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Yogurt, cream……. and Portuguese sailors!

posted on Monday, August 25, 2008 12:13 PM

Author: Sanjay Kumar, Brighton

Everywhere in Calcutta mishti doi shops do roaring trade. In Calcutta no meal is complete without a sweetened milk dessert called mishti doi which is recognised as a ‘most palatable antacid’ in West Bengal. In most Bengali homes the sweetened yogurt was the only item on the menu which was not prepared at home. Before the mishtir dokan (sweetmeat shop) had multiplied in every few feet of available space in every locality, yogurt was set at home with a simple sprinkling of sugar. In West Bengal natural yoghurt is not traditionally served at the menu and is only used as an ingredient in cooking, however in some urban homes it is accepted on the table as the north western raita (seasoned yogurt) and as dahi vada (fried lentil caked in spicy yogurt).

Another food tradition practiced in Calcutta is not using doi (yogurt) at night because of its noted cooling properties and a fear of catching a chill. A substitute is a large bowl of kheer or rabri (fresh sweetened milk with squares of dried milk). This delicious creamy drink is always accompanied by Calcutta’s inimitable sandesh and rosogolla. The use of cottage cheese as a dessert is particular to West Bengal and Bangladesh and it may be an adaptation from European cooking bought in by the riotous and randy Portugese sailors.



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