Bangladesh!

This meal has been a few months in the making and I've just been getting more and more excited about it. When I first started this project, I posted my (daunting!) list of countries on a Cleveland food-focused Facebook group asking for restaurant recommendations. I got tons of great advice and also a few really generous offers to meet at social clubs that required membership. But one lovely person offered to cook me a Bengali meal at her home since there are no restaurants nearby that offer strictly Bengali cuisine. After a few messages back and forth, we finally made it happen this week! Rini had me over for a lunch full of Bengali comfort food - bhortas. Specifically these bhortas: potato (alu), lentil (daal), eggplant (begun), egg (deem), shrimp (chingri), fish (machh), cilantro (dhonepata) bata, and poppy seed (posto) bata. 

According to TasteAtlas, Bhortas or bhartas are a group of dishes mainly associated with Bangladesh. The group encompasses various combinations of mashed herbs, vegetables, or fish whose base typically combines mustard oil, garlic, onions, and red chili peppers. The most common ingredients used in bhortas include eggplants, potatoes, prawns, ilish and other types of fresh and dry fish, as well as numerous other vegetables and herbs.

The ingredients can be steamed, grilled, or roasted before they are combined into a mash. Although they were invented among the Bengali Muslims, bhortas have become an indispensable part of national Bangladesh cuisine. They are served as a side dish or the main course, typically with rice on the side.

Rini sent me a couple articles about the cultural history of bhortas that are fascinating. I highly recommend giving them a quick read!

Enough research! Time to eat! 

Look at this presentation! Clockwise from the top: potato, egg, poppy seed, cilantro, lentil, fish, eggplant, and shrimp. 

The flavors were incredible! I could taste the mustard oil (don't tell the FDA!) and coriander, but every type of bhorta offered a different taste journey. I especially liked the egg, shrimp, and eggplant versions, but would happily eat a full plate of any of them. 

Rini shared a Facebook post she made for last year's New Year's feast with me so I could get insight into some of the recipes. (We didn't have the cabbage this time, FYI.)

Bhortas don't really have recipes in the sense that people add things based on how they like their bhortas to taste. But here I am including what I did yesterday. 

First I prepared all the bases for fish, shrimp, daal, potatoes. Cabbage was "boiled" covered, on low/med heat in it's own water until soft. Fish and shrimp was cut into little pieces raw, tossed in turmeric and salt and cooked until all water released was dried up separately, masoor daal was boiled in just enough water so that the boiled and cooked daal is mushy but not runny (towards the end I just boiled the daal while adding water little by little). I used my hands to lightly mash up the cabbage, and mash up the daal further when cool. A hand chopped was used to mash up both the shrimp and the fish separately. 

Then I sautéed red onions chopped (thinly sliced) on medium flame in mustard oil.  On low heat I roasted whole but peeled garlic cloves on medium flame while covered to soften up the garlic, and roasted red dried whole chillis in mustard oil uncovered until crunchy so that they can be easily crushed. I used my fingers to mash up the softened and cooked garlic, and crush up the dried whole red chillis. 

I also chopped up raw onions and green chillis. 

Cabbage - added salt, mustard oil, cooked red onion, mashed up garlic and red chillis. Done. 

Fish - added salt, mustard oil, cooked red onion, mashed up garlic and red chillis. Done

Shrimp - Added salt, mustard oil, raw red onions, raw green chillis. done.

Daal - added salt, mustard oil, cooked red onion, mashed up garlic and red chillis. Done.

Potatoes - added salt, mustard oil, cooked red onion, mashed up garlic and red chillis. Done. Another popular version is with raw red onions, green chillis, salt and mustard oil. 

Taste for salt and spice. 

Coriander/cilantro leaves or dhone pata - Blend thoroughly washed leaves with green chillis and garlic. fry blended leaves in mustard oil until dry and paste like. This is the most time consuming and painful process. 

Posto/poppy seed - Dry roast seeds, dry grind posto. Mix in garlic paste. green chilli paste, salt and mustard oil. If you have a wet grinder you can just grind the posto, green chilli, garlic, salt and mustard oil together. 

Eggplant - Raw onions, green chilli, coriander leaves, salt, mustard oil and fried peanuts (this is a marathi touch).

And if that plate of bhortas wasn't impressive enough, she also fried up dessert while we were chatting! Malpua are pancakes made out of flour, cream of wheat, and fennel seeds which are then soaked in a simple syrup with cardamom and saffron. I was embarrassed by how quickly I scarfed these down. For something that took mere minutes to make, they were SO delicious. 

Experiences like this are exactly why I wanted to start this project. I loved learning about the food culture and especially getting to know someone who enjoys preparing and sharing the food that they love for a stranger from the internet. :)  I'm already excited about our next food outing together!

And I got to pet two of the best, fluffy boys in Cleveland. Here's Onyx! 

20 down, 32 to go!