Sylheti cuisine
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Sylheti cuisine is the food culture of the people of the area in and around the city of Sylhet, Bangladesh. It is influenced by locally available ingredients, by migration from other areas and by tribal traditions.[1]
Characteristic ingredients
The Sylhet region is home to a number of citrus fruit varieties such as hatkora and thoikor. They are used extensively in Sylheti cuisine, particularly in fish and meat dishes.[2]
Traditional Dishes
Rice dishes
Akhni is a mixed rice dish similar to biryani or polao, made with meat and/or vegetables.
Biroin Bhat is a type of glutinous rice. A red-and-white sticky aromatic Biroin Rice is found only in the Sylhet region.[3] It is eaten with fried fish, meat or kebab, khirshah rasmalai, dates or molasses.[4] Biroin Chal is the main ingredient for Chunga Pitha, a traditional rice cake.[5]
Khichuri is a rice dish similar in consistency to porridge. During the holy month of Ramadan, it is served as a staple food for Iftar. It consists of aromatic rice mixed with spices, ghee, cumin and fenugreek. It is also offered to sick people mixed with ginger.
Meat dishes
Sylhetis incorportaed meat dishes from other cultures into their diet, including with chicken, beef and goat, cooked in Mughlai, Middle-Eastern, and Northern Indian style.
Beef Hatkhora is a traditional festive dish of beef cooked with hatkora juice.
Aash Bash is a traditional Sylheti dish using duck and bamboo shoots.
Fish dishes
Fish is eaten both curried and fried. Dried and fermented fish called hutki, and hatkora, a bitter and fragrant citrus fruit are used for cooking curries. Extremely hot Naga Morich peppers are used in broth.[6] The most savored local cuisines include Hidol or fermented fish chutney, Hutki Shira or dried fish curry, and various freshwater fish indigenous to this region.[7] Hidol Chutney is commonly taken to remedy colds and headaches.[8]
Hutki Shira is a curry of fish, such as hidol dried fish, or prawns cooked with vegetables.
Thoikor Tenga is a dish of small fish cooked with thoikor, a citrus fruit native to the Sylhet region.
Breads and sweet dishes
Bakarkhani is a flatbread that resembles porota.[9] Bakarkhani is an Iftar item in Sylhet. It is also eaten with tea at night during the month of Ramadan[10] It is believed[by whom?] that it was first made by the people of Sylhet.[11][12] Sylhetis learnt making Bakarkhani from the Afghans who stayed in Sylhet after defeated by the Mughals in 1612. Later many Sylhetis came to Dhaka and started making Bakarkhani commercially.[13] At present most of Dhaka's bakarkhani sellers are from the Sylhet Division.[14][15]
Handesh is a snack made of deep-fried dough sweetened with molasses or sugar. It is served on special occasions such as the festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Nunor Bora is a savoury snack made of rice flour and with onion, ginger and turmeric, fried to a golden colour.
Chunga Pitha is a traditional rice cake prepared by stuffing sticky rice inside young bamboo and smoking it slowly. The rice cake is removed from the tube and has the shape of a candle. The dish may also be made with binni rice, milk, sugar, coconut, and rice powder.
Tusha Shinni is a dessert halwa made from sweetened dough with nuts and raisins that is usually served on special occasions.
See also
References
Media related to Sylheti cuisine at Wikimedia Commons
- ^ সিলেটের উপভাষা ও জীবনধারা : ড. শ্যামল কান্তি দত্ত (in Bengali). Bhorer Kagoj. 16 July 2015. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- ^ "Mumbai Food: Bangladeshi Dishes Straight From Sylhet At Restaurant In BKC". Mid-Day. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ সিলেটী বিরইন চালের ইতিহাস. jalalabadbarta.com (in Bengali). 26 April 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ "Cooking could be interesting!". The Daily Star. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
- ^ বাংলার ঐতিহ্যবাহী পিঠা. Sylheter Dak (in Bengali). 2 January 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "The 6 Seasons of Bangladeshi Cuisine". Great British Chefs. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- ^ "The fiery flavours of East Bengal's dried and fermented fish are all the notes of life". The Indian Express. 23 December 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ "Shidol Chutney". Atlas Obscura. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ "Bakarkhani: delight in every bite". Daily Sun. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ ইফতারে সিলেটিদের প্রিয় আখনি ও খিচুড়ি. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 20 July 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^ "Mughal era bread Bakarkhani on verge of extinction in Dhaka". www.uniindia.com. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ প্রেমের নিদর্শন বাকরখানির ইতিবৃত্ত. www.bd-journal.com (in Bengali). 16 February 2020.
- ^ বাকরখানি: অমর প্রেমের কাহিনী. The Daily Janakatha (in Bengali). 21 January 2017.
- ^ Muhammad Abu Talib (28 February 2015). ঐতিহ্যের বাকরখানি যাচ্ছে বিদেশে. The Daily Ittefaq (in Bengali).[permanent dead link]
- ^ নবাবি খাবার বাকরখানি. The Daily Jugantor (in Bengali). 27 January 2017.
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