Nandini sent Begun Tangra (fish curry with brinjal) for dinner last night. I was drained with working round the clock and the comfort of home-cooked food was just how I wanted to end my day.
It really humbles me when people call me over for food or cook for me because I believe that one's food and especially the kind that they eat ordinarily, is the biggest extension of themselves, in friendship and care. Now coming back to the Macher Jhol.
Earlier in the day, we had a long discussion about cooking meat with vegetables and how it's a staple in her heritage. I pinned in examples of aloo gosht, ghuinyan gosht, gobhi gosht etc and how they are also iconic dishes within Awadhi cuisine. But it was only later that I realized how fundamentally different both the dishes are.
From serving the dish to licking off the last bit of gravy on the plate, the dinner was replete with interesting realisations. The dish and the kind of fish were both my firsts. Growing up, Rohu was the fish of choice. Then prawns and other shell-fish I only started to eat later because of its easy availability in the national capital. Tangra (a variety of catfish) was a happy surprise both in size and ease of access while eating. A flick on the flesh and I was able to take out the cartilage all in all; making it an exceptionally un-fishy to eat. The meat was flaky and moist, a big big win.
But the most interesting part that I learnt about one of the Bengali ways of cooking and treatment of protein was - that unlike our aloo-ghuiyan-gobhi gosht are so packed with spices and thick gravy, Begun Tangra wasn't. In fact, I kind of liked that about the dish. I could taste each element distinctly. It was all about respecting the integrity of those ingredients and not cooking everything in one mush of spice load (which let's face it a lot of North Indian dishes have increasingly become). Tangra, mustard oil, begun, kalonji in just enough gravy to moisten the rice. The details matter to me a lot and this was so simple yet intricately layered with flavour.
On my day off today, I have already spent a lot of time reading about the confluence of fish and vegetables in Bengali cuisine, even got back to Nandini to know her to take on the same. I'm full of food knowledge but still hungry to know more. Of course there are leftovers because there was just so much to eat in those tiffin boxes.
Guess, who is a happy child now!!!!