Chingri-r Jhal with a twist (Spicy prawn curry)

Chingri or prawns are a favorite among most bengalees. We love prawns in any form – deep fried, shallow fried, in coconut milk gravy (malai curry), plain jhol/gravy of potato and tomato.

This preparation is done with prawns but with a twist. Those who really love it hot and spicy should try this out. And if you love the taste of coriander, then you might love this.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Jumbo prawns / tiger prawns – deveined and de-shelled about 1 kg

• Tomato – 2 finely chopped

• Onion – 1 big finely chopped

• Ginger paste – 2 tsp

• Garlic cloves – 5 finely chopped

• Coriander leaves – 1 bunch finely chopped

• Turmeric – 3 tsp

• Red chili powder – 2 tsp

• Kashmiri kal mirch (Red capsicum powder) – 2 tsp

• Green chilies – 4 to 5 finely chopped

• Mustard oil – 2 cup

• Lemon juice – ½ lemon

• Salt to taste

Clean, devein and de-shell the prawns and mix in ½ lemon juice, ½ tsp of salt and ½ tsp of turmeric powder for 30 minutes.

Take a big bowl pour in the prawns. Now one by one add all the ingredients together to the prawns. Mix well. Keep a bit of coriander leaves and green chilies for garnishing.

Cover with a cling wrap or a lid and marinate for 2-3 hours.

Heat a kadai. Non-stick pan should work better. Once it is medium hot, pour in the entire ingredients. Now in a low to medium heat cook the entire prawns in the kadai. Cover occasionally and stir from time to time so that the masala does not get stuck at the bottom. With time, all the oil and other ingredients will start to mix together and soften.

It will taken 45 mins to 1 hr for the entire masalas to mix together. Add a little water if you want it to have gravy. But make sure it is not runny. You will notice, owing to all the tomatoes and kashmiri red chilies powder along with the coriander leaves and green chilies, you prawn curry will have a unique bright red and green look.

Once done, pour the entire curry in a bowl and garnish with coriander leaves and green chilies.

Serve hot. You can eat this spicy chingri / prawn curry with white rice or polau.

Prawn

Mishti Mukh - Ras Malai

Ras Malai is basically small cottage cheese dumplings in flavored milk. It is available at any sweet shop but it becomes more special if you make it at home. My Boudi (bhabi/co-sister) taught me to prepare this and I tried it out. It really came out well. I am sure you will like it too. It is the simplest recipe ever.

Here it goes…

What you need: 

• Milk – 1 ltr
• Tinned Rasgullas – 1 tin (you can avail MTR, Haldiram’s or any such tinned varieties. They come in a pack of 20 rasgullas)
• Kesar strands – 2 to 4
• Dry fruits such as almonds, pistachios, cashews, raisins – a handful.

Preparation

Take half cup of milk and soak the kesar strands for 30 mins. You can use kesar color or food color. Take the almonds, pistachios, cashews and coarsely chop them. Keep aside.

In a big pan or kadai heat milk. Bring into boil. Then lower the flame and wait for the milk to get thickened. Make sure the milk has reduced to half its quantity. Keep stirring so that the milk does not catch the bottom of the pan. You will notice that the malai has started to form in the milk.

Ras malai is usually not that sweet to taste therefore you can avoid putting any sugar in it. But if you like it real sweet, you can pour in 3-4 tbsp of sugar syrup into the boiling milk.

Add the kesar soaked milk and stir gently. If you want to add food color or kesar powder then also do not add it to the milk directly. Soak in a small amount of milk and then pour it into the milk once it has reduced.

Take each rasgulla from the tin and squeeze out the excess sugar syrup so that only the fluffy rasgulla is left. One by one pour them into the milk. You will see that the rasgulla will immediately start to soak the milk in. Bring into one boil and switch off the gas immediately. Remove from heat. Don’t keep the milk too much in the gas after you put in the rasgullas otherwise they will break and dissolve in the milk.

Sprinkle the dry fruits liberally so that all the rasgullas get coated equally. 

Once cool put it inside the fridge. Serve cold. 

Your ras malai is ready to eat.

Shukto - The Mixed Veg Delicacy

Shukto (mixed vegetable delicacy) is one of the most common items in Bengali household. It is said that in the older days a newly married girl’s cooking skills were judged based on the taste of Shukto. However, each Bengali family will have a different taste to the shukto they prepare. But whatever it is, it should have a unique blend of bitter and sweet combination. Shukto one can say is more of a Bengali version of South India food Avial.

It is also said that you must eat shukto first before you start any other course. Shukto is usually eaten with white rice and eaten during the lunch time.

Shukto is the first item served followed by a fried vegetable, daal, mixed veg curry, then a non-veg fish/mutton/chicken and lastly chutney and sweet. It is said that the bitter ingredients present in shukto aids our digestive system to work better.

Ingredients:

You can add any vegetable you want. But make sure all the vegetables are in equal shape. So here is the list:

Bitter gourd – 1, finely sliced in round shape

Ridge gourd (jhinge) – 1 chopped

Bringal (begun) – 1 chopped

Raw Green Banana (Kancha Kola) – 1 chopped

Beans – 5 to 6 chopped

Potato – 1 chopped

Carrots – 1 chopped

Daaler vadi (dried nuggets made from ground lentil) – 10

Fenugreek seeds (Methi) – 1 tsp

Bay leaves / Tejpata – 3

Asafetida / Hing – a pinch

Mustard seeds – 2 tbsps soaked for 1 hour in water and a pinch of salt

Poppy seeds – 1 tbsp soaked in water for 1 hour

Ginger paste – 1 tbsp

Sugar – 2 tsp

Milk – ½ cup

Ghee

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Grind mustard seeds and poppy seeds with a pinch of salt and a little water and keep aside. Do not use mustard paste immediately otherwise it will be bitter to taste.

Chop all the vegetables in similar shapes. If you chop them long then all should be long, if you diced them in big chunks, make sure they are all diced.

Pour 2 tbsp on ghee in a frying pan and fry all the vegetables one by one and keep aside. Make sure the bitter gourd is fried last. Next, fry the vadis until they are crispy and light brown in color.

In a separate kadai, heat 2 tbsp on ghee. Add fenugreek seeds, bay leaves and hing. Wait it the smell of hing reaches you and the seeds start to sputter. Put the vegetables together and mix well. Add the mustard-poppy seed paste followed by the ginger paste. Fry in a medium flame. Add sugar, salt, milk and a little water. Shukto is never runny. It should not have much gravy. Cover the kadai with a lid and cook in a low flame till the vegetables are cooked. Before taking it out of the flame add the vadis. Mix well.

Your shukto is ready to eat. Eat it with plain hot rice.

Shorshe Chingri / Prawns in Mustard Sauce

Shorshe Chingri is a typical Bengali delicacy. We also know it as bhapa chingri or steamed prawns. It is jumbo prawns in mustard paste. It is suppose to be hot and extremely tasty. For me you eat with steamed rice that’s it.

Ingredients

• Jumbo prawns / Tiger Prawns – 1 kg
• Mustard seeds – ½ cup
• Green chilies – 7 to 8
• Turmeric powder – 3 tsp
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Cashew paste – 3 tsp
• Mustard Oil – ½ cup
• Salt to taste

Clean, de-vein and cut the head and tails of the prawns. Mix it with turmeric and salt. Keep aside. Soak mustard seeds in water and a little bit salt for more than 1 hour otherwise it will be bitter to taste. Now grind the mustard seeds along with 4 to 5 chilies and a pinch of salt. Keep aside.

Gas version:In a tight lid box grease mustard oil. Mix in the prawns, mustard paste and cashew paste. Add raw mustard oil and one or two slit green chilies. Pour water in the pressure cooker. Put the box inside the cooker in a stand. Make sure the water doesn’t go inside the box. Wait for two whistles.
Garnish with slit green chilies. Serve hot.

Microwave version:Take a microwave safe bowl. Grease a little with mustard oil. Mix in the prawns, mustard paste and cashew paste. Add raw mustard oil and one or two slit green chilies. Cook the prawns for 12-15 minutes on a High.
Garnish with slit green chilies. Serve hot.

Eat with basmati rice or even polau.

Jhaal Moori - Another version of Bhel Puri

Well Jhaal Moori is basically very tikha/hot puffed rice mixed in mustard oil, raw onion, cucumber and all those tikha khatta masala along with peanuts, green chillies and fried grated sewai.. The meaning of Jhaal Moori is jhaal in Bengali means very tikha/hot. And Moori in Bengali means Puffed Rice. This particular item is very spicy and tasty. Thus where the name came from.

Since I am into typical Bengali cuisine, I wanted to make it sholo aanaa Bangali, meaning, 100% bengali. Keep in mind that the entire thing should be very spicy and full of green chilies. In bengali "jhaal" means tikha or chili hot. So you can well understand.

Thus is post goes like this:

Ingredients:

Puffed rice (moori) - 1 cup
Half Onion - finely chopped
Half Cucumber - finely chopped
Coconut Slices - finely chopped
Tomato Slices - finely chopped
Green chili - finely chopped
Roasted peanuts
Chopped cilantro/dhaniya
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Black Salt - 1 tsp
Aamchur Powder - 2 tsp
Common salt to taste
Mustard oil - 1 tbsp
Meetha chutney - 1 tbps
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Fried Sewai/Sev - A handful

How to make Jhaal Moori: In a bowl add puffed rice (moori) along with chopped onion, cucumber, coconut, tomato and green chilli. Add red chill powder, salt, black salt and aamchur powder. Mix well. Add peanuts and mix again. Add mustard oil, meetha chutney and lemon juice. Serve in a bowl. Sprinkle with dhaniya/cilantro and sewai/sev. Eat immediately before the onion and cucumber leaves its water. Your Jhaal Moori is ready to eat.

Keemar Shingara (Keema Ka Samosa)

Samosas! God knows how many addas (chit-chat) it has seen over hot cups of tea, how many evenings it had filled people's stomachs and how many times it has made people salivate for that one crispy bite....

Samosas are perhaps the favorite bengali snacks.

But here is a small twist in the tale. Being a non-veg bengali, I would want to add a bit different touch to this typical aloo samosa. My recipe deals with mutton keema samosa or as it is known in bengal, shingara:

Ingredients:

Mutton Keema - 500 gms
Potato - 250 gms finely chopped
Green Peas - 250 gms
Maida - 500 gms
Curd (optional)
Dabur Homemade Ginger-Garlic Paste - I pouch
Onion - 1 big, finely chopped
Ghee - 1 cup
Cooking soda - 1 tbsp
Milk - ½ cup
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Aamchur powder - 1 tsp
Whole Jeera - 2 tsp
Heeng - 1 tsp
Ajwain - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 3 to 4
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For the coating: To make the Shingara (samosa) coating in a bowl pour the maida. Add cooking soda, ajwain, heeng and salt to it. Mix well. Then add ghee and again mix. You can also add curd/dahi into it. But that is optional. Then with the help of milk and water make a tight dough. Keep it aside for 2 hours, covering it with a wet cloth.

For the Keema filling: Boil green peas and chopped potatoes separately. In a kadai heat oil. Add whole jeera, heeng, chopped onion and fry till brown. Add ginger-garlic paste. Keep stirring. Add the washed keema and boiled potato and peas and cook well. Add red chilli powder, aamchur powder and green chillies. Add salt to taste. Stir till its cooked. The mixture will be a dry one. Keep aside to cool.

How to make it: Punch the dough a few times. Then make round semi-big balls out of it. Flatten them with a belan as you do while making puri or kachuri or luchi. Make sure the flattened puris are not too thick. Then take a spoon full of keema mixture and place it in the centre of the round puri. Cover the mixture in all side with the help of water till its sealed inside. Bring the shape of a Shingara (samosa). Heat oil in a kadai. Deep fry the Shingaras (samosas) till they are deep brown in color. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or chutney.

Your Keema-r shingara (Keema Ka Samosa) is ready to eat.

Kacha Keemar Bhaja Bora (Keema - Bread pakora)

This is a snacks my mother makes for evening snacks. Or some guest comes or my friends comes. This is fast, tasty and very easy to make. For Kacha Keemar Bhaja Bora (Keema-Bread Pakora) you will need:

Mutton keema - 500 gm
8 bread slices
4 eggs
2 grated onions
Ginger garlic paste - 4 tsp (Best will be 1 whole pouch of Dabur's Homemade Ginger-Garlic paste)
Termeric - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 4 tsp
Cooking soda 1 tsp
Green chillies chopped according to taste
Salt to taste
Mustard Oil for frying

The pakora mixture: Wash the mutton keema and keep it aside. Dip the bread slices in water, take in out immediately and squeeze out the excess water. Add the bread slices to the keema. Then add eggs and mix well. Then add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, termeric, red chilli powder, green chillies, cooking soda and mix well until its a thick mixture. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.

Heat mustard oil in a kadai. See to it that the oil is perfect for frying pakoras. Make small balls of the pakora mixture and pour them one by one in the heated oil. Fry till they are deep brown. Serve them with Maggie Hot & Sweet Tomato Ketchup or Meetha Chutney. But always serve hot.

Your Kacha Keemar Bhaja Bora (Keema-Bread Pakora) is ready to eat.

Dhokar Dalna - A complete veggie delight

Imagine the situation here: a hot summer afternoon, someone's getting married and you're invited for the wedding-day lunch. On such occasions you are bound to come across Dhokar Dalna or the Daal Burfi Spicy Curry. The best part is, dhokar dalna is always red in color and the spicier the better.

Ingredients:

Chanaa Daal / Cholar - 200 gms
Potato - 2 big diced in cubes
Dhaniya paste - 1 tbsp
Jeera paste - 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Curd - ½ cup
Dabur Homemade Ginger paste - 2 tbsp.
Green chilies - 4
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Cooking soda – 1 tsp
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Mustard oil - For frying and cooking

How to make Dhoka / Daal Burfi: Soak the channa daal overnight. In a grinder, grind the daal with ½ tsp of ginger, salt, green chillies, and cooking soda. Add a bit of chilli powder and turmeric powder as well. When the paste is made keep it aside. Heat mustard oil in a pan. And add the daal mixture. Fry till the water gets dried but it still remains like a paste. Grease a round plate with a bit of ghee or oil. And spread mixture in a fine layer. When it sets down, cut the mixture into diamond shapes and take them out. Heat oil again and deep fry each cubes till they are golden brown in color. Make sure they don't break.

How to make the curry: In the same oil add jeera, ginger and dhaniya paste. Stir the mixture. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, curd, a pinch of sugar and salt. Stir well till then curd starts leaving water and oil from it. Add the potatoes and mix again. Add required quantity of water and stir till its a thick curry paste. Add garam masala powder and mix well. Add the fried slices of dhokas and cook till the dhoklas soak the gravy properly. Add ghee. Serve hot. Can be eaten with rice or luchi or puri. Its a complete veggie dish without onion and garlic. Your Dhokar Dhalna is ready to eat.

Begun Bashanti (Baingan ka Kalanji)

This can be treated as the sequel to the Khichuri recipe. Brinjal goes great with khichuri. Brinjal fry, beguni (brinjal dressed in a besan coating), begun bashanti are all great tasting food. So here goes the recipe for Begun bashanti or baingan ka kalanji.

Ingredients

Big eggplants - 4
Ground poppy seed paste - 250 gms
Ground mustard seed paste - 250 grms
Whole red chillies - 5 pcs
Green chilli paste - 2 to 3 pcs
Dhaniya - chopped
Red chilli powder - 3 tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp|
Sugar - 2 tsp
Jeera powder - 2 tsp
Curd - 1 cup
Mustard Oil - for frying
Salt to taste
Chopped tomatoes and tamarind pulp (optional)

How to make it: Wash the eggplants. Cut them vertically in to long slices so that each gives the shape of a boat. Apply turmeric, red chilli powder, sugar and salt to the eggplant slices. Keep it aside and let the eggplants soak the seasoning. Heat oil in a pan. Fry each eggplant slices till they are cooked and golden brown in color. Keep them aside.

In another pan heat a bit of oil. Add jeera, red chillies and curd. Stir a bit. Then add ground poppy seed and mustard paste. Cook. Add green chilli paste. Add salt to taste. (In many states they add chopped tomatoes and tamarind pulp as well but that would lose its Bengali identity). Add chopped dhaniya. When the mixture is cooked take the pan off the flame.

In a flat serving dish line up the fried eggplant slices one by one. Then pour the cooked mixture gently above the eggplant slices. Let it settle. When you will serve, make sure the mixture remains settled on the slices. Your Begun Bashanti (Baingan Kalanji) is ready to eat. Serve this yummy dish with khichuri, luchi, puri, or polav.

Khichuri / Khichri - Steamy Combo of rice & daal

Before I start with my Khichuri recipe, I would like to say that Khichuri is something that is a part of the bengali household. You make Khichuri any time you want. We also know a lot about our Khichuri Bhog that is used as a prasadam for God. It is served along with bhajis and sabji.

Other times when you love to eat Khichuri is when it's raining heavily outside. Just imagine those water-logged streets through which only tanga-richshaws can pass, the sun is comfortably hiding behind thick rain-filled clouds, everyone is at home sicne no one could dare to go out. And what you have for lunch? Hot and steamy khichuri and may be along with it you'll have maach-bhaaja (fried fish) or plain brinjal fry or potato fries.

You tend to over eat at such times coz' it is suppose to be so nice with all those green peas and cauliflower florets melting in your mouth and if you are the kid of the family, you might be lucky enough to get that extra spoonful of ghee on top of your share of Khichuri.

Anyways, now getting back to the recipe. Here it goes...

Ingredients:

Gobinda Bhog Rice (small grained rice with aromatic flavor) – 1 ½ cups
Moong Daal – 1 ½ cups
Cauliflower – 1 medium sized, chopped into small pieces
Potatoes – 4 medium sized, diced in small pieces
Green Peas – ½ cup
Carrots (optional) – 3 medium sized, chopped
Beans (optional) – 5 to 6, chopped
Tomatoes – 3 medium sized, chopped
Green chillies – 4, sliced
Dabur Homemade Ginger paste – 1 ½ tsps
Whole white jeera seeds – 1 tsp
Whole dhaniya seeds – 1 tsp
Whole Red chillies – 2 to 3
Red Chilli powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1 ½ tsps
Jeera powder – 1 tsp
Heeng – A pinch
Garam Masala powder – 1 tsp
Bay leaves / Tejpatta – 3 to 4
Mustard Oil for tarka
Pure Ghee – ½ cup
Salt to taste
Sugar – 1 tsp

How to make Khichuri (Khichri): Roast moong daal in a dry kadai till they are golden brown. Boil adequate quantity of water to boil rice in a big vessel. Add moong daal, let it boil and then add rice. When the rice starts boiling add the chopped and diced vegetables on by one and keep stirring. Add ginger paste. Stir. Add turmeric powder, green chillies, jeera powder, dhaniya powder, garam masala powder, a bit of sugar and salt to taste. Keep stirring. Cook till the vegetables and the rice is cooked till tender. Keep it in a low flame.
For tarka: Heat 4 tbsp of mustard oil in a a pan. When quite hot add bay leaves, whole jeera seeds. It will start to crackle. Add heeng. Add red chillies. Fry for a few seconds and immediately take it out from the flames and pour the whole thing along with the oil into the vessel full of rice. Stir the whole mixture well for few minutes. Take the Khichuri (Khichri) out of flame. Add ghee for better taste. Serve hot. Your Khichuri (Khichri) is ready to eat.

This type of Khichuri (Khichri) is a typically Bengali dish. We Bengalees eat this Khichuri (Khichri) with various types of fried vegetables like fried potatoes, fried brinjal, fried cauliflower, fried potol/parwal and so on.

You can also add fried fish like hilsa or rohu. We also eat a sabji we called labra with it along with chutney and papad. Khichuri (Khichri) can be best enjoyed during a rainy season. Imagine the scene, its raining heavily outside, everyone is at home, and what is the menu for lunch? Khichuri (Khichri) and fried fish or fried sabji along with labra. Believe me, there is nothing yummier than this!!!!! Simply irresistible.

Phuchka / Paani Puri - Tangy Delights

Hi, I am back. All you guys who had been eagerly waiting for my Bengali recipes, the wait is finally over. I'll start this sequel with the Phuchka.

What is a Phuchka? In hindi we call Phuchka, golgappa or pani puri - Phuchka in Bengali means when, the crispy small rounded fried puris, are broken in the middle there is a "phuch" like sound. From there the word comes. Its really yummy. Unlike other places in India where they pour peas or channa inside each puri, we pour a aalu mixuture. This aalu mixture is simply like a trip to heaven. Here we mix all the tikha and khatta masalas as well as channa and dhaniya. Now the details you'll find below:

For aloo mixture: The masalas for the aloo mixture are aamchur powder, jeera powder, red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, black salt, pepper, red salt and white salt. All these mixture are added to boiled smashed potatoes. Then they are mixed thoroughly. Then add chopped dhaniya, boiled channa daal (this channa daal is boiled with a dash of termeric and salt till they are soft and cooked), chopped green chillies and the last but the most important thing, tamarind paste (tamarind pulp soaked in water). Keep the mixture aside.

For the khatta water: Add tamarind pulp to water along with dhaniya, red chilli powder, salt, black salt, jeera powder. Mix well and let the water cool.

The small puris: You will get these puris at any bhuji shop. Its best to buy them instead of going through the hassle of making them. But still if you want to make them at home, here is what you'll have to do - Mix atta and sooji together in equal proportions, i.e, 1:1 ratio. Add a bit of salt and cooking soda to make the puris real crispy. Add water to make it into a dough. Make small balls and flatten them with a belan. Take a small round steel dhakkan of any container (with a diameter of maximum 2 inches) and cut out small round puris. Heat oil. Fry the puris one by one till they look like small crispy balls. Let them cool a bit.

How to serve: Take a crispy puri, make a hole in the middle with your thumb, pour in a bit of aloo mixture. Then dip the puri into the water mixture and serve it immediately.

Your yummy Phuchka is ready to eat.

Some information on Kolkata Phuchkas: The best Phuchka you will get is in Vivekananda Park (Kolkata). They are expensive but worth it. Another one is in Mudiali. But my favorite place is the Phuchka we get infront of Jadavpur University. Being a student of that place, we used to simply love it. Now I feel so nostalgic about it but still i make sure to go back to JU once in a while and get a bite or two of that marvelous mouth wateringly tasty Phuchka....

Kolkata Kuisine - Mouthwateringly Scrumptious

Before I start my actual article, I would like to mention two names who inspired me to put up this blog - my colleagues, Priya & Chanda.

This Blog is dedicated to all those Kolkattans residing outside Kolkata or India and who terribly miss Kolkata food.

Being a typical Bengali girl, born and brought up in Kolkata, I have always been attached to Bengali cuisine. With Bengali cuisine the first thing that comes to my mind is no doubt phuchka. Phuchka is what we call paani puri or golgappa in Hindi. (Dont forget to visit my next post for the phuchka recipe, coming soon). The rest of the fabulous Bengali dishes are luchi (puri), cholar daal (channa daal), radha ballavi (daal-puri), tomato chutney and last but not the least, ilish maach (hilsa) and kasha magsho (mutton).

Though I am not at all a fan of hilsa fish or maach, but most of the Bengalees are crazy about it. The various preparations of hilsa involve shorshe ilish, jhaal ilish, tel ilish, ilish macher pata-paturi, ilyash mach bajha and ilish maach bhaape.

Also there is a huge variety of other kind of fish like, rui maach, koi maach, magur maach, bhetki maach. Bhetki maach reminds me of bhetki maacher pata-paturi. Chingri maach is also a big delicacy here. Dont forget daab chingri and chingri macher malai curry.

Another two delicacies I think belongs to kolkata, and one is definitely rolls. Any kind of rolls - egg roll, mutton roll, chicken roll, egg mutton roll, egg chicken roll and so on.

The other thing that comes to my mind is fish fry, made from white bhekti fillet, deep fried after coated in bread crumbs. Well by now i am really feeling hungry you know.

Among dessert I must add maalpuha, patishepta, pulir pithe, rosogolla, sandesh, payesh, rabri, mishti doi, etc.

Kolkata's biriyani is also quite different from other states, since its more of a Murshidabadi biriyani. No one can ever forget mutton biriyani and chicken chaap of Shiraaz, once someone has got the taste of it.

Kolkata's cuisine is very special coz' its neither too spicy nor too rich. But before I end this blog here I must add that mustard oil is a must must must thing when you are cooking Bengali dishes. No matter how much we talk about white oil and cholestrol free sunflower oil, cooking shorshe ilish or kosha mangsho in anything other than mustard oil is simply unthinkable!!!! So all you guys and gals out there who are by now salivating to the hilt make sure you cook a typical Bengali dish at least once in mustard oil to refresh your tastebuds....

Eden Pavilion, ITC Sonar Bangla Sheraton Towers, Kolkata, India

Eden Pavilion, ITC Sonar Bangla Sheraton Towers’ 24-hour restaurant, presently, serves one of the best international multi-cuisines in Kolkata. Hotel ITC Sonar Bangla occupies 16 acres of beautiful greenery along with awe-inspiring water bodies. And separated from the hubbub of the hotel’s main lobby, Eden Pavilion is nestled just beside the banquet area.

Elegantly built, the restaurant is famous for its sumptuous buffets and a la carte menu and stylish but friendly ambience. Decorated with fine craftsmanship of wooden flooring and muted colours merging with dark timber glory is definitely remarkable. This gives the place a homey touch with sophisticated grace. Open on one side the restaurant overlooks the lush gardens of the hotel.

People go to a restaurant for its food and Eden Pavilion is bound to make everyone happy. The place serves more than 170 buffet menus that include delicious dishes that would compel people to visit there again and again. The restaurant even offers complimentary newspapers and light beverages as well.

Eden Pavilion strives for perfection and guest satisfaction. Whether its Murg Biriyani or Lamb Lajawab, Baked Paneer or Cold Cuts or even Bengal’s very own Macher Jhol, all are served to with special care and delicacies. The restaurant even offers wide assortment of breads (both Indian and Continental) and ‘egg-of-your-choice’. The restaurant also boasts to have a fine collection of wine. The food is fresh, amazingly tasty and of course nutritious. However, the most striking feature of the place is its décor. The way the foods are presented is simply breath taking.

Among desserts the Eden Pavilion, perhaps, leaves behind all other restaurants. Starting from Mishti Doi to Rabri, Gulab Jamun to Gajar Ka Halwa and Kaaju Barfi, Chocolate Mousse to Pineapple Egg Pudding to Chocolate Cake and Trifles, all are simply delectable. Not to forget the ice creams, fruits and the fruit juices of course.

Offering so much and some more, the restaurant is definitely affordable. Eden Pavilion charges Rs.1500/- per couple (approximately), along with taxes. The staffs are always there to welcome you and seat you to comfortable chairs at spacious tables.

The restaurant is drawing guests like honey does to bees. Good food loving people who like eating in fabulous atmosphere must come and visit this place. The staff is highly amiable and friendly. The place is open for lunch and dinner. The ever-present crowd gathered in this place, itself proves its popularity all over.

The restaurant also offers special privileges to the children who come along with their parents. There is a separate room for children just opposite to the restaurant. There are clowns to play with the kids.

Creating a distinctive fusion of contemporary elegance with traditional grandeur, the hotel is the perfect place to relax and eat. Eden Pavilion definitely is an apt place to spend few hours of peace and quiet with family, friends and business colleagues.