In rural Bangladesh, many people eat makna fried, popped, or raw. Additionally, sweets such as zarda and firni-payesh are eaten. In Bangladesh (former East Bengal and East Pakistan), Mughlai food is common, and includes foods that are less popular in West Bengal, such as beef kebab. The large-scale displacement along religious lines as a result of the partition led to changes in meal-taking, as to adhere to religious restrictions. Khaashir Mangsho er Torkari – Traditional Bengali mutton curry Partition of Bengal These economic and social restrictions influenced Bengali widows to create a brand new set of meals that utilized only vegetables and cheap spices. Nuts, dry fruits, milk and milk products (such as cream, ghee or curd) were similarly scarce. Expensive spices such as saffron, cinnamon or cloves were used very sparingly-if at all. This style found a core place in Bengali curries in general, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Widows also could not use "heating" foods such as shallot and garlic, but ginger was allowed. While most Bengali castes ate meat and fish, this was barred for widows. In Hindu patriarchal tradition, widows were not allowed to eat foods that would not be classified as "bitter", necessitating experiment and innovation. įurthermore, traditional desserts had been primarily based on rice pastes and jaggery, but under Mughal influence moved towards significantly increased use of milk, cream, and sugar along with expensive spices such as cardamom and saffron. The Mughals had a particular fixation on meat, bringing mutton into mainstream Bengali cuisine as well as already known kinds of meat like chicken and venison. Further innovations include chap (ribs slow cooked on a tawa), rezala (meat in a thin yogurt and cardamom gravy) and kathi roll (kebabs in a wrap).
#BENGALI FOOD NEAR ME PROFESSIONAL#
In Bangladesh, this food has become common fare for the population while in West Bengal, they have remained the food of professional chefs. These cooks came with the knowledge of a very wide range of spices (most notably jafran and mace), the extensive use of ghee, and marinating meat with yoghurt and chilli. The exiles brought with them hundreds of cooks and masalchis (spice mixers), and as their royal patronage and wealth diminished, they became interspersed into the local population. The influence was reinforced during the rule of the British Raj, where Kolkata became the place of refuge for many prominent exiled Nawabs, notably the family of Tipu Sultan from Mysore and Wajid Ali Shah, the ousted Nawab of Awadh.
Such dishes as biryani, korma and bhuna had once been meals of the higher courts, but the cooks of the Mughals brought their recipes to the lower and middle classes. Islamic culinary influence had come from the upper classes, gradually diffusing into the local Hindu and Muslim populations. Muslims conquered Bengal around the mid-thirteenth century, bringing with them Islamic culture and cuisine.