The Closest to the Courses of a French Meal is a Bengali Meal

Couple of weeks ago when I was talking to a bunch of 17/18 year old kids about the courses of the classical French Menu, it suddenly crossed my mind that we Bengalis have an equally elaborate meal with just as many number of courses. So we started a discussion about this similarity in class. Being a Bengali I suppose it is our food culture that crossed my mind at the very outset, and I am not quite certain if any other Indian meal can come anywhere close to it! I will, however, do a research and if and when I do find a similarity document it right here.

The quintessential Bengali will always have rice as the base with all the courses served. However, certain courses during a more formal occasion may also be served with luchi, a fried unleavened bread made from flour.

A classic French meal will begin with a hors d’oeuvre, this course allows the diner to build up an appetite for what is to follow. It is usually piquant in nature and is served in small quantities. Similarly the Bengali meal starts with a course which teases the taste buds and allows the person to look forward to an appetising meal. The Bengali meal usually begins with a starter of bitter vegetables (karela/ucche aka, bitter gourd) or herbs (neem) or flowers (sajna phool aka flowers of the drumstick plant), either fried or boiled and served in a very small quantity. Sometimes a mixed vegetable curry made with the bitter ingredients called shukto is also served. This course apart from enhance the appetite also cleanses the palate and the body and is considered to have a lot of medicinal value.

Following the hors d’oeuvre, the French enjoy a course of soup. We Bengalis have a course of dal instead. Dal can be equated to soup as it is has soup like consistency and is made from various lentils. Amongst the Bengalis the common dals are masoor dal (split red lentils), moong dal (split green gram), cholar dal (split Bengal gram) and matar dal (split yellow peas) are most common, although kalai/urad daal (spilt black gram) is common in certain areas only. Dals are usually made with a tempering of spices after boiling them. They can also be made with vegetables or fish head added to it. On special occasions cholar dal is served with luchi, but as mentioned earlier dals are also eaten with rice. Some dals like the moong dal can also be served as a starter course if cooked with ucche/karela. Dals are served with an accompaniment of fried vegetables like brinjal, red pumpkin (kumro), potatoes or even fish or fritters made from a variety of vegetables including onions.

Like the French, the Bengalis too have a separate vegetable course. Apart from being an accompaniment to dals vegetables are served in a myriad of ways. Ghonto, cchyanchra, labra, chorchori are different ways of cooking a variety of vegetables all into a single dish. The Bengali housewife is also very adept at cooking the most insipid vegetables in the most delicious way. To give an example of this, potol (pointed gourd) or jhinga (ridged gourd) are quite insipid to taste, but in a Bengali household they will be deliciously made with a variety of spices to give it more flavour. Potol is made into dolma (which is not indigenous to Bengal but a technique imported from Greece), similarly jhinga is cooked with potatoes and poppyseed (posto) paste. Sometimes pulses as well as fish head are added to vegetables. Various parts of the banana plant is consumed as a vegetable; the tender stem called thor is made into chechki (a method of slow cooking vegetables), the flower (mocha) after removing the stamens are made into ghonto, the raw banana (kancha kola) is churned out into delicious koftas.

No Bengali meal is complete without a course of fish. The French too have a dedicated course for fish (poisson). Fish steamed with mustard paste (bhape) is one healthy way of cooking fish. Fish is also made into paturi, wrapping marinated fish in banana leaves and steaming it. Other ways to cook fish are jhol, jhal, kalia, rosha etc. Each method is defined by the spices used. Jhol is a gravy tempered with green chillies and whole spices whereas in jhal one would use sliced onions as a base. Similarly there is very little difference between kalia and rosha, both gravies are made with onion ginger garlic paste, one has a thicker gravy than the other. Incidentally it is more a difference of opinions between the Bangals (Bengalis from former East Bengal) and Ghotis (those from Western part of Bengal). (Discussing this brings to my mind an altercation I had with my friend, Sujan Mukherjee, now the esteemed Executive chef of Taj Bengal and my batchmate from college, regarding the difference between jhol and jhal. That was what he was asked to differentiate for the campus interview, I gave my perspective of it and he his, and we both disagreed with each other’s logic. Mine came from the knowledge bestowed upon me by my mother in law which I thought was the ultimate!!!)  

The meat course is optional otherwise but essential during occasions. Bengalis unlike the French will not consume the meat of any other animal other than the goat. Kochi pathar mangsho (meat of a young goat) is much sought after even today and kosha mangsho a delicacy. The French have three courses assigned to meat and that too of various kinds and prepared in different manners.

What follows next is chutney a sweet and sour preparation made from a variety of vegetables like raw mangoes, tamarind (both raw and ripe), pineapple, dried plums, chaalta (elephant apple), jolpai (Indian olives), tomatoes, raw papayas or fruits like dates, pineapples, dried plums etc. This course like the sorbet in a French meal help cleanse the palate and prepares the diner to finish the meal with a dessert as with the French meal.

Along with sweets one would be served doi (yogurt), typically sweetened, this not only aids digestion but also prepares the palate for the final dessert. Doi is considered a part of the dessert course in a Bengali meal. Finally no Bengali meal is complete without the serving of paan (beetle leaf) which helps in digestion the elaborate and heavy meal served.

It has been rightly mentioned in Wikipedia that “the Bengali cuisine is perhaps the only traditionally developed multi-course tradition from South Asia that is analogous in structure to the modern Service à la russe style of French cuisine, with food served course-wise rather than all at once”. The only possible difference between the two being that the primary accompaniment of the Bengali cuisine is rice and the garnishes are quite minimal also that a Bengali meal will never have any alcoholic accompaniment like the French.

While writing this article I felt that there were some parts which overlapped with my earlier article. However, the two are travails of different kinds. I hope that my readers have gained fruitful insight to our Bengali cuisine. I will refrain from writing recipes here as I feel there are more than enough recipe books available. However, if anyone wants recipes for a Bengali preparation please feel free to leave a comment with your email address and I will oblige. Happy reading!!!