Bengali Rice Congee or Phenaa Bhaat

Phenaa Bhaat in all Bengali Homes == Bengali Rice Congee in a restaurant.

Few days back, I was talking to Pritha Di( the famous Pritha Sen) about typical Bengali breakfasts served in Bengali middle class homes until a few years back.

" Don't tell me about Luchi, Parotta, Kochuri. Tell me something else, " I said.

That is when memory of this ubiquitous dish, ever present in our childhood mornings, came back.

For the first ten years of my life, I remember rushing through the morning, sleepy eyed and grumpy to catch the school bus somewhere around 8 AM. What I cannot fathom is, how I managed to eat a hot breakfast of soft cooked rice, mashed potatoes and boiled eggs with a pat of melting Amul Butter, that early!! My daughters can barely finish a bowl of cereal in that time.

But it wasn't me alone. Millions of Bengali kids fortified themselves with a similar breakfast and probably still do. It is a healthy, one pot meal. easy for the mothers to cook and definitely good for the kids who swallow the soft morsels hurriedly in the morning.

In PrithaDi's home it was known as "Jau Bhaat". In mine "Phenaa Bhaat" and if the starch was drained then "Seddho bhaat" or "Bhaate Bhaat".

In those days, we had no idea that other Asian kids, strewn around China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Myanmar are probably eating a similar gruel called Congee as their breakfast.

The key to the Bengali "Phenaa Bhaat" is the rice. It has to be a short grained rice and if a fragrant one, all the more better. So the natural choice is Gobindobhog rice. In its absence you can use Kalijeera or any other local short grained rice. The rice is to be cooked with lots of water and vegetables to a starchy gruel like texture. The vegetables vary with season and shouldn't overpower the dish. During summer it is usually potatoes, and then you pick couple of choices from okra, pumpkin, radish and green papaya. In the winter, there is carrots, sweet peas, cauliflower and of course potatoes.

Once cooked, the vegetables can be mashed separately and served with the dish. Some of the vegetables like pumpkin, potatoes and papaya can just be roughly mashed into the rice itself. My mother used to also serve fried fish with the seddho bhaat when she was pressed for time. All of this would be topped with Ghee or a pat of golden Amul butter.

I like it when the dish has a silky and smooth texture and served with eggs. I also like to dress it up with some green chili and ginger slices fried in mustard oil.

Poush Sankranti r Pithe

Pithe,is reminiscent of the times when paddy was harvested in the months of December-January and the new crop was celebrated by making dishes that used rice, date palm jaggery(khejur gur also collected in the winter months) and coconut. Poush Parbon or Nabanno was a celebration of the new crop of rice, which was the mainstay for the then agrarian society. We have moved many years forward from those times where rice is now GMO and harvested multiple times and grated coconut can be found in the frozen aisles of grocery stores. Yet, we still take the effort to celebrate poush-parbon, in our home to honor those simpler times when we revered soil and its bounty, instead of taking it for granted like we do now.

Here is a collection of few sweets, desserts made around Poush Sankranti that I have blogged about in the past years. I have tweaked the recipes and modernized them for my own good. Ideally, the sweet stuffing for the pithes and patishaptas around this time makes use of coconut, khejur gur and milk. The crepes and outer coating of puli and pithe is usually made with rice flour.



Gokul Pithe -- My all time favorite among pithes!!!Small discs of kheer-narkol (kheer and coconut cooked together) are dipped in a batter and then deep fried. These fried discs are then dunked in sugar syrup. Mmmmm!!!

Pyarakia or Gujiya -- Not necessarily in the pithe category but when filled with a coconut and kheer stuffing these empanada style pyarakias do make the Makar Sankranti cut!

Nonta Pithe --  Dumplings made with rice flour and stuffed with sweet and savory stuffing of coconut or potato-peas for savory.

Rosh Bora -- small fritters made with Urad Dal and then soaked in a thin sugar syrup

Pati Shapta -- Crepes made of all purpose flour + rice flour filled with a kheer stuffing

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Khichuri -- on a Snow Day

I would have never, ever thought that my first post on this New year would be a Khichuri.

Bengali Khichuri | Khichri

There are many variations of Khichuri in Bengal, from the revered Bhog er Khichuri made with roasted moong dal and pure satwik ingredients to the Musur Dale er Khichuri which is made with red lentils and is flavored with onion and garlic to the Bhuni Khichuri which is a richer and drier version of Khichri

Yes, the Bong's rainy day picker-upper, their precious offering to Goddesses, their solution to all word problems, the heady mix of rice and lentils with spices and veggies -- the Khichuri.

The thing is I never got the whole brouhaha over this dish.
I mean, "Dude, it is just Dal and rice, why are you going so crazy 'bout it?"

It appears, not the Bongs alone, all of India is kind of crazy about Khichdi. In fact they are so crazy that they wanted to declare Khichdi as India's National food. Seriously? National Food? When you have so many better things like Ilish er Jhaal, Dim Kosha, Biriyani, Galouti Kababs, Aloo Paratha, Mysore Dosa to choose from, you choose Khichuri. Major eye roll!

But what can I say. My Baba is major Khichuri bhokto. He loves his Khichuri with dollops and dollops of Ghee and relishes it like no other. The husband-man is another big time Khichuri fan. Although unlike my Dad, who love his khichuris whether bland or rich, this guy loves a good khichuri.

Today we have been bombarded with what the meteorologists are calling the "bomb cyclone". It has been snowing since midnight, along with a lot of wind and it looks like we are in the middle of a snow desert. Schools have been closed and there is no way any one is venturing outside. So today I decided to make Khichuri for lunch. The only silver lining in that whole cloud of Khichuri was the omelette, yes the only thing that can redeem a Khichuri for me. I don't care for fries or labra. A nice Indian omelette with onion and green chilies is my only knight in shining armor when Khichuri is for lunch.

Unlike the Bhog er Khichuri which is made without onion and garlic and with roasted moong dal, this every day Khichuri is made with Musur aka Red Lentils and has its fair share of onion and garlic.

You can serve it with an omeltte, papad, some pickle like I did or with Beguni or Begun Bhaja

So, the thing is for a long time my Khichuri would never turn out right. You would think it is an easy-peasy thing to do but somehow mine always went wrong. Either the lentils were under-cooked or the veggies were over done or something. I eventually got it right but I figured there would be hapless souls out there who like me fail at making a Khichuri. For them, I even made a shaky video of this whole Khichuri making, holding my phone in one hand!

The Great Bengali Pata Bata or veggie Pâté -- leafy greens pâté

Mulo Shaak Bata | Phulkopi Pata Bata| Bengali Pata Bata

Radish greens, Cauliflower leaves, Lau Pata, and other such fresh green peels or leaves which we usually discard, are made into a beautiful dish in Bengal called "pata bata" which is a seasoned and spiced paste of these leaves and stalks. A close cousin of  Pate in French or a Pesto in Italian, this very Bengali rustic dish with generous doses of Mustard oil is a culinary delight.

Many, many years ago, it was a cold winter day just like today, when I was visiting my in-laws in India. Well not exactly cold like today as it was in India but it gets pretty cold where they live. Though I must say with the  sun on the terrace winter in their town is far better than here. On that winter afternoon there were several small bowls on the dining table at lunch. So yes, lunch is what I concentrate on when I visit anyone, in-laws or out-laws.

Well there were always several small bowls on the dining table but this time each of them contained a paste or mash like something in earthy colors of brown, deep green or deeper green. I had never seen the likes of them and was actually a bit suspicious with their color and portions. The husband-man however went ecstatic and shouted in glee "Baata korecho?" I was still clueless. The guy loved weird things like bittergourd and bitter neem leaves fry and so his happiness did not aid my confidence.

Nimbly I took a little of one of those baatas and mixed it with white rice and took a morsel. Flavors of mustard oil, green chili, kalonji burst in my mouth. This was good. So so good. Unlike neem paata which I detested. Surprised with the fullness of flavors and smoothness of the texture, I asked my Ma-in-law what it was ?

"Mulo Shaak Baata", she said. And then she pointed to the others and said "Kochu baata" and "Kopi paata baata"! I was bowled by all these baatas or pates or pastes. They were really heavenly. That something so simple like "Leafy greens of radish" or the "green leaves of cauliflower" could morph into something so delicious was beyond my imagination.

She explained how the greens are ground into a paste on the sheel-nora, the same pocmarked slab of stone used in all Indian homes used to wet-grind spices. After that the paste is sauteed in Mustard oil with spices like kalo jeera(kalonji), green chilies and garlic, until the water is dried out and the paste is cooked.

Sheel Nora -- though here it is being used for making posto

Back home, I asked my Mother, "How come you never made paata baata?"

She looked quizzically at me and didn't appear too happy about my allegiance towards this strange dish called "paata bata"

And when I explained what it was she dismissed it as something that Bangals make, "Bangal ra oi shob banay".

Well might be true. The Bangals, or the Bengalis who immigrated from Bangladesh during or just before partition, are known for their distinctive cooking strategies. They are also known for their enterprising habit of using every bit of vegetables and fish in a dish and not wasting even the peels. I am not sure why people from this region of Bengal are more prone to making baatas etc while the folks from West Bengal are not.

It could be that the immigrant Bengalis, living a rough life, uprooted from their home and earnings, were more careful about not wasting food and making the most of what they had. It could also be because Bangladesh was a river state with frequent flooding, so people tried to make most of the vegetables they grew during those periods of rain and flood. In both situations, the idea was to stretch to the limits of what little you had.

So whatever the reason of their origin, the pate' like dishes made from vegetable peels or leafy greens or even whole vegetables are delicious. Later my mom-in-law also made a Kaanchakolar khosa baata made with the skin of green plantains which I have shared on the blog earlier.  Last month when we were visiting my friends from Thanksgiving, my friend Deepshikha made a "Dhonepaata Bata", a similar paste like my Ma-in-law makes but with coriander leaves. It was not the "dhonepata chutney" that we make every winter. This was a cooked dish.

So once I was back in my kitchen I was itching to make a paata bata. But instead of using only Coriander leaves, I wanted to use radish greens and cabbage. And then I didn't find any radish greens at the market so I got some watercress, which we are very fond of. The paste was now made of watercress, cabbage and coriander leaves.  More of coriander and watercress and less of cabbage. I wasn't sure how the  cabbage would  turn out so I sauteed them first and then made the paste. But honestly  the transformation of these greens into this Bengali style pâté was spectacular.

Narayan Pujo'r Shinni - a Prashad fit for Dessert

Bengali Shinni - a Prashad fit for Dessert

Shinni, is a very simple prashad made with atta(whole wheat flour), sugar, bananas, milk--- many of you are thinking banana bread at this point but no--all mixed together with hand and offered to Lord Satya Narayan. This is a typical prashad made only during Satya Narayan Pujo in Bengali households. There is a very interesting story associated with this puja and subsequently the proshad. Centuries ago in Bengal, the Satya Narayan Puja was performed by Hindu women, but they prayed interchangeably to Satya Pir(a Muslim fakir or saint) or Satya Narayan (an avatar of Vishnu). As per the story, Satya Pir or Satya Narayan, the lord himself, had asked his devotees to prepare this simple prasad and even given them a rough recipe with ingredients available to all. Since then this simple proshad is what is made to appease him during Narayan pujo

I am not a very ritualistic person. I am kind of wishy-washy around them. If a ritual is something that my heart takes after and is easier to get done with, I will do it. If not, I will probably skip. I am not a very religious person either or rather I am not very ritualistic about the religion that I follow. I like praying and I light incense sticks almost every other evening for a set of gods in my Puja corner. It doesn't matter if I am having my periods, I will still do it. If I don't feel like on some evening, I don't.

This is very different from the way I have grown up in a home where rituals were strictly adhered to.

With age, I see my parent's vision has changed regarding religious rituals too. My father is no longer as conservative as he was some twenty years back. He reads vedas and the other day was telling me, how some of the words in Sanskrit mantras like "Hrring", "Krring"-- which are actually sounds(dhwanis) with no literal meaning -- were actually derived from the sounds of nature, which was what the early humans were afraid of and thus prayed to. His belief in the ritualistic form of prayers has waned too, making it easier for me to relate to his pujas.

So this time when my parents wanted to do the Kojagari Lakhsmi Pujo , which they have been doing at their own home for many many years on the night of the first full moon after Durga Pujo, I agreed to all the little nuances. I do this Pujo, other years too, but in my own very random way. This time I agreed to the rituals as they did not seem too rigid and gave me excuses to buy the the brass lamps I have always had eyes on.

Since we were having the Pujo, I asked my Mother to make Shinni. Shinni, is a very simple prashad made with atta(whole wheat flour), sugar, bananas, milk--- many of you are thinking banana bread at this point but no--all mixed together with hand and offered to Lord Satya Narayan. This is a typical prashad made only during SatyaNarayan Pujo but I love it so much that I insisted and my Mother obliged this time.

Bhetki Macher Kalia Jhol and story of Jamai Shoshthi

Bhetki Macher Jhol

Tomorrow, today Friday is Jamai Shoshthi.  My Ma had called last week and then again yesterday night, lamenting the fact that she will not be there to feed her jamai--son-in-law-- a rich sumptuous meal on the day. Staying far away, she is robbed of this pleasure most years.

If I am honest, neither the jamai nor me miss it all that much. Going on a cooking frenzy, on a hot humid summer day of Jaishtha to feed the son-in-law delicacies ranging from kathal to ilish and golda chingri to lyangra aam and then having to eat it all dressed in bong fineries aka kurta pajama is not our idea of fun. We would rather have aloo-posto and musur dal on such sweltering hot days.And I will not even go into the modern woman's pet peeve about why a special day for son-in-law but not daughter-in-law.

Though the day has gained popularity as the day that the Ma-in-law cooks, feeds and pampers the son-in-law, I wanted to find a deeper meaning to the day. How did it all start ? Surely feeding the son-law good food could have been shelved to a cooler day in winter. And why ? What was the really important idea behind all this ? It is nice knowing about traditions even when you don't observe them to the fullest.

I didn't have much idea and so asked around and got fascinating tales about the day from where else but the blog's FaceBook page. Surprising thing is when I started the ball rolling, instead of my Ma it was Baba who recalled the shoshthi tales from his own childhood.So what I am going to tell you now is a panorama of how the day is celebrated across many Bengali homes. The traditions vary, the methods change, the celebrations are adapted to suit the changing time but running deep through all of them is the same theme -- celebration of life, of children.

It all began with Maa Shoshthi, one of the many goddesses in the Hindu Mythology whose chief job was that of an "guradian angel", looking after children's health and wellness. I have talked about her in this post on Gota Sheddho which is celebrated on Sheetol Shoshthi. Now Maa Shoshthi is also the goddess of fertility, a gynecologist and pediatrician rolled into one. This special role ensures that she is invoked and prayed to several times of the year, each occasion being given a different name and thus having a significance particular to that season. So there is Sheetol Shoshthi in Spring, Aranya Shoshthi or Jamai Shoshthi in summer, Neel Shoshthi in autumn and maybe some more.

Fruits of summer like Jamun

On the sixth day of Shukla Paksha(waxing phase of the moon) in the month of Jaishtha is celebrated the fabled Jamai Shoshthi and the lesser known Aranya Shoshthi or Shontan Shoshthi.This usually falls around mid June every year.

The Aranya Shosthi or as some call it ShontanShoshthi was done by the mothers and grandmothers solely for the well being of their children. As per my Baba's description, this is how his grandmother would celebrate the day (in his own words):
"One mid size branch with leaves from a jackfruit tree, would be dug in a raised platform(bedi) in the backyard(uthon).2/6/12 little typical type figurines(putul) made of rice flour(chaler guro) & coloured yellow with turmeric would be placed on the platform along with all types of seasonal fruits like mangoes, lychee, jamun, jackfruit. There would also be hand fans for each child (Haat pakha made of palm leaves) dotted with turmeric and a bunch of Durba grass tied on the handle of fan with yellow thread; and a piece of new garment for each child.
After that my grandmother would read the broto kotha, with all mothers & children present there. After the prayers, the mothers would use the fan  to sprinkle drops of water on each child(pakha diye joler chite), tie a yellow thread on their wrist and give them fruits and new clothes. At some other houses on this day instead of Jack fruit branch, banana tree would be use for Sashthi pujo."

The king of the season Mangoes

Baba thinks that since the son-in-law is also regarded as one's offspring via marriage, he is an important part of the day and is fed well.

However I think this explanation is more apt about how Jamai Shoshthi came into being. In those days and even now, soon after marriage, the bride is under family pressure to bear an offspring preferably male. Since Maa Shoshthi is also an IVF specialist, the girls' parents felt that sending her a prayer might ensure a child and thus a happy married life for their darling girl. Since the son-in-law was  held as a respected figure in those days(unlike the ones today who call their Ma-in-law Kakima and eat chinese on jamai shoshthi) and a prime contributor to the equation , a meal for him could only mean dishes cooked from best offerings of the season.

Ingredients for the Macher Jhol

With all that asking around in FB that I did, Shakuntala, who is a reader and now a friend, shared memories of her shoshthi along with more ritualistic nuances as observed in her home. She very kindly allowed me to post account of her day here:
"On the day of shoshthi her Ma, Aunt and Didu shower and collect some chul-dhowa jol(water droplets from washed hair) in bowls, and make little cloth purses of durba( grass with three tips), karamcha and rice grain. They then get busy in the kitchen, making mowa, kheer and narkel naru.  Her Mami then makes a Ma Shoshthi idol with moyda/chaler guro paste, and paint eyes and nose and mouth and hair and a red bindi. The kids(Shakuntala and her siblings) make a dozen of her chhanapona idols, and giggle on their ungodlike appearance. They also make the cat-idol -- Ma Shoshthi's pet, complete with a curled tail and stiff whiskers.They then sit Ma Shoshthi down on a piri, puts her children and her cat around her, and stick a kathaler daal as a background, to make things sylvan. 

Pilsuj-prodeep, shonkho-conch shell, ghonta--the brass bell and other paraphernalia are brought down from Thakurghor; sandal paste is made, flowers overflow from the big copper pushpo patro, and wisps of dhup-smoke carry that special pujo-fragrance to every part of the house.
Shaukuntala says, the pujo is the least time-consuming action of this day and instead time is spent on prepping cotton thread dipped in turmeric, picking durba, arranging noibidyo and making the piece de resistance - bana. What is a bana? Take a kathalpata(jackfruit leaf), trim its top and bottom end, put a little bit of everything on it (aam lichu kalojam doi kheer mishti kauner chal) and voila! you have a bana! They come in two versions - with kathal, and without kathal. And you have to eat the whole thing at one go. No, not the leaf, but the contents of the leaf. The taste? Hamin ast!

After they arrange the stacks of bana, light more dhup, make a lot of noise with kashorghonta and shonkho, they sit down in a semi circle, and Mami starts to recite pNachali. After the littany, Didu fans her children with her special haatpakha, and sprinkles water on their heads with the koromcha-dhaan putli (which has a long tuft of  durba for this express purpose) then we present our collective heads to be fanned and sprinkled with water as well.

Ma, Mami, Didu chant "katlo katlo mashir sari, tobu boli shaat shaat, katlo katlo pishir naak tobu boli shaat shaat " thus letting us know that today is the day of permissiveness, today we can do no sin. Of course, being good kids, we never put that to test."

Isn't her recounting of the day beautiful ? To read more about her description of the day visit her blog

 

Back to the day, I did not cook anything special. This recipe of Bhetki Macher Jhol is from another day. I have repeated the same recipe with salmon many times. Also with local fish like trout or bass. Rui is a good choice too.With salmon, I don't fry the fillet but add them to the cooked masala and poach them in the gravy.

But I did do a short Shoshthi Pujo where I offered 5 fruits on a hand fan, fanned sprinkles of water and tied yellow thread on the girls' wrist and gave them new clothes.Only I did not have a hand fan, so I pretended that the Japanese wall decor fan was one.  Also could not find the spool of thread and so put turmeric-yogurt dots on the daughters' forehead. Then BS got  a yellow thread from her jewellery making kit which we used to tie on the wrist. You see, I love rituals when I can totally twist them to my liking and pretend that I am upholding the Bengali cultural heritage. At least that way, I get to hear interesting stories.

Bhetki Maacher Jhol

Prep

Bhetki Maach -- 4 steak pieces
You can use any other fish like rui, katla etc. Today I even did the same gravy with salmon
Rub the cleaned pieces of fish with turmeric, salt and then keep aside for 20 minutes. Shallow fry in oil. Mustard oil preferred but vegetable oil will do.
I got a fryer recently and deep fried the fish but shallow frying works fine.

Make the onion paste and ginger-garlic paste
Onion -- 1 medium grind to paste, about 3 heaped tbsp of paste used
Ginger-Garlic paste -- approx. 1 tbsp of paste, made with 4 fat clove of garlic and 1" ginger

Chop the potatoes if using
Potatoes -- 2 small ones, chopped in halves or quarters

Puree 1 medium ripe and juicy tomato to make about 1/2 cup of pureed tomato

Start Cooking

Heat Mustard Oil to smoking.

Fry the potatoes with sprinkle of turmeric till golden brown. Remove and keep aside. You can aslo skip the potatoes if you so wish.

Temper the same Oil with
1" thin stick of cinnamon
2 TejPata
2 green cardamom
1 black cardamom
4 clove 
Alternately you could skip the whole garam masala and temper with 2 tej pata and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Note: Usually the whole garam masala phoron is used for a Kaalia and the cumin seeds-tejpata phoron is used for a jhol.

Next add about 1/2 tsp sugar followed by the onion paste. Fry the onion paste for 3-4 minutes

Now add the ginger-garlic paste and continue frying till raw smell of onion is gone. Sprinkle water in between if you see the masala sticking.

Next goes in the pureed tomato. Sprinkle some salt, a little turmeric powder and fry the tomato.


Throw in 4-5 slit green chillies if you want the heat.

Make a thick paste of
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
in a tsp of water.
Add to the frying pan and fry till you see oil separating from the masala.

Now add the fried potatoes, mix with the spices and then add a cup of warm water. 
Add salt to taste. Cover and let the gravy simmer and then come to a boil.

Once the potatoes are cooked, taste the gravy and make adjustments. Sprinkle a pinch of garam masala if you wish but depends on how rich you want it to be.

Slowly add fried fish to the gravy and simmer for few more minutes.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice.