Ziay!

John The Bear

I am curious because we have IndoPak restaurants in Chicago that serve Pakistani, Gujarati/Western Indian, and Madras/South Indian food. I was wondering how the cuisine of Calcutta, Bengal/Bangladesh and Assam differs from these.

JING

Calcutta Cuisine

The Bengali fondness for good food is legendary. Exotic Bengali cuisine is available at select restaurants like Suruchi and Aheli (Peerless Inn). To experience the true taste of traditional cooking, it is best to befriend a Bengali. His hospitality will definitely include a meal! Sweets hold a position of pride for the Bengali. Cottage cheese based sweets like sandesh, rosogolla and chanar payesh are very popular all over India. Mishti doi (sweetened curd) and Patali gur confectionery (date palm jaggery) are must try delicacies.


Every district in Bengal has a special sweet of its own Langcha and mihidana-sitabhog of Bardhaman, sharbhaja of Krishnanagar, chandbora of Murshidabad and so on.

Luchi, cholaar dal, kochuri and alurdom to chop-cutlet and telebhaja, Calcutta will delight the food lover.

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CUISINES FROM BANGLADESH

Bangladesh, land of poets and artists, is also known for its delicious food. Cooking is considered an art, and as a guest in a Bengali home, one never lacks for delicious foods. Bengali curries, pulaos, and sweets are loved the world over.

Boiled rice is the staple diet of the Bangladeshi's. Mustard and soyabin oils are used as the cooking medium. Fish is a must for all meals. Hilsa, very testy but full of small bones, is ihe most popular of all fishes is available in the rainy season. Many types of fresh water fish are also available and widely used.

In an average Bengali home, the main meal would consist of boiled rice served with some sort of fried vegetables. This forms the first course of the meal. It is followed by rice and soupy lentils (dal). The third course is rice which is eaten with fish curry or on special occations meat curry. For the most special occasions chicken curry is preferred. Very rich families also eat similarly, but eat more beef or mutton and chicken.

Two types of sweets are favorite in Bangladesh - sweetened yoghurt and sweetmeats. Bengali sweets are well known all over the sub-continent and are very popular. They are mostly milk sweets such as sandesh, roshagulla, rosmalai, gulab jamun, chom chom, and kalo jam. The yoghurt is pink in color and very sweet like custard. Foreigners usually find these too sweet at first, but most people soon learn to enjoy them.