Bengali Servings

Most Indian meals are served in a thali with all dishes neatly arranged in a pattern. I actually remember being chided by uncle for not serving the Taat(Plate) according to the set norms. In my Konkani home, esp on festival days, all the dishes cooked for the prasad, has to be served in a defined pattern on a banana leaf.
Now married into a bengali family, i was exposed to a whole new world of food n etiquette.Bengali cuisine may be well know for its diverse cuisine but what i found interesting is their serving style. It follows a 5 course meal pattern similar to the West but with an Indian touch.
The first course is lighter, easier on the stomach kind of menu consisting of rice, dal, vegetables cooked in mild sauces(alu poshto/dalnas) and a fried option(alu bhaja/begun bhaja). Second course is rice with some fish serving. Third course is the main course - a meaty option, generally with chicken or lamb dishes. The fourth course is part fruity-part vegetable dish called Chaatnis. But unlike the usual chutneys used as accompanements, these chutney are eaten as a dish by itself. They are gen sweet, rich with dry fruits and in a semi liquid state (Tomato-Khajur-Raisin/ Pineapple Chutuney). Lastly they end their meal with a wide range of famous bengali sweets.

Coming from a non bengali family, i always wanted to serve a complete bengali meal to my bengali hubby. With recipe advise n lots of support from my mother-in-law, i actually managed to achieve this feat. Since my hubby is vegetarian, my sec and third course got combined into one heavy duty vegetable option called labra.

For this meal i made rice, masoori dal, alu poshto, pumkin fry, labra, tomato-rasin chaatni and ended the meal with store bought rossagullas. Need i say how happy n excited my hubby was that day.

Today i will be blogging the recipes for Labra and Tomato Raisin Chaatni.

Labra:
This dish requires 9 different vegetables. But its very important to have the said vegetable to maintain the bengali taste. This is a typical bengali Saatvic dish with no onion garlic.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin
Bottle gourd (Doodhi)
Ridge Gourd (Parwal)
Small parwal (called Zinga in bengali...looks slightly bigger than a tendeli)
Eggplant
Sweet Potato
French Beans
1-2 pieces of radish(Just for flavour)
Potato
If any one of these vegetables are not available, you can substitute with squash or turnip.

1 tsp mustard oil
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp panch phoran
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tsp sugar
2-3 green chillies, chopped
2 tsp ghee
1 tsp wheat flour
salt to taste

Method:
Chop all vegetables to medium-to-large size pieces.
Heat a mixture of both oils.
Add panch phoran n bay leaves. Saute till aromatic.
Then add all the vegetables. Mix well. Add salt.
Lower the flame n let the vegetables cook in their own juices.
When almost done, add some more water, then add ginger paste, turmeric, sugar, chillies n ghee and mix well.
Add atta lastly n cook for a while.
All vegetables should get mushy and becomes as one. Thats when the dish is done.

It may not look very appealing but the subtle taste of ghee n panch phoran takes it to a whole new level.


Tomato-Raisin Chaatni
This chaatni has many variations. You can make it with only tomatoes, or with tomatoes and raisins or with tomatoes-raisins-dates. The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:
3 big tomatoes. chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp garlic juliens
1 tsp ginger juliens
2-3 slit green chillies
1 tsp panch phoran
2 tsp mustard oil
3 big tsp sugar
1 tsp crushed methi seeds
3-4 dry red chillies
salt to taste

Method:
Heat 1 tsp oil and add panch phoran.
Once aromatic, add ginger, garlic n chillies. Saute for a while
Then add the chopped tomatoes
Let this mixture cook for a while.
Just when the tomatoes are losing shape, add sugar and raisins
Let it caramelise.
Lastly add little salt.

Heat the other tsp of oil in another pan.
Add methi seeds and red chillies. Saute till chillies turn dark brown.

Add this tempering to the tomatoes and cook for some more time.
The dish is done when the tomatoes have mashed well n u can smell the red chillies in it.

This dish is sweet slightly spicy preparation.