I know I’ve been irregular in writing this year and I will start writing more from here on. A little secret for you, in November this year, I’ll have been in Kolkata for 21 years! Unimaginable really! And playing around with East-meets-West classics is something I’ve been doing since Day One. This year instead of writing a long-winded rendition of my ever-dying love for Kolkata, its people, its festivals etc (I think I’ll leave that for Christmas), below are a few beautiful recipes, making the best of the seasonal produce available and recipes that I know you’re all going to love. Happy Puja to everyone and enjoy!
Bengal black rice and crab arancini fritter, Bengali tomato coulis
This is a lovely dish, made with Bengal black rice, filled with crabmeat and served with a delicious Bengali tomato chutney, which has been blended into a smooth coulis.
We’ll start with the rice. I’ve used Bengal black rice here but please feel free to use whatever rice you like. I’m going to keep this as simple as possible, so soak 200g in water for half an hour or so, drain and rinse. Then slightly over cook your rice in a saucepan of boiling salted water. If you are using the black rice, it can take up to 50 minutes to cook. Once ready, drain and set aside to cool a little.
Next fry 150g of fresh crabmeat in 1tbsp of mustard oil with 2 finely chopped green chillies, the zest of a gondhoraj lemon and 1tsp of finely chopped ginger, fry for just one or two minutes, squeeze in the juice from your lemon, season well with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.
For the coulis, place 1tbsp of mustard oil into a saucepan and add 1tsp of paanch phoron. Crackle for a few seconds, then add 1tsp of chopped ginger, 4 chopped tomatoes and 100ml of cranberry juice, sprinkle over 2tbsp of powdered jaggery, season well with salt and pepper and simmer for around 10 mins until the tomatoes have fallen. Allow to cool and blend into a smooth puree.
Now to your rice, add 40g of finely grated parmesan cheese and 40g of grated cheddar cheese. Mush this together with your hands, season to taste and split the mixture into 4 equally sized balls. Flatten a risotto ball in your hand, place ¼ of the crab into the centre, enclose the crab in the rice and roll it into a ball. Repeat three times before coating in 50g of seasoned flour, 2 beaten eggs and around 100g of breadcrumbs. Dip each rice ball into the flour, followed by the eggs and finally, the breadcrumbs and set aside for frying.
To fry, half-fill a large, heavy-based saucepan with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat to around 160C or until a piece of bread turns golden-brown in the oil within a minute or so. Lower the risotto balls into the oil and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Serve as a starter with a little of the coulis on the side and a wedge of gondhoraj.
Crisp skin on Kolkata bekti, sauteed ivy gourd, gondhoraj foam
I’ve been doing various versions of this for years, depending upon the seasonal vegetables available, topped with a light gondhoraj foam made with lecithin or egg whites. A lot easier than you think to make and delicious.
Heat 2tbsp of olive oil in a fry pan on a high heat and place into this, skin side down, 4 Kolkata bekti fish fillets, around 150g each, which have been seasoned well. I’m suggesting around 5 minutes on the skin side or until the skin is crisp and golden and 2 minutes on the flesh side until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
While the oil is still hot, turn down the temperature a little and throw in 250g of halved ivy gourd (tinda) and fry for around 5 minutes, tossing often until golden but still having a bite to it. Season if necessary; the salt left in the pan from cooking the fish could be enough and squeeze in the juice of a lime.
Finally for the foam, you can easily make a foam with lecithin but as it’s a non-veg dish anyway, it’ll be easier for you to make it with egg whites. Place one egg white into a clean bowl and whisk to a spooning consistency foam, season well with salt and pepper, then fold in the juice and zest of a gondhoraj lime.
Place the ivy gourd onto your serving plate, place a piece of fish on top, top with the foam and a wedge of gondhoraj to the side.
A trifle Bengal!
A trifle is my go-to demonstration dish, wherever I’m travelling in the world as I can go to a local market and pretty much find all the ingredients I need to come up with something spectacular.
This has all the elements a trifle should have — sponge, fresh fruit, some sort of custard and, of course, fresh cream but here I’ve gone all-out Bengal with this one.
There really is barely any recipe to share with this. It’s purely about assembly so let’s start with placing a piece of shop-bought sponge into the centre of your plate. Top this with some pearls of angora rasmalai, 1" diced mango and a quenelle of whipped cream that has had an equal quantity of mishti doi whisked into it. I did make a little caramel garnish for mine with a few fennel seeds and just because I had it and for that extra special addition, I drizzled a little limoncello over the sponge. Creamy and lemony just work so well together.
Burrata, crisp morola maach, crackling panch phoron, sweet mango chutney
This one was an idea that popped up last Durga Puja for a tasting menu I was doing at The Glenburn Penthouse. I’d made some deliciously fresh burrata and served it with crispy morola maach and that squeeze of smooth, fresh mango chutney just pulls it together beautifully.
Let’s start with the fresh mango chutney. Into a blender, add the flesh of 1 ripe mango, 1tsp grated ginger, ¼ tsp each of ground cinnamon, chilli powder and coriander powder, the juice and zest of a lime, 1 tbsp vinegar and salt to taste. Give it a good blend until smooth and set aside.
Next place 250g of morola maach, which have been cleaned by your fishmonger, and pat it dry into a bowl with 40g flour, 1tsp hot chilli powder and a good grind of salt and pepper and lightly toss all the ingredients together. Coat well and remove any excess flour mixture
Heat your cooking oil until moderately hot and fry the fish until golden and crispy. Around 5 to 6 minutes should be good, then drain well on kitchen paper and season with a little extra salt and chilli powder.
To serve, place half of a burrata into the centre of your serving plate, season with salt and pepper, then place your fish roe fritters on top with a spoonful of the fresh mango chutney on the side.
Pulled duck singara 2012, panch phoron pineapple
As it says, I first made this dish for a pop-up in the UK, 10 years ago. I’ve literally made singaras filled with any and everything over the years. From daab chingri to rhubarb and custard. But the duck singara continues to be a winner. Paired with a little pineapple chutney, it’s a winning combination and no, I’m not going to embarrass myself by giving you a recipe for singara dough..
Place into a pressure cooker, one whole duck, skin on but well trimmed. The ducks you usually find in Kolkata are around 800g, cover with water and cook on low for around an hour and allow to cool. While this happens, you can get on with making your singara dough and my pineapple chutney.
Temper 1tsp of paanch phoron and ½tsp mustard seeds in 1tbsp of white oil. Then add half a ripe pineapple that has been cut into 1" by ½" pieces, 1tsp shredded ginger, 50g of powdered jaggery and 50ml 0f white vinegar. Cook this until the mixture is a more on the jammy side than runny.
Drain the cooked duck and pick out all of the meat from the bones and the coating layer of skin and place into a clean bowl with 2tsp Hoisin sauce, 2 spring onions finely chopped, ½tsp finely chopped ginger and mash together with your hand, the duck after the slow-cook should just fall apart. Correct the seasoning and gently mix in 100g of cooked diced potato. Then make 4 large singaras using this as a filling and fry as you would normally.
Serve the singaras as a starter with the pineapple chutney on the side.
Pictures by Shaun Kenworthy