Food holds a special place in Bengali culture. While we do have our grand dishes, it is the simpler dishes that really steal the show. Not everyone has mastered Bengali cuisine, be it for lack of interest or practice or complexity. And so, the following recipes are just some of the popular dishes that are not only easy to make but also easy on the stomach. Try them out; they will most certainly not disappoint.

The atmosphere already feels jovial as we prepare for the auspicious occasion of Durga Puja. The traditional sweets of our country are unlike any other. The amount of effort and time that goes into making our delicate mishtis truly define what labour of love stands for. The lengthy process often resists us from making these at home. But what if I told you that these desserts can easily be replicated in your own kitchen? Yes, they can! That too, by using a simple ingredient such as All Time Bread.

Bengalis celebrate the Durga Puja in style and food is at the heart of all Bengali celebrations. Puja festivities are incomplete without the snacks, the desserts, the vegetarian dishes, and even the non-veg dishes made from mutton. Handed over from one generation to the next, the following must-try recipes are at the heart of the puja festivities in Bengal.

The ilish is a versatile fish as it can be used to prepare a variety of dishes. Hilsa is as suitable for preparing delectable dishes on those special occasions, as it is for cooking a regular everyday curry. The hilsa season is almost coming to an end. Now is the time to get your fresh ilish from the bazaars of Chandpur and Mawa. The following are some easy to make recipes with hilsa. Try them out and you will not be disappointed!

Dessert consists of variations of tastes, textures, and appearances. There are a wide variety such as cakes, cookies, biscuits, gelatins, pastries, ice-creams, pies, puddings and candies. Fruit is also commonly found in dessert courses as of its natural sweetness. Many different cultures have their own variations of similar desserts around the world as in modern times, the variations of desserts have usually been passed down or come from geographical regions. Here’s a list of some lip-smacking desserts recipes from around the world that everyone must try once in their lifetime.

The nutritious anadromous-migratory-fish, ilish (Hilsa), has merged with Bengali tradition over the years. It is one of the most favourite dishes of Bengalis and is cooked in almost every home in both Bangladesh and West Bengal. Ilish was recognized as a GI-product of Bangladesh in 2016. It also contains a lot of essential fatty acids that are very beneficial for health.

Every recipe is credited to the person it is inspired from and the country it is staple to. The method of preparation of the dishes is detailed and very well explained, especially for amateur cooks.

Sugarcane is a quintessential summer delight in our country and now is that time of the year where various sugarcane juice carts have started to pop up. The most common ways of consuming it is by having its juice directly squeezed out or by chewing it and crushing it to swallow the juices. However, sugarcane is more than just its juices. There are so many recipes both sweet and savoury that you may try out using sugarcane. In the joy of summer and this glorious summer delight, here are a couple of tantalizing sugarcane juice and skewer recipes.

What can be a better thirst quencher than a glass of chilled and refreshing iced tea in this hot and humid weather? Nothing beats the heat better than a rejuvenating glass of iced tea. Here is an array of fruity, soul replenishing iced tea recipes for you to enjoy this summer.

Fish recipes are key to getting fresh, delicious meals on the table quickly and easily. There are many ways to cook fish — grilled, baked, fried or stewed. This list of fish recipes is simple and easy to make with full of global flavours will delight fish lovers and definitely improve the dinner table game.

It’s that time of the year again when the temperature is at a constant high and the sun is blazing, showing off its tenacity in full glory. At times like these, we often crave for cold delicacies and ditch the regular ones. However, it is more important now than ever to get our daily intake of nutrition. While meat during this time can feel heavy and leave us with an overwhelming feeling, summer vegetables will leave us with a lighter feeling and yet a satisfied tummy.

The real joy of eating a mango is peeling off the skin and eating it right away, with delicious juice runs down your hand; it might be offensive to many, but a true Bengali would love to eat it that way. However, the civilised way to eat a mango would be to slice it into pieces and have the pulp with a fork. Now that the season is over and we have satiated most of those cravings, we can safely shift our attention to chilled sweet mango desserts for this scorching summer. Mangoes are high in calories; hence, everyone will ask you to keep your mango count in check. But, if you pair it with cool foods like yoghurt, you can have that extra one too. So, no reason to stop the mango binge.

With Eid-ul-Azha now over, you should have a refrigerator full of meat for you to cook up a storm. And here are the perfect recipes to accompany you in said cooking adventure.

Salads can be delicious; salads can be gorgeous. And yet, we have a bittersweet relationship with salads. At least now, we have come far from the thought that healthy food equals boring food. Salads, if done right, can be something worth shamelessly devouring — and there are a million ways you can do it! With so many combinations of the contents in a salad along with endless possibilities of what to put in the dressing — the sky is really the limit once you have cracked the perfect equations.

Mangoes are simply irresistible. Some can devour five of them in the time it takes you to count to four. And they are just as irresistible once you involve them in recipes, some of which has become iconic enough to be considered a staple monsoon dish. Here are just some ways you can take advantage of this delicious fruit in some recipes for this monsoon.

Cooking various dishes of meat is a time-tested culture of the Eid-ul-Azha festival. Every family has their favourite recipes, and Eid day traditions of Qurbani activities. Nothing quite brings out the foodie side of people like the festival of sacrifice.

Eid-ul-Azha is just around the corner, and that usually means a refrigerator full of meat for you to cook up a storm. And here are the perfect recipes to accompany you in said cooking adventure.

‘Shining in my Kitchen’ was Star Lifestyle’s recipe competition for the year 2022 where we asked our valued readers to send their best meat recipes ahead of Eid ul Adha. Selecting the best recipes from a host of entries is never easy. Kazria Kayes, Sheulee Akter, and Arshia Idris Talha have shone their way through the strenuous selection process and emerged as winners. So try out these top recipe entries this festive season.

While mango has a cemented spot as the king of summer fruits, in its many varieties it also easily overshadows our other seasonal favourites like jaam or the java plum. The festivity around mangoes often makes for a lacklustre season for other bounties of summer. This dark purple, bordering on burgundy, lozenge sized fruit is fleshy, juicy with a hard seed and stains everything it touches a deep purple, including your mouth.

What is the difference between all the soft and delicious fruit spreads? They all might seem the same but each has different special features, and thus the different names. They are easy to make and hard to resist. There are four main ingredients in all soft spreads: fruit, sugar, pectin and acid. The consistency of soft spreads varies from a firm set for jellies to a soft, honey-like consistency for preserves, and thus require slightly differing prep techniques.