Durga Puja, Bengal’s most vital competition, started a number of days in the past with Mahalaya, the day that marks the beginning of the seven-day festivities. It’s believed that on Mahalaya, goddess Durga begins her descent from her marital residence at Mount Kailash to her dad and mom’ residence on Earth, accompanied by her 4 kids. Every year, her car of selection adjustments — typically a ship, typically an animal, typically a palanquin — a element you’ll discover mirrored within the idols throughout pandals.
However alongside rituals and revelry, Durga Puja can also be per week of indulgence — a gastronomic celebration that won’t please the physician, however actually delights the style buds. On the coronary heart of all of it lies mishti (sweets), with particular varieties marking particular days of the Puja. Their significance was highlighted starkly through the pandemic, when candy retailers had been granted particular permission to stay open, whilst most different institutions remained shut.
Ashtami and the simplicity of kheer
Ashtami, essentially the most sacred day of the competition, is when the religious flip vegetarian. Dinner is often rounded off with the best of desserts — kheer. Historically, it might have begun as a manner of utilizing up extra milk earlier than refrigeration, however it stays a favorite in Bengali households.
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The recipe is uncomplicated: cut back 1 litre of full-cream milk over low warmth to roughly 600 ml, stir in sugar, and let it cool. For Kamala Kheer, a Pujo delicacy, pulp of tangerines is folded into the cooled milk. The trick is endurance: add it too early, and the milk splits, ruining the dish.
From sandesh to rasgulla to chomchom, a Bengali family with out mishti, whether or not through the competition or on an strange day, is just unimaginable. (Photograph: Pixabay)
Bijoya Dashami and candy farewells
On Bijoya Dashami, the tenth day of the brand new moon, devotees bid farewell to Durga as she departs for her husband’s residence. Additionally it is a day of visiting household and mates, and exchanging sweets in abundance. Many households put together extra elaborate mishti at residence, resembling patishapta and malpoa.
Patishapta, Bengali crepes with candy fillings, is a delicacy that calls for effort. The filling is made with grated coconut cooked with jaggery or sugar, flavoured with cardamom, then rolled into skinny flour-sugar crepes cooked in a pan. Some even drizzle kheer over the rolls as a crowning glory.
Malpoa, alternatively, are flat, spherical fritters flavoured with fennel seeds, fried till crisp on the edges, then dunked in sugar syrup. Candy, dense, and heady, they’re the style of nostalgia.
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After all, these are only a handful of Pujo’s signature sweets. From sandesh to rasgulla to chomchom, a Bengali family with out mishti, whether or not through the competition or on an strange day, is just unimaginable.
Subsequent week, I’ll step away from the world of sweets and write about one thing salty — Worcestershire sauce. And that different British invention with a cult following in India: Marmite.
