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| From Bangali Babu: Smoked mutton, chicken tehari, prawn malai curry, chicken fry, zarda pulao |
It’s no secret that food has the power to evoke strong memories and that is exactly what happened this afternoon thanks to a lunch sent by Nandini and Nirban who run the home chef/ cloud kitchen joint called Bangali Babu in Mumbai.
They had sent over smoked mutton, zarda pulao, jhaal chicken fry, old Dhaka style murg tehari, shahi malai chingri and gulab diye chhanar payesh.
I was welcomed by some pretty majestic looking food when I opened the containers. Each looked rich and inviting. The oil levels had the alarm bells in the late 40s year old me go buzzing, I confess but this was jeebe jol (drool-worthy) stuff for sure. Not the demure and spartan everyday food of my mother’s kitchen in Kolkata. Nor was it the Moghlai fare of the biryani restaurants of central Kolkata.
This was stuff that spoke to the collegian in me from the early to mid 1990s in Calcutta.
From a technical point of view, each of the proteins, the mutton (the marrow came running to me when I slurped it), the chicken (I took the leg piece) and the prawns, were cooked to juicy tenderness. The flavour of each dish, combined with the two pulaos, pulled at my heartstrings.
The food took me back to nights at Milieu, the cultural festival of Presidency College and the college socials on Christmas. The food that was cooked by Promod da in his canteen and distributed in paper boxes on both occasions. To volunteers in the fest and to all us at the social, after we were done with dancing to Bryan Adams and Bazigar in the baddie court beside the canteen. The latter being contributory meals.
It also reminded me a bit of biye baari (wedding) feasts from a time when they were still sit down affairs and not buffets serving chilli fis (sic), biryani and pasta a la live counter, as I am told they are today.
The weddings could be of college professors (one being that of the late Samit Kar at Singhi Park), or when we were in third year, the girls of our batch and at times of siblings of our classmates. I’d wear my dad’s dhuti panjabi at times for the wedding which excited the ladies no end(a boy can always embellish stories). At the socials and the college fest in winter, his jackets and blazers.
That was close to thirty years back. Back then I would have tried to score an extra food box. There was a year when I was a volunteer in three committees… and got three boxes! I might have shared the third with my friends. Or might have not
In weddings, I would take an extra helping and plough on even as I perspired. Not giving up. Like a Rocky come to justice, with apologies to the Bard. I was rather skinny then!
I am 47 now. I took a limited portion of each rice dish on my plate. A piece each of the chicken and the mutton and a spoon each of their masalas. I kept the silken malai curry to have at night, along with plain rice and lau with ilisher mudo. I am avoiding sugar but tried half a teaspoon of the payesh and found it to be quite soothing.
Adulting you see. With a delicious doze of nostalgia.
I came back to my desk to tell my college stories to the boys after lunch.
PS: Interestingly, Nandini (who is much younger to me) lived close to Presidency College in Calcutta and did her schooling at Loretto Bowbazar close by.
PPS: This is good special occasion food and should appeal to non-Caluttan too. K loved what she tried too, her plate was bereft of the memories of course. I had the the tehari with the mutton and the chicken with pulao. The curries also reminded me of what we’d eat at cabins such as Dilkhusha at College Street.
