Locomotoring

Mocha: Banana flower

When I land in India, my first port is usually Delhi. And if I am craving for Calcutta food, my only option is to head out to Oh! Calcutta.

This time, for lunch at Oh! Calcutta – here is what I ate.

Mochar chop: Essentially these are cutlets made with cooked, smashed and spiced banana flowers. Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern found Mocha to be bizarre but unless I am much mistaken banana flowers are delicacy in many tropical places in the world. At Oh Calcutta, this was done well.

Smoked Hilsa: Hilsa or Ilish is the ultimately popular fish from Padma river delta in Bangladesh. It is a fish like salmon that lives in the sea and spawns in freshwater. This was not bad but like Canadian smoked salmon.

Bhaja moong daal: Moon daal is fried in small amounts of ghee until until is is golden brown. It is then cooked with water until the daal achieves a soup like in consistency. A paste of aromatics (cinnamon, clove, cardamom) and other spices (salt, cumin, turmeric, ginger, garlic) are fried and added to daal before serving. Although a tad sweet, this was authentic.

Mangsho: Goat meat

Potato Posto: This is a well loved everyday recipe in a Bengali home. Poppyseeds are ground to a paste and then added to softcooked potatoes (and other vegetables such as squash or eggplant). Here, I had no complaints.

Koraishuntir Dhokar Dalna: Typically made with lentil cakes, this variation is seasonal – peas are abundant in winter. The peas are mashed with spices, made into cakes and then shallow fried. They are then gently cooked in a spicy tomato gravy. This dish turned out to be a major disappointment. The cakes were too salty.

Freshwater Bhetki fish in mustard sauce: Bhetki is a flaky freshwater fish. Fish fillets is spiced with salt and turmeric and shallow fried. The fried fish pieces are gently cooked in a spiced sauce made with ground mustard seeds. Probably the best executed dish in the ensemble.

Golbarir Kosha mangsho: Slow cooked young goat cooked in spices and its own juices – the goat is marinated in ginger-garlic paste with aromatics and then slow fried with finely chopped onions. I had mine with Luchi and it left me craving for more.

Aam Kasundi Kakra: Shelled crab cooked with raw mango and mustard sauce. Ths could have been exceptional but this was non-descript. The raw mangoes were out of season and had no sourness. The crab was in season and fresh tasting. Again the chef had used a heavy hand with sugar.

Bhetki: Fish

Daab Golda Chingri: Jumbo prawns cooked in coconut milk and served in a young coconut shell. Homecooks often make this in coconut paste instead of coconut milk which adds a pleasant texture. The prawns felt somewhat overcooked and I missed the texture that grated coconut presents – maybe something to do with my expectations here.

Steamed rice: Fluffy grains of basmati rice.

Naan: Risen dough is strectched and shaped like individual size pizza and then cooked in a tandoor oven.

Luchi: Balls of dough (regular flour) are flattened and then fried in hot oil until they puff up. Bengalis love luchi and Kosha Mangsho and I was no different.

Nolen gurer icecream: Icecream with sandesh (sweetened milk condensed to cake) bits drizzled with fresh date syrup. This sweet syrup is harvested from date tree like maple syrup – eventually processed into jaggery or refined into sugar. Think maple icecream with cookie dough drizzled with maple syrup!

All in all – jolly decent food when mom’s food is not easily accessible.