Celebrating ‘Poila Boisakh’ with unsung heroes of the Bengali table: Potol, jhinge, and lauki | Food-wine News

Fried neem leaves with brinjal. Lau or lauki — bottle gourd. Potol or parwal — pointed gourd. These may not sound like delicacies to most, especially if you’re not from eastern India. But for Bengalis, come Boisakh, which is the first month of the Bengali calendar, these vegetables take pride of place at mealtimes.Poila Boisakh, which uaully falls on April 14 – April 15, this year – marks the Bengali New Year. It is believed that King Shashank, who is considered the first independent ruler of a unified polity in the Bengal region, introduced the Bengali calendar. The beginning of this era is estimated to date back to 594 in the Gregorian calendar. That explains the timing of Boisakh and Poila Boisakh that marks the beginning of the harvest season and the opening of new accounting ledgers called Haal Khaata.
The day is one of celebration — families come together, children and adults receive new clothes, and of course, there is a feast that celebrates seasonal ingredients and summer flavours.
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While everyone loves talking about the fish, prawn and mutton delicacies in the Bengali cuisine, I want to shine a light on some unsung heroes, the vegetables. This is the time of year when shukto makes an appearance on tables — a light stew of mixed vegetables cooked in milk with a little ghee, and tempered with panch phoron, the Bengali five-spice mix. Shukto is slightly bitter because karela or bitter gourd is one of the vegetables in the mix, along with potol, potatoes and drumsticks. Bitter vegetables are a staple during this season, especially at lunch, as they are believed to have a cooling effect on the body.
Neem begun — neem leaves fried with chopped brinjal — is often served with a light dal. The bitterness is usually followed a mild fish curry and then a sweet or sour ambal or chutney.
The three cooling vegetables — potol (pointed gourd), jhinge (ridge gourd), and lauki (bottle gourd) — are indigenous to Bengal and trace their roots to pre-Aryan agricultural traditions. Lauki is so loved that in East Bengal, it is even turned into a dessert with sugar, ghee and evaporated milk. It’s also cooked with coconut, brown chickpeas (chola), and crushed lentil dumplings (bori) to make the much-loved seasonal favourite Lau Ghonto. Or with shrimp, as Lau Chingri.
Potol or parwal seems to be the love and joy of Bengalis; including me, I have to say. We scoop it out and stuff it with fillings like homemade chhena, mashed fish or spiced mutton as a dolma and then cook it in a gravy. Bengalis will also simply peel it, slice into wedges, fry lightly and serve it with dal. It’s also a common addition to fish curries. And to show that there is some method to this oddball mad love for potol, Ayurveda considers it a remedy for worms, fevers, coughs, wind and bile.Story continues below this ad
Potol or parwal seems to be the love and joy of Bengalis. We scoop it out and stuff it with fillings like homemade chhena, mashed fish or spiced mutton as a dolma and then cook it in a gravy (Photo: Freepik)
Another unique tradition of Boisakh and the summer months is the range of bitter dals. In East Bengal, especially in Hindu homes, it’s common to serve three or four types of dal in a single meal. A meal might start with a bitter vegetable dal, followed a few vegetable dishes, then a roasted moong dal with fish head, and finally a sour dal made with green mango, tamarind or star fruit, served just before the chutney and dessert. During the summer, Bengalis skip roasting their moong dal before cooking.
A traditional Poila Boisakh meal typically includes crisp fried vegetables, a bitter preparation, at least one more vegetable dish, luchi (puffed bread), dal, shukto, a fish fry, maacher kalia (a rich fish curry), maangshor jhol or kosha maangsho (mutton), followed chutney or ambol, and of course, mishti doi, sandesh, and other sweets. It’s a wonderful time for the Bengali table with new vegetables, flavours and preparations making their seasonal debut.
I also wanted to move away from the usual suspects and share one of my personal favourites: Lemon Dal, usually made in Bengali Muslim homes in Dhaka. It’s a thick, creamy dal, strained after cooking, and served in a bowl lined with slices of fragrant kagaji or gondhoraj lebu (lemon).
Kancha Moong Dal
250 gms moong dal – washed and rinsed at least three to four times
750 mls water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 dried red chilis
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
2 bay leavesStory continues below this ad
Method
*Bring the water to a boil, add the dal and a teaspoon of salt and turmeric. When the dal is cooked, remove from the flame. I sometimes pressure-cook it for three to four whles.
*Take a small pan, wait till it heats up, add some vegetable oil.
*Once the oil starts smoking, add the red chilis and the mustard seeds. As they start spluttering, add the grated ginger and the bay leaves. Stir for a minute and then pour over the dal. Place the pan with the dal on a high flame, add a little sugar and stir.
*To make the Lemon dal, simply cook the moong dal according to this recipe. Then use a large sieve to strain the dal, this makes it very smooth. Bring the sieved dal to a boil again.Story continues below this ad
*Then pour the dal into a bowl lined with the lemon slices, cover for about five minutes so that the dal absorbs the taste of the lemon.
*Serve this with rice.
Only warning, this is a dal which can’t be reheated as the lemon will make it sour. So my tip to serve this is to make the dal beforehand. Keep your serving bowl lined with lemon, and just before serving your meal, pour the hot dal into the bowl.
Next week, I’ll be writing on some of my favourite Goan and Konkani preparations.