School days – pampering the sweet tooth

Sweets are second nature to Bengalis and they will never hesitate to pamper their sweet tooth - I was no exception and I hardly ever tried to escape from the temptations of tasting one more sweet unless an unbearable toothache willed otherwise.
The attractions came in all shapes and sizes – some with hard exteriors like the kadapaks, others with soft kernels like the taal-shash.
The brand names that come to mind straightaway are the sweets of Dwarik Ghosh or Sen Mahasaya or Bhim Nag or the mouthwatering payodhi of Jalajog.
This payodhi was a unique creation of Jalajog and was basically sweet curd with a difference – its color was creamish and taste was out-of-the-world. And, in all its outlets, there hung a huge portrait of Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore with his testimonial.
Incidentally, while curd in places other than Bengal are sour, the Bengalis love their Mishti Doi – or sweet curd. Another sweet that made its entry into the Bengali market was the Punjabi pedhas. Normally, pedhas would be made of chhana but the Punjabis went in for khoa and added to the attraction by adding flavor of attar.
The shop opened in Shyambazar next to Dwarik Ghosh’s sweet shop and the Punjabi pedhas were an instant hit. The owner of the shop would offer a free gift of a pouch of mouth fresheners – it came in the form of colored suparis (betel nut) and silver colored elaichi (cardamom) flavored with mint and acted as an incentive. (to be continued…)

School days – the fast food culture

In my school days, fast food range was limited and would end with singara (or samosa), a triangular shapes shell made of kneaded flour and stuffed with mashed potato. Then there was the jilebi – a sweet item that required expertise to create. The mixture would be released directly into boiling oil and the creator would keep on twisting his wrists to ensure that the link never got broken.

Another fast food was the kachuri – these came in the form of flat casing of kneaded flour stuffed with a paste of dal. In winter, the stuffing would be of kadaishuti or green peas. Here again there were two varieties – one was with the peas made into paste and the second was with the peas boiled and left whole but seasoned with spices.
The second variety was a specialty of Dwarik Ghosh – these would be fried in pure ghee and the taste would be heavenly. The number of items was always limited every day and would be available only in the evening - unless one arrived on time, one would have to leave empty handed.

Then there were the high end fast foods like Mughlai Paratha or the vegetable chop or mutton cutlets or Kabiraji culets – these were not meant for children hence, I had to wait till college to taste these forbidden fast foods. (to be continued…)