Oh Kolkata Team
An ideal food lover bong’s food cycle never can end without having some ‘mishti’ at all! Though the realm of sweets now widely ruled by ice-cream, chocolates, and milkshakes, there are some Bong desserts that can create an instant craving in a foodie bong’s foodie heart! In this gourmet writing, we will not certainly talk about bong sweets that have worldwide recognition in every food lover’s heart, but will surely draw your attention to some delicious bong desserts that can make your day with their mouth-watering taste and savor! These desserts are too much power to grow instant apatite, which you can relish for hours without having some of these. So, let’s start our list to make your Friday evening a bit delicious with the reminiscent of such bong desserts that have a very close connection to your foodie’s heart!
Nolen Gur (Jaggery) is itself an all-time favorite to Bengali people. The Pithe culture of Bengal cannot complete without the sweet, sticky taste and texture of Nolen Gur. Payes is a bong delicacy made with rice and milk. Some people use sugar to evoke sweetness to the dessert, but when jaggery is used for the same purpose the dessert acquires an unmatched taste, which can defeat even the world’s best ice-creams in just one fickle moment! Very much popular among bong mothers as a birthday dish, payes is just the best bong dessert without any competitors around! To make Nolen Gurer payes firstly soak ‘Gobindo-Bhog’ rice for 10-15 minutes. Take a thick pan and add some ghee to it. As soon as the ghee melts with a savory flavor, add some dry fruits (cashew nuts, raisins, pistachio/track.) And fry those in low heat. After frying the dry fruits well in ‘Gaoa-ghee’ add some more ghee to the pan, add one/2 bay leaves & crushed cardamom and fry the soaked rice for at least 10 minutes. Now pour thick cream milk into a pan, and boil it well, when the milk will start boiling, add the rice to the milk. Start stirring constantly, your rice will be cooked within 20 minutes and now it’s the time for creating magic for it! Add jaggery, (as per your choice of sweetness) and after adding fried dry fruits to the recipe cook well for 5 more minutes. Your Nolen gurer payes is ready to serve, but save some to have later fun. Eat your Nolen gurer payes chilled! We can bet you have not tasted something such delicious before.
Now it’s time to make some noise for the sweet and dreamy cultural icon of Kolkata desserts, Mishti Doi! Made with milk, Curd culture, jaggery, or sugar mishit doi can be connoted as one of the classic examples of bong desserts; one can fall in love with any time! To make mishit doi at home at first thicken milk in a thick pan until it gets at least 5-6 boils on low heat. Add jaggery to the milk in a generous amount and after cooking it for 5 more minutes, wait until the milk gets cold at normal temperature. Caramelize some sugar and add to the milk when it’s hot! It will give that dreamy reddish color to your mishit doi! After cooling the milk add some curd culture and wait for at least 12 hours until the curd sets well. Serve your mishit doi in earthen pots, cool and chilled! Anybody will love the classic sweet taste of the dessert and surely will forget chocolates after having the heavenly taste of Bengali mishit doi!
Firstly while talking about Mohon Bhog one must understand that this much-loved bong dessert is beyond comparison with Suji ka halwa! Bengali Mohon Bhog has such a sweet and creamy taste that can help to forget any frustration instantly! To make Mohon Bhog firstly boil creamy milk at least for 15 minutes in a thick pan, add a generous amount of sugar as more sweetness always gets a savory welcome from every bong worldwide! Add previously fried dry fruits (obviously in gaoa ghee) and boil the milk for 5 more minutes. Now take another pan, pour a generous amount of gaoa ghee to it, add ½ bay leaves and crushed cardamom to it, cook for few seconds, and add suji to the pan. Fry until your kitchen is filled with an irresistibly beautiful flavor and the suji gets light brown. Pour the sweet and boiled milk into the fried suji and cook until the suji gets a gummy and sticky texture and is fully cooked. Mohon Bhog can be best enjoyed when it is chilled and is divided into rectangular pieces. Grabe this bong delicacy and taste the real flavor of Bengal that will make your experience memorable!
Rabri is basically sweetened and thickened milk with multiple layers of mouth-watering cream! The Bong version of rabri is flavored with saffron and cardamom and has a taste that cannot be explained in writing! If you want to experience the ecstasy of this bong dessert you have to taste it with luxury and leisure! Rabri is such a sweet dish that should not be enjoyed fully in a hurry, take your time and enjoy chilled rabri with ease! The best-known secret to making delicious rabri is just one, and that is much patience! To make rabri you have to churn the mixture of milk, sugar, and saffron in a shallow cauldron until it becomes thick and sticky cream! It can take 1.30 to 2 hours as per the quantity of milk. But when you will have it, chilled and cold, you will understand that your hard work was not certainly in vain! The taste of rabri is quite a unique one and even no other Bengali sweet can give you the same feeling what rabri can give you instantly!
Now it’s time for last but not least, and that is Kulfi! This frozen bong dessert can give you instant refreshment after a day’s long work and hectic schedule! Very much popular as a street dessert in Bengal, who can forget the shadow of a kulfi wala, with an earthen pot on his head and selling Kulfi door to door in the memories of a distant childhood. There are many ways to make kulfi, but the most popular is making it by thickening the milk into rabri, with an added delicacy of dry fruits, and then refrigerate it in cone-shaped molds! Rabri also can be made with condensed milk but if you use a generous amount of Khoa Kheer to make Kulfi, then you will surely taste something out of the world, you have ever tasted before!
