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Looking at set course menus in modern restaurants today, it’s easy to assume that the concept is European. The assumption is faulty because almost all Indian cuisines, especially the ones based on Ayurvedic principles, have set courses too.
Now in case you didn’t know, traditional Bengali cuisine has forever followed the rules of properly set courses for every meal the affluent classes have. According to the epic Bengali poems called Manasamangal (written between 13th and 18th centuries), the correct order of a midday meal or lunch in an upper middle-class Bengali Hindu family was this: a bitter dish (Teto), a liquid dish (Jhol), mixed vegetables (Ghanta), green leafy vegetables (Shaak), boiled lentils (Dal), fish, meat, a sour dish (Ambal), rice-flour sweets (Pitha), and milk-based sweets (Payesh). All the courses are served with a sizable side of boiled rice.
Growing Up Bengali, With A Sprinkling Of Bitters
Sounds elaborate and unbelievable, right? What you’d find even more remarkable—unless you’re Bengali, because then this is everyday ordinary for you—is that some semblance of this correct order of courses is followed in every Bengali Hindu household even today. As a Bengali kid, I found this sort of a luxurious lunch fascinating. What I found difficult to bear were the bitters, the main course my mother would almost force-feed me.
No child enjoys bitter tastes, especially if you have fried potatoes or a tangy fish dish awaiting, but every Bengali kid growing up in a Hindu home in or beyond Bengal knows that there is no escaping the Teto course. If not our parents, then our grandparents took pleasure in explaining to us that this bitter course is precisely what will get our digestive juices flowing so that we can enjoy all the courses to follow. And so, we all chewed down the bitter dishes. It might sound like a generalization, but all Bengali kids who grew up eating Teto dishes every day still value the vital role bitters have to play in the life of foodies.
The Value Of Bitters Lies In Cooking Them Right
Of course, now the culinary world finds the inclusion of bitters in everything from salads to cocktails just as essential as Bengalis who take their Shukto (a bitter mix vegetable dish which includes bitter gourd), Neem Begun (eggplants cooked with bitter neem leaves), Tetor Dal (bitter gourd lentils) and Karela Bhaja (bitter gourd fry) seriously. Foodies, chefs and food experts understand clearly that bitters cleanse the palate and aid digestion just as well as probiotics can. The trick lies in doing it right.
“Khete mondo hoy na, tobe khub beshi teto korte hoy na,” (It doesn’t taste too bad, but you shouldn’t make it too bitter) wrote Leela Majumdar and Kamala Chattopadhyay in their Rannar Boi (Cookbook; published July 1979), a classic guide for the modern Bengali home cook. This advice is something everyone trying out Bengali bitter dishes should abide by. Proportion is everything when it comes to cooking and eating bitters. A touch too much of bitter gourd or neem leaves can turn your dish completely inedible.
Following recipes to a T is perhaps the best way to learn how to cook bitters. But even if you’re more of the “cooking with my instincts” type and things do go wrong, there are a few things you can do to handle the overload of bitterness. Boiled rice, with its amazing soaking capacity, usually comes to the rescue here. In the case of Shukto, adding a splash of milk can help numb down any excessive bitterness. Adding a bit of ghee to the rice when you eat bitters can not only help but also add to the flavour of the bitter dish.
So, whether you’re Bengali or not, don’t shy away from adding bitters to your culinary repertoire and diet. Instead, take the advice of Bengali moms and cooks, and include Teto in your meals. Trust me, you’ll enjoy every delicacy that follows this perfect first course even more!
