By Suprita Mitter
November 16, 2024
Bengali winter snacks are a delightful blend of crispy, spiced, and savoury flavours, perfect for pairing with a warm cup of tea. Using seasonal ingredients and aromatic spices, these treats are irresistible, making chilly afternoons and evenings even more enjoyable.
Bengali Shingara (samosa), filled with spiced potatoes, peanuts, or winter vegetables, is a quintessential snack. During winter, the stuffing often includes seasonal produce like cauliflower, making it extra flavourful.
Winter in Bengal is synonymous with pithe, made from rice flour, jaggery, and coconut. Variations such as bhapa pithe and patishapta celebrate the harvest of freshly made date palm jaggery (nolen gur).
This crisp, savoury snack, made from flour and lightly spiced with kalonji (nigella seeds), is a staple accompaniment to evening tea in the winter months.
A warming combination of crispy fritters like beguni (brinjal fritters) and alur chop (potato fritters) paired with puffed rice, served with mustard oil, adds zest to cold evenings.
A winter favourite, this deep-fried stuffed puri filled with spiced green peas is both comforting and indulgent, often paired with potato curry.
This hearty curry made from dried yellow peas, topped with chopped onions, green chillies, and a squeeze of lemon, is comforting during winter evenings.
A winter classic, this chop is prepared using seasonal vegetables such as beets, carrots, and peas, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried. Its sweet-spicy flavours make it a must-try.