What breakfast. Whoa!
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Breakfast,
it is universally agreed, is the most important meal of the day. We eat
breakfast after a lag of almost ten hours since dinner the previous
night and it is important we have a sumptuous meal at the start of the
day. A good breakfast inevitably makes you feel good first thing in the
morning and without a proper breakfast I usually have ended up eating
much more for lunch than I'd have liked.
In the West, breakfast is standard. Cornflakes, fruits, yogurt, eggs to order, bacon, sausage, toast with butter or jam and tea or coffee. Most cafes in the world will serve this breakfast day in day out month after month. Occasionally a doughnut or a croissant may be introduced as variation. Having eaten this breakfast for months on end, in fact years while living abroad, it was only natural that I'd start craving for the variations I'd be given at home in Kolkata. Rather, the varieties that Kolkata offer at minimal cost makes it the best breakfast city in the world. From the well known breakfast at Flurys, a rare treat on a Sunday, to the street side telebhajar dokan in North Kolkata with its fresh early morning fare, the varieties in Kolkata are endless.
A typical North Kolkata breakfast on a Sunday for example can very well consist of a hot singara and a couple of kachoris. A piping hot singara with tamarind chutney with a jilipi to round it off - things couldn't get any better. Having two kachoris and a singara on the way to the bazaar in the morning is a typical North Kolkata ritual that is still observed today. Every narrow by-lane in North Kolkata has a street side telebhajar dokan, all with their loyal band of customers. It is this chance to stop at the telebhajar dokan while going to the bazaar every morning that helps counter the monotony. Some of these street side stalls experiment with the morning fare and the phulkopir singara or the dal vada, made once in a while, are in high demand. Winter inevitably brings the natun aloor tarkari to go with the kachori and it is a challenge to stop at two kachoris during these months. Readers who are fans of the Bengali sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi will know what having a phulkopir singara with muri can do to liven up an off-colour morning.
Watching the singara being made in the morning at one of the many street side stalls is sheer bliss. First the dough has to be made correctly to ensure the crust isn't hard. Then the singaras are given shape with the potato stuffing and then twenty or more singaras are released into the boiling hot oil. Again, traditional Kolkatans will tell you that the stuffing shouldn't be made with smashed potatoes. While commercial considerations force such shortcuts, real singaras are made with choto kore kata aloo and is a 19th century tradition. Just when the singaras are perfectly browned, not too much because there's always a chance they will get burnt, they are all scooped up to serve the many hungry customers waiting patiently for their turns.
Nowhere else in the world do you get this variety. For example, in some North Kolkata households the day starts with phulko luchi and tarkari. And each of the luchis would have to be adequately fluffy - flat luchis mean the person making them has failed to deliver. Hot luchis just out of the frying pan with smoke coming out every time you pierce the crust and tarkari, spiced with dried red chillies and fresh coriander leaves means the day starts with a spark! And the luchis, which are made in real numbers, keep coming to ensure plates are never empty. Luchis also change colour on occasions. From the maidar luchi to attar luchi, certain varieties of luchi are made to suit certain types of tarkari. Finally, the tarkari too changes each morning. From simple aloor tarkari to aloo tomator tarkari to aloor beguner tarkari to chola diye kumror chakka to ghugni, breakfast is often the highlight of the day in most North Kolkata Bengali families.
More than most things it is the local food that one misses when staying away from home. Things that we take for granted, a telebhaja for example has a ubiquitous presence in Kolkata, is one of the most missed food items when living away from the city. Packaged singaras sold in the supermarkets like Sainsburys hardly whet the appetite and people just tend to hog at the local delicacies when they make it back to the city again.
It is time now for my piping hot morning singara.
In the West, breakfast is standard. Cornflakes, fruits, yogurt, eggs to order, bacon, sausage, toast with butter or jam and tea or coffee. Most cafes in the world will serve this breakfast day in day out month after month. Occasionally a doughnut or a croissant may be introduced as variation. Having eaten this breakfast for months on end, in fact years while living abroad, it was only natural that I'd start craving for the variations I'd be given at home in Kolkata. Rather, the varieties that Kolkata offer at minimal cost makes it the best breakfast city in the world. From the well known breakfast at Flurys, a rare treat on a Sunday, to the street side telebhajar dokan in North Kolkata with its fresh early morning fare, the varieties in Kolkata are endless.
A typical North Kolkata breakfast on a Sunday for example can very well consist of a hot singara and a couple of kachoris. A piping hot singara with tamarind chutney with a jilipi to round it off - things couldn't get any better. Having two kachoris and a singara on the way to the bazaar in the morning is a typical North Kolkata ritual that is still observed today. Every narrow by-lane in North Kolkata has a street side telebhajar dokan, all with their loyal band of customers. It is this chance to stop at the telebhajar dokan while going to the bazaar every morning that helps counter the monotony. Some of these street side stalls experiment with the morning fare and the phulkopir singara or the dal vada, made once in a while, are in high demand. Winter inevitably brings the natun aloor tarkari to go with the kachori and it is a challenge to stop at two kachoris during these months. Readers who are fans of the Bengali sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi will know what having a phulkopir singara with muri can do to liven up an off-colour morning.
Watching the singara being made in the morning at one of the many street side stalls is sheer bliss. First the dough has to be made correctly to ensure the crust isn't hard. Then the singaras are given shape with the potato stuffing and then twenty or more singaras are released into the boiling hot oil. Again, traditional Kolkatans will tell you that the stuffing shouldn't be made with smashed potatoes. While commercial considerations force such shortcuts, real singaras are made with choto kore kata aloo and is a 19th century tradition. Just when the singaras are perfectly browned, not too much because there's always a chance they will get burnt, they are all scooped up to serve the many hungry customers waiting patiently for their turns.
Nowhere else in the world do you get this variety. For example, in some North Kolkata households the day starts with phulko luchi and tarkari. And each of the luchis would have to be adequately fluffy - flat luchis mean the person making them has failed to deliver. Hot luchis just out of the frying pan with smoke coming out every time you pierce the crust and tarkari, spiced with dried red chillies and fresh coriander leaves means the day starts with a spark! And the luchis, which are made in real numbers, keep coming to ensure plates are never empty. Luchis also change colour on occasions. From the maidar luchi to attar luchi, certain varieties of luchi are made to suit certain types of tarkari. Finally, the tarkari too changes each morning. From simple aloor tarkari to aloo tomator tarkari to aloor beguner tarkari to chola diye kumror chakka to ghugni, breakfast is often the highlight of the day in most North Kolkata Bengali families.
More than most things it is the local food that one misses when staying away from home. Things that we take for granted, a telebhaja for example has a ubiquitous presence in Kolkata, is one of the most missed food items when living away from the city. Packaged singaras sold in the supermarkets like Sainsburys hardly whet the appetite and people just tend to hog at the local delicacies when they make it back to the city again.
It is time now for my piping hot morning singara.
