Indian kitchens must have ‘besan’

‘Besan’ is the powdered form of the chana dal (gram or chickpea) and is an inseparable part of any Indian kitchen right from Kashmir to Kalaikunda – Indians just cannot think of a world minus besan because, with its help, the cook can create wonder recipes.
Besan is usually made use of by mixing with water to make a batter in which vegetables or fish are dipped and deep fried. The end product is generally known as pakoras – and the vegetable can be practically any veggie that can be fried. Examples onions, potatoes, cauliflower, brinjal, green chillies etcetera.
However, another area where besan is extensively used is in making sweets. And – in order to make these sweets, experts are required, conveying the powder into tiny globules of different sizes to create delicious sweets is the work of an artist, an artist who knows just how much he can extract from his ingredients.

The common factor is the batter of besan in water and, these are converted into tiny globules by passing through a sieve which has holes punched in it. The sieve is selected based on what is being prepared.
If it is to be boondi meant for taking with raita or chat, there would be salt added. Else, if it would be for a laddoo which is sweet, some color (orange or yellow) would be added to the batter and that would be passed through a sieve. The besan would then get converted into millions of tiny crisp droplets which would be fried in ghee and dumped into sugar syrup. The droplets would be removed with the syrup sticking to its sides and then left to dry. Once the dryness is manageable, kish-mish, chopped cashew nuts, pistachios etcetera are added as garnish and then, the laddoos are formed by hand.
This is the general method of preparing laddoos of besan in places other than in Bengal.
However, in Bengal, the boondi laddoos are known as ‘darbesh’ – the process is similar as above – only, the droplets are of different colors like red, orange, green.
And, on top of the list is the mihidana – or ‘fine droplets’. Yes, the size of the boondis are very small and the sieve has smaller size holes punched. Moreover, the color added to the batter is deep orange and it is fried in ghee. This mihidana is a unique sweet of Burdwan. (to be continued …)

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Joynagarer Moah – a unique sweet of Bengal

There are several food items that are unique to West Bengal and, while others may try to imitate them, their efforts very seldom deliver that which is there in the originals. Bengalis have a sweet tooth and sweets rule the roost – in every lane and by lane, alongside the tea shops there are the shops that sell sweets. The sweets appear to be the same but, each shop has its specific patrons.
Anyway – to return to some sweets that are Bengal’s identity. There is the Joynagarer moah which is available only during the winter months. The reason is the ingredients that go into making these sweets that are the delight of Bengalis. Anyone who is returning from Kolkata during winter would invariably be weighed down by packets of this delicacy.

The moah are made from a special kind of puffed rice that are bound with jiggery – that too special nalen gur which is made out of the juice of palms trees. The juice is collected and boiled over a slow fire till the liquid crystalizes and turns solid. There is a special tact involved and the final product depends on the artist who toils over the fire to create these masterpieces. Machines cannot create these.
There was tis beautiful movie on the subject – it was the 1973 movie Saudagar and its actors were Amitabh Bachhan, Nutan and Padma Khanna.
Anyway, the Joynagarer moah of South 24 Parganas Joynagar district has now won the coveted G I (geographical indication) tag. This tag attaches great prestige to the special sweet that has a very short life and has brought joy to those who make these.
Two more equally unique Bengali sweets are the Mihidana and Sitabhog of Burdwan.
These are under evaluation by the concerned people in Chennai and a decision is expected to be made known soon.
Incidentally, a GI tag is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin. (to be continued …)

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