso (Mutton curry)

Ingredients:

Goat meat - 500 g (neck and rib portions are the best)

Curd – 100 g (or 1 whole lemon or 2 teaspoons of vinegar)

Tarmeric powder – 3 teaspoonfuls (not heaped).

Cumin powder – 3 teaspoonfuls (not heaped).

Coriander powder – 2 teaspoonfuls (not heaped).

Red chilly powder – 1 teaspoonful (or according to taste).

Salt – 5 teaspoonfuls (not heaped, or according to taste).

Green cardamom – 5 pods

Cinnamon stick – 2 inches

Clove – 5 pieces

Tejpatta(Malabathrum) – 2

Cooking oil – 8 tablespoons

Onion – 250 g

Ginger paste – 50 g

Garlic – 5 pods

Green chilly – 2 (or more according to taste)

Optional Ingredients:

Potatoes - 2 medium sized

Asafoetida – according to taste

Cashew nuts – 10 pieces

Raisins – 5 pieces

Dried red chilly – 2 (or more according to taste).

Sugar – 1/4 teaspoon.

Procedure:

1. Clean the meat with water. Drain all the water.
2. Add 2 teaspoonfuls of tarmeric powder, all the red chilly powder, 1 teaspoonful of coriander powder, 2 teaspoonfuls of cumin powder, 3 teaspoonfuls of salt to the meat.
3. Pour 2 tablespoonfuls of oil on it and mix with your hand(which may be painful due to the chilly powder, but most effective) or a spatula. The longer you mix it the better.
4. Add the curd or the vinegar or squeeze out the juice from the lemon and continue mixing. Curd will produce a thicker gravy.
5. Once all the meat pieces are covered with the spice mixture, leave it for at least half an hour. Again, the longer you can marinate, the better. You can even leave it in the fridge overnight.
6. If you want potatoes in the meat, cut them into quarters and stir-fry them until golden brown and slightly softer.
7. Heat oil, add 1 inch of cinnamon stick, 2 tejpattas, 2 cardamom pods, 3 cloves and 2 green chillies (slit into two or chopped into smaller pieces). You may add a pinch of sugar (1/4 teaspoon or less) to get a dark red colour of the gravy.
8. Once the tejpattas start getting dark (~15-20 s), add the cashews and the raisins (if at all) and then add the ginger paste and the smashed garlic. Stir for 20-30 s (until the garlic paste changes colour).
9. Add the onion (chopped into ~2 mm thick long slices). Keep tossing andturning the spices with a spatula until the onion becomes golden brown. If it gets stuck at the bottom, add a teaspoonful of oil and keep scraping it off with the spatula.
10. Add the marinated meat. Keep turning it around. A lot of water and melted fat will come out of it. Mix well with the spices.
11. Add the cumin powder and the coriander powder.
12. You can reduce the heat and cook it without adding any water and without covering the pot, making it relatively dry. This is called “kashaa”. No potatoes go into mutton kashaa. On the other hand, you can add water to drown the meat completely and cover the pot and cook in medium/low flame until the meat is almost cooked. If you want to add potatoes, add them at this stage. Both the meat and the potatoes should get done simultaneously. Add 1 teaspoonful of tarmeric powder and 2 teaspoonfuls of salt (or according to taste).
13. When the meat is cooked, you can slit the rest of the green chillies and put them into the dish. This will add the flavour of green chilly without actually making it too spicy.
14. Just before serving, smash two cardamom pods, 2 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon stick and sprinkle it into the dish. Mix it well with the meat. You can also add asafoetida at this stage. The dish can be garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

Common steps in Bengali cooking

1. Marination (often skipped for vegetables): oil, salt and turmeric powder is the common marinade for all vegetables, fish and meat. Red chilly powder is often added to it. For meat, some acidic item (curd/lemon juice/vinegar) is also commonly added to the marinade.
2. Phoron: In the second stage, oil is heated up in a hemispherical pot (kadaai) and spices are added and cooked. Each spice gives out its best flavour at a particular temperature of the oil and should be cooked for only around a certain duration. Hence, the sequence of adding spices is considered important.
   1. Heating the oil: First heat the pot until any water drops on it evaporate completely. Then add the oil.
   2. If there are any bubbles in the oil, they will vanish when the oil is sufficiently hot. Also, when vapour starts emanating from the top of the oil, it is time to start adding the spices.
   3. Items to be added to the oil first are called phoron (things that burst). These are usually dry spices. Most common is panch phoron, but may vary depending on the dish.

Start your kitchen exhaust at full speed in this stage as the strong smell of the chemicals coming out of the spices mixed with oil vapour is bound to make you and your neighbours cough and sneeze. Let this go on for about 20 seconds (until the seeds are done with bursting, becoming darker in colour).

3. Pasted and chopped spices: Second you can add the semi-dry spices and pastes. These will cool the oil down and prevent the phoron from getting charred. Ginger and garlic (paste or crushed) can be added in this stage. Add onion (chopped or paste) last in this stage. Keep mixing the spices and scraping the bottom of the pot with a spatula to prevent anything from sticking. If the spices still tend to stick to the pot, adding a little more oil will help. You may want to reduce the heat after adding all the spices. Keep cooking until the mixture of spices is golden.
4. Vegetables: Now add tomatoes, potatoes or other vegetables that go into the dish. If it is a meat dish, this the time to add the meat, too. Keep mixing the spices with the vegetables (or meat) until everything is evenly distributed. In case of meat, water will come out and you can reduce the heat and cover the pot and let it cook until completely/almost done (this is called kashaa – which is a dish by itself if completely done, or you can add water midway and cook the meat in the gravy to make jhol).
5. Boiling: Add water (amount varying according to the nature of the dish). When the water starts boiling, add cumin, coriander, turmeric paste/powder. Leave at low/medium heat until vegetables are completely cooked.

If you are cooking fish, add it last(when vegetables are almost done) and let it cook in the gravy for 5-10 minutes (usually the marinated fish is semi-fried in oil beforehand).

6. Finishing: For some dishes, additional dry spices are (roasted and) powdered and sprinkled on/mixed with the food just before serving. For example, “garam mashla” (cardamom, cinnamon and cloves freshly smashed without roasting) is added to most spicy meat-dishes. Cumin seeds are freshly roasted and coarsely ground and mixed with fish/daal/vegetables to add fragrance. Coriander leaves, curry leaves or mint are also usually added at the end to retain the freshness of the flavour.

Important spices

Paanch phoron:

A combination of five spices: fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, cumin seeds and wild celery in equal amounts. Celery or black mustard can be used in stead of wild celery.

This combination is very special to Bengali, Assamese and Oriya cuisine. It is often the first spice to be added into heated oil (along with dried red chilly and tej pata [bay leaf]) and other spices are added after these seeds stop bursting.

Garam Masala (Garom Mashlaa):

Literally this means “hot spice”. In Bengal the combination of three aromatic spices: green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves is used. However you get packed Garam Masala powder in in the market, that is usually different (dominated by cumin and coriander) from what we use as garam masala. Always ground the whole spices just before use. Otherwise the aroma fades. It is used only in special rich dishes like meat.

Turmeric (Holud):

Traditionally boiled and dried turmeric rhizomes were soaked in water to soften it and then ground to a paste. This maintains the maximum flavour of the spice. But because of the significant effort required in making the paste, powdered turmeric is most popular.

Turmeric powder is almost ubiquitous in Bengali dishes. It is added to fish, meat and vegetables along with salt and red-chilly powder and oil as a common marinade. It is also added for colour and flavour to most dishes (during Boiling)

Cumin (Jeera):

Jeera or cumin seed is the next most common spice. Apart from being a component of “paanch phoron” it is used on its own in various ways.

Cumin seeds are commonly used as “phoron” (stage 2) for fish dishes, where “paanch phoron” is not used. Paste of cumin seed is a common ingredient for “jhol” (added in step Boiling). For a strong flavour, it can be dry roasted and ground and added at the end (Finishing).

Coriander seeds (Dhone/Dhaniya):

Coriander seeds have a strong flavour and can be added to Daal along with paanch phoron (Phoron). Powdered/pasted coriander seed can be used in jhol along with/ in stead of cumin (Boiling). It is also used in tomato chutney for flavour.

Nigela seeds (Kaalo Jeera/ Black Jeera/ Kalonji):

This has a very special flavour and is rather specific to Bengali/east Indian cuisine. Apart from being part of paanch phoron it can be used on its own just like cumin. When used on its own, hardly any other spice needs to be added to that dish. Such dishes are usually very mild in taste. Most fresh water fishes, hilsa and pomphret can be cooked this way.

Asafoetida (Hing):

This has very strong flavour and often avoided(along with onion and garlic) by religious Hindus. On the other hand, foodies love it as it can add a very rich flavour to any food. However one should be economic in its use as any excess may spoil the taste. One common use of asafoetida is in the filling for parathas and kachouris.

Omum seed (Joan/Ajwayan):

This hot-tasting spice is used in parathas. It is also considered a digestive and chewed with a pinch of salt after meals. It can also be used as a phoron in daal.

Fennel seed (Mouri/Saunf):

This is one of the components of paanch phoron. It can be used as a phoron on its own when making chutney.

Fenugreek seed (Methi):

This is a bitter but aromatic spice and one of the components of paanch phoron. If you do not like the bitter taste, use in small amounts (in paanch phoron using 1/4-th the quantity of each of the other components will avoid the bitterness while adding sufficient flavour).

Coconut milk:

Most “malai-curries” (most commonly prawn malai-curry or narkel chingri and chicken malai-curry) are made from coconut milk. It is best to extract it fresh from a mature coconut. But it is also available as packed powder. Grate a fresh coconut. Mix a little warm water (~50 ml) and squeeze out the milk using your hand. If using powder, add 3 tablespoons(~20 g) of the milk solid to 1 cup of warm water (~150 ml).

Cardamom (Elaach / Elaichi):

Cardamom has a strong yet soothing flavour. So it can be used in very spicy meat dishes as well as very mildly flavoured deserts (like paayasam or khir). But unlike Sweden, in Bengal it is considered a very expensive and special spice. So it is used sparingly only in special dishes. Green cardamom is one of the ingredients of Garam Mashala (meaning hot spice).

Cinnamon (Daaruchini / Daalchini):

This has sweet aroma and a strong flavour. This is the major component of Garam Mashala. In meat dishes, keep the proportion of cinnamon high compared to cardamom. In deserts keep the cinnamon low compared to cardamom.

Clove (Lavanga):

This is the other ingredient of Garam Mashala. Clove has even stronger taste and smell than cinnamon. It creates a burning sensation in the tongue when chewed directly. Use it sparingly as it will dominate all other flavours in food and excess may make the taste unpleasantly strong. If you are adding whole cloves, four to six buds are enough for a dish for up to eight people and when ground, three to five buds will do the job.

Malabathrum (Tejpatta):

This is very commonly used as phoron. When using it as phoron, quickly follow it with other (wet) spices as it tends to get charred easily. It goes with almost every dish, from daal to meat to paayes (khir). It adds aroma without changing the taste too much. Usually one or two big leaves are enough in a dish for five people.