The best of Bengali cuisine in Chennai

Savour flavours from the region at the Hyatt Regency’s food festival

July 28, 2015 06:20 pm | Updated 06:20 pm IST

CHENNAI: 28/07/2015 : BENGALI FOOD FESTIVAL at hotel Hyatt Regency in Chennai. Photo : R. Ravindran.

CHENNAI: 28/07/2015 : BENGALI FOOD FESTIVAL at hotel Hyatt Regency in Chennai. Photo : R. Ravindran.

Chennai, with its thriving Bengali population, has a disproportionately low number of restaurants that serve authentic Bengali food. For Subrata Debnath, executive chef at Hyatt Regency, this has given an opportunity to showcase the best of his hometown’s cuisine in a food festival that’s currently on at Spice Haat. 

“We called the festival ‘Ranna Ghar’ (which translates to kitchen) because the food is like it’s home cooked. That’s very important, since there are variations even from the West and East of the state. There are a lot of influences from neighbouring states, but the perennial flavours are the same,” says chef Subrata.

The meal starts quite innocently, with aloor chop, made of beetroot, carrot, potato and jeera, which is then crumb fried, and a murg malai tikka. And then the main course dishes descend on the table: the variety of vegetarian dishes is quite mindboggling. Chef Subrata explains, “None of the gravies will be the same. Rosogollar Dalna is a kind of savoury rasgulla, cooked in tomato-based sauce. Potol Dolma, or stuffed parval, is cooked in a different gravy. So you get a different taste although everything is eaten with the light and fluffy loochi.”

Aloo phulkopir tarkari (cauliflower and potato dish) and Mochar Ghonto (banana blossom curry) also make great accompaniments, along with the Narkel Cholar Dal. Aloo posto might be the more famous dish, but there’s a chicken variant too, which is almost as delicious. Then comes the creamy chingri malai curry (prawn) and chef Subrata’s signature steamed hilsa dish, bhappa Elish. “It has to be steamed in a very specific way to get the exact flavour. Right now is the best time to get hilsa, so we have flown this from Calcutta. And everyone is very particular about the fish: they will only eat it if it has the eggs as well,” he says. 

No Bengali meal is complete without sweets, and the holy trio of mishti doi, malpua and rasgulla is set before us. “Contrary to popular belief, mishti doi is not just curd mixed with sugar. Traditionally, it’s made of milk with 20 percent fat content and boiled with cardamom and sugar. The earthen pot should be dry inside, and when the mishti is set, the pot should be turned over without anything falling out,” he explains. The malpua, made of flour, semolina and fennel, is less sweet than the Marwari version. The food is light, and leaves one with the feeling of having had a delicious meal at a Bengali friend’s house. 

‘Ranna Ghar — With Love from Bengal’ is on till August 2 at Spice Haat. The dinner buffet and the Sunday brunch cost Rs. 1500 and Rs. 1850 plus taxes. The vegetarian and non-vegetarian thali are priced at Rs. 1000 and Rs. 1200 respectively, plus taxes.

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