For Sreetama Sen, a 33-year-old resident of South-east Delhi, Bengali food is a medium through which she connects with her roots in Kolkata. But, not having grown up there and having travelled the length and breadth of the country, she finally chose to settle down in the capital’s Bengali haven — Chittaranjan Park. Last Sunday, she hosted her first ever home pop-up, called ‘The Terracotta Tales’. On the table, Sen brought together rustic elements that connect her and Shashank, her husband, to their respective roots — all through the medium of food.
“A few days ago, my husband and I were discussing how we should have friends and family over to usher in the Durga Pujo this year — where I would cook some of my favourites or regulars and we would chat about food, the world, and the world around food,” Sen said. To the joy of all of us at the table, that is exactly what she delivered.
Experiences such as this, as well as a host of others across cuisines, are not just increasingly prevalent in our city—they’re also important in the journey of our palates, and our understanding of our food. For instance, at Sen’s, the food on offer was something that she grew up eating in her childhood, but admittedly took it for granted back then. Yet, this is not the typical fare that you’d find even at the best Bengali cuisine restaurants in the city.
Sen gave a modern twist to her childhood favourites, based on the couple’s travels around the world. One of the dishes on offer was a ‘tento’ (the Bangla word for bitter) rice paper roll, which comprised bitter gourd in a Vietnamese roll, with a topping of peanut garlic chilli oil. In traditional Bengali meals, there is always a bitter element in a full-course Bengali meal, to set the palate for the courses to follow.
Sen honoured the traditional manner in which the courses are served, but gave it deliciously fun twists. Another dish that stood out was panta bhaat (fermented rice congee) with kumro bhorta (pumpkin mash), topped with a generous lashing of mustard oil, raw onions, green chillies and accompanied with posto’r bora (poppy seed fritters) and fried goyna bori (a fritter made with urad dal and shaped like a jewel).
Similar to yet distinctly different from Sen, celebrated young chef Auroni Mookerjee spent his early years in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, but with fond memories of his childhood Durga Puja celebrations — thanks to a sizeable Bengali settlement there. After having spent nearly a decade in Kolkata, where he was at the helm of the popular modern-Bengali restaurant Sienna Cafe, Mookerjee is back in Delhi to lead Deepika and Rajan Sethi’s Bright Hospitality, as its culinary director.
When asked what makes the Pujo in Delhi different from the one at Kolkata, he said, “In Kolkata, the Pujo is of a much larger scale — and is probably something that people take for granted. But, in Delhi it is a more closely knit community affair, as the probashi Bengali communities come together to celebrate a festival that connects them to their roots.”
While we all associate Mookerjee with a modern take on Bengali cuisine, this year at his restaurant — GT Road in Connaught Place, he has brought together the classic flavours of Pujo with dishes like shorshe chalkumro, ghugni-luchi, mutton rezala, chhola’r dal, basanti pulao, and khichuri. The festival is ongoing for 12 days. “A lot of the dishes that I am serving are the ones I grew up eating in the Pujo’s bhog prasad. Those dishes always felt like a warm hug that envelops you. I am striving to bring that to our diners”, he shared.
Since centuries food has been a cornerstone of cultures worldwide. It is an important cultural symbol that has a remarkable ability to bring people together and create a sense of belonging. From Sen to Mookerjee, this Pujo, the experiences in Delhi are doing exactly that.