Spice, rice and a little vice
Enayetullah Khan spots an epicure's delight in a new work
Whoever said that the word 'classy' cannot be linked to Bangladeshi food will now have to eat his own words and apologise. Profusely! If you are dead then better come down and see how the word beautifully blends with food that is best savoured when eaten with the hands and not with forks and knives. Of course God will allow it! After all, this is indeed cuisine made for divinity. Shawkat Osman, a businessman and a gourmet, has given us a mouthwatering presentation of dishes and the book not a run of the mill cooking manual is good enough to grace your drawing room. No, it will not make you look shallow but you will show you up as one who is culturally inclined. By the way, hats off to Osman because he is perhaps one of the very few people in Bangladesh who has managed to be both a cook and a successful moneymaker. Sadly, in our country, businessmen can only bring back home sacks of cash but are usually useless trash in the kitchen. Sob! They have not heard of the term "metrosexual". By the way, one of the sides of the metrosexual guy is that he will love to cook at least a few dishes. Otherwise, women of today are simply not impressed. Anyway, the most startling feature of the book is that it looks so regal that one would even like to show it off in public. Looking for a nice coffee table product? This is just the best one out there at the moment and with Pahela Boishakh coming towards us in about a month you definitely want to send the message that you too are a Bengali with aesthetic inclinations. In fact, the whole product is so flawless that the book itself is a something to treasure and keep in one's collection. And then, we come to the real part food. Yes, nouvelle cuisine rocks but tell me honestly, when the monsoon comes, the late afternoon sky is overcast and you put "Esho Nipobone, Chhayabithi Tole" in the CD player and get lost in scattered thoughts, what is the dish that fires your gastronomic impulses? If you say, it's chateaubriand steak, I shall laugh; and if you go further and say it's chicken a la Kiev, I will know that, you are all pretense and no truth. Maybe I might bite off your ear! This book is the quintessential guide for all those who feel that in their existence there is at least 70 per cent Bangaliana. Starting from bhorta, shorshe Ilish, bhoona gosht to shami kebab, biriyani and a lot more, this is the Bengali epicure's guide which combines the decadent excess of the Dhakaite nawabs and the simple but austere gastronomic delights of the common people. The result, one has to say, is astonishing. Osman also needs to be thanked because while bringing out local cuisine he has often produced the names of dishes through which they are known among the masses such as mamlet for omlette. Now, this simple dish of the fried egg may appear to be European but it's so prevalent in the menu of the sub-continent that it is no longer regarded as an import. And, do not be surprised if you get odd looks, while ordering in a local restaurant, you say omlette instead of mamlet. Interestingly, there is also the menu for a cannabis drink in the book. No, really! And in that menu Osman lambasts a former government of Bangladesh for banning cannabis. He even goes to the extent of saying that cannabis is a great reliever of muscular pain, justifying his statement with the observation that this natural substance had been in use in these parts since ancient times. True, but maybe he should have given the long list of the negative sides of the product. But, then, the cannabis drink is not for everyday consumption and once in a while it may just be the right alternative to that same old single malt. Who knows? Maybe someday someone may even start manufacturing the drink commercially. And call it Sidhee Cola. The work is stupendous, but the title should have been Bengali cuisine instead of Bangladeshi because the book heavily uses words that may seem alien to many people of this 'sovereign' country. We do not use the words 'patha' 'payesh' 'prem bhoj' and Bangladeshi cuisine also includes beef dishes, beef polao, teheri, paya and loads more. So the book, despite the fabulous presentation and impeccable format, is incomplete. Therefore, we have to say that this is a collection of Bengali dishes with a somewhat biased influence of West Bengal. But one can overlook this fault. After all, it did give us the menu for making the cannabis drink. Jai Ho, Osman!
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