Tales Of Ilish Macher Jhol And Other Dishes

Bongos love their food, and when a bunch of them get together, the conversations mostly revolve around food, football, and politics. However, the discussions around everything take a back seat when the Bongos begin with Maach-Bhaat and Beguni. From fishy foods to a fantastic variety of sweet dishes made from pure ghee, these are hallmarks of Bengali cuisine. In this hoch-poch of dishes and frequent clashes of delicacies, how can we forget the famous Ilish Machher Jhol and Bhaat?

Bongos and Hilsa are inseparable; Image Source: Pinterest

Khai khai koro keno, esho bosho ahare,

Khaobo ajob khaoa, bhoj koi jahare

— Sukumar Roy

Do you know the similarities between a Bongo and a French? Well, people from both these cultures spend a lot of time thinking about taste food palates, and when they finally decide to make it, they leave no stone unturned to prepare the dishes. Wisecracks like 'Bengalis live to eat and 'Bengalis almost spend their entire income on food' are not merely bluffs.

When you enter a Bengali household, you know that you have entered an entirely different world where you think about food when you wake up, you think about food when you finish your breakfast, and you think about food when you complete your lunch. It's food thoughts that take up your entire time.

The household leader is responsible for the early purchasing of fresh vegetables and seafood, and it is considered that he alone can select the most incredible deals. When a Bengali meal is served on a fresh banana leaf, you can see the perfect amalgamation of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

A typical Bengali lunch starts with a generous serving of steamed rice topped with gawa ghee, salt, and kancha lonka (green chilies). Once you complete the first batch of rice, another small portion of rice will be served along with bittersweet shukto to clean the palate. In the next batch, you'll be filled with dal and bhaja and some vegetable dishes, including dalna, chocchori, and ghonto.

All of these dishes are mixed with rice and eaten. Lastly, let's not forget the next batch of non-vegetarian dishes that will steal your heart. Fish and meat dishes, along with chutney and papad, come to you, and once you have eaten them, a generous serving of rasagolla and misti doi would follow. It's a lengthy and time-consuming procedure, but Bengalis have traditionally considered dining a serious culinary culture.

Bongos have strict rules around the ingredients they use, the cooking techniques they apply, and the combinations they go for. For instance, let's talk about jhol or gravy, which is integral to almost every Bengali dish. A light, watery concoction of spices and other ingredients is usually served with steamed rice. There are various kinds of jhols prepared in a Bengali household, ranging from niramish jhol made from vegetables, machher jhol made from fish, and mangshor jhol made from meat.

Ilish Beguner Jhol; Image Source: Pinterest

Yet another dish called chechki, a lightly spiced, stir-fried preparation, is also of two types- one made with potatoes, aloo chechki, and the other made from cauliflower kopi chechki. Bengali food is rich in variety, with each dish having its particular style, taste, and flavor. The ingredients in Bengali food items keep changing, but the cooking method and taste remain almost the same.

Bengalis are pretty finicky with the combination of food items that they prefer. For instance, luchi can only be eaten with cholar dal, mangshor jhol, and some misti doi. The pattern of completing a lunch palate is also taken very seriously in Bengali households. You first have to start with bitter vegetables, dal and bhajas, and then sabzis.

Only after completing this, you can get the non-vegetarian dishes and end your lunch with sweet dishes. There are also numerous hurricanes in many teacups about whose store serves the greatest biryani, chaap, chicken or mutton wrap, chop and cutlet, sondesh, maach bhapa, kalia,.... the list is infinite, and so are the fights!

We live in a country filled with diverse cultures and ethnicities. Every new street we enter brings us a unique culinary culture with a distinct cooking style. Now let's take the instance of ilish maach. The number of techniques and types this dish utilizes boggles the mind- jhal, tok, jhol, bhape, paturi, begun-diye, sheka, pora, matha-diye chochorri, and whatnot. While family feasts are occasional, every Bengali household survives on maccher jhol and bhaat. But here’s the question- why do Bengalis love hilsa over every other kind of fish?