What to Eat in Shantiniketan Today?

The everyday meal

Lunch is the main meal, and it usually means rice with macher jhol, a thin, turmeric-yellow fish curry with potato and tomato. It is light and only mildly spiced, which surprises people who expect every Indian curry to be heavy. Most Bengali meals come in a sequence rather than all at once: a bitter or mild vegetable first, then dal, then fish, then something sweet. In Bolpur, Ghoroa and Mouban both serve a fish-and-rice meal.

Breakfast

Luchi, a small, puffy fried bread made with white flour, is eaten with alur dom, baby potatoes in a spiced gravy. It is a weekend and festival breakfast in many homes, and in a town full of students and visitors you can find it most mornings. Eat it hot; a luchi that has gone flat is a different, sadder thing. Banalakshmi lists it on its menu.

Something richer

Kosha mangsho is mutton cooked slowly with onion and spices until the gravy turns dark and thick. It is richer and hotter than the fish curry, and goes with luchi or rice. It is the dish for a Sunday lunch or a festival dinner. Ghoroa is known for it.

Sweets

Rosogolla, soft balls of fresh chhena, or cottage cheese, poached in light syrup, is the sweet everyone knows. Sandesh is the finer one: pressed chhena flavoured with cardamom, saffron or nolen gur, the date-palm jaggery that comes in only in winter. From about December to February, ask for nolen gur sandesh and taste the difference. Buy sweets fresh on the day; they don't travel well in the heat.

Vegetarians

Bengali cooking is often thought of as fish-heavy, but vegetarian meals are easy to find. Luchi and alur dom, dal, vegetable dishes and all the sweets are vegetarian, and Alcha Café in Ratanpalli is a vegetarian spot for coffee and a sweet. Ask whether a vegetable dish has been cooked with fish, as a few Bengali recipes use a little.

See where to eat for the four kitchens and what each one does best.