Savour the flavour of authentic Bengal cuisine in Chennai

CHENNAI: Different communities across the country celebrate Navaratri with so much fun and fervour. But for Bengalis, Durga puja rituals remain incomplete without a sumptuous spread. There is an array of options when it comes to Bengali food. Keeping the tradition in mind, Novotel Chennai, Chamiers Road, is hosting a Bengali food festival called Oh Calcutta. The menu features a diverse selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian main courses and street food.

Chef Sirajul Rahman, who curated the menu, served us a few dishes that are part of the festival. We began the meal with aam pora shorbot, a drink that’s made with raw mangoes, sugar and salt. For starters, the chef served beetroot chop, aloor chop, Bengali fish fry and murgi cutlet. Before digging into the main course, he explained the uniqueness of Bengali food.

“Most of our delicacies are a perfect combination of sweet and spicy flavours. We use panch phoron (a whole spice blend), a mixture of five spices - cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, fenugreek, fennel and nigella. Panch phoron gives a distinct aroma and taste. Another Bengali spice I’ve used is radhuni,” says chef Sirajul.

The main course served as thaali included dishes like macher paturi, kosha mangsho, shukto, chanar dalna, aloo phool gobhi kaliya, assorted bhaja, cholar dal varkala, pulao and luchi. Though non-veg is a strict no during Navaratri for many communities, Bengalis feast on traditional non-vegetarian dishes.

Macher paturi and kosha mangsho are two such specialty dishes. The former is the traditional Bengali fish steamed in a banana leaf. Though it looks similar to Kerala meen pollichathu, both use different masala. Macher paturi is prepared with kalonji, mustard oil, turmeric, coriander powder, kasundi (mustard sauce) and coconut milk. For kosha mangsho (spicy dry mutton), the chef has used his special mangsho (meat) masala. “It’s a secret masala,” Sirajul smiles and adds, “I have used baby mutton for the preparation. The dish is made with mangsho masala, turmeric, coriander, jeera and Bengal special jharna ghee. Chanar dalna is another signature Bengali dish that’s on the menu - it is prepared with homemade chenna, radhuni, panch phoron, chilli, coriander and turmeric powder.”

A few other Bengal dishes that will be served at the festival are aloo posto (potato cooked with poppy seeds), doi begun (brinjal with curd), Kolkata chicken biryani, poshto bhat aloo, and dak bungalow chicken.

The food festival is open for dinner until October 9 and for a special Sunday brunch on October 2.