sweet tooth

Bengalis are famous for their sweet tooth. Not only are sweet dishes a compulsory at the end of a meal, we can even have mini meals of sweetmeat. No festival or function is complete without the mishtimukh, but the best of sweets are served during bijoya, after Durga puja, when people visit their relatives and friends, to pay respect to elders and convey their well wishes to youngsters and contemporaries. the sweets served are as much important part of the festivities as are the pranams, ashirwads and kolakulis.
and if you want to enjoy Bengali sweets keep in mind one thing. the wonder of Bengali sweets is in its subtleness. it is neither as sweet as North Indian sweets or vilayati desserts, nor as rich in ghee (in case of North Indian sweets) or cream (in case of ice cream or pastries) but yet it is tastier, and I guess less injurious to health (though I feel counting calories while eating kills the taste of food completely. and what's there in a long life, if you can not enjoy the good things in life).
the most famous sweet shops are in North Kolkata. In fact some of the old sweet shops of North Kolkata are legendary for their specialties. Unfortunately, I being brought up in the South-Eastern part of the city, could try these legendary delicacies only occasionally. I had to mostly live on the improvised variety of these sweets served in the new suave shops in the modern quarters of the city. So in this article you will find a mention of some legendary shop, open since the 19th century like Bhimnag and some little known new shop in south Kolkata like Saradiya sweets. but take my word each is distinct and irreplacable in their place. So here goes my list of top 20 bengali sweets and where to find them. [the disclaimers in the earlier blog hold for these as well and no, the shops mentioned do not sponsor me :( ]

20. Aamer morobba - this is preserved mango pulp, unique in taste and texture. Siuri, on way to Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan, is famous for this sweet. So if you are paying a visit to Shantiniketan, be sure to get hold of some delicious morobbas at Siuri.

19. Jalbhara Talshas - this is perhaps the most famous variety of kadapak sandesh, ie. the hard sweet made of channa, or cottage cheese. the core of this hard sweet is filled with a syrup and hence the name jalbhara (meaning filled with water in Bengali). girish & nakur, near bethun college, Kolkata, a shop exclusively selling sandesh, is most famous for this variety of the sweet.

18. patisapta - this is a sweet made of powdered rice, with a sweetened coconut filling. this sweet is prepared in most Bengali home on the auspicious day of Makar sankranti to celebrate the new harvest. I have tried this sweet in a few shops as well, but none can come near the homemade ones in taste.

17. rabri - rabri is not an exclusively Bengali sweet. the most famous rabri is the one you find in Kachauri gali of Benaras. But in Kolkata, you shall find the Benarasi version of this sweet made of thickened cream of milk, as well as a Bengali version. the essential difference between the two is, while the Benarasi one is made of buffalo's milk, and is much heavier and sweeter, the Bengali one is made of cow's milk and is a bit lighter in both consistency and sweetness. Also the colour of the Benarasi one is pale yellow, because of seasoning with Kesar, while the Bengali one is white. for the Benarai version you have to visit the hindi-speaking quarter of the city, or enter one of the outlets of sharma, (famous as the rabri people), and for the Bengali version, you have to visit some old bengali sweet shops, like balaram mallik, bhawanipur.

16. makha sandesh - this is the predecessor of the modern sandesh. before kadapak and narampak came into vogue most sweet shops in Kolkata used to sell this soft, uneven paste of channa mixed with sugar or jaggery. though not that much popular in Kolkata now, this variety of sweet is still available in tarapith/bakreshwar/bolpur in Birbhum district, and this is another added attraction to tourists visiting Shantiniketan.

15. mihidana - this is a sweet made of gramflour or besan, similar to motichur used for laddus in north India. the difference is mihidana is much finer in grain size and unlike motichur, it is not formed into balls or cakes, it is served in the powdered form itself. bardhaman district towards west of Kolkata is famous for mihidana, and you can have very good quality of the sweet in shops beside the Grand Trunk road which passes through the town of Burdwan. also you can buy the stuff from hawkers in trains in the Kolkata-Delhi or Kolkata-Bombay route. Ganguram outlets in Kolkata also serve some good mihidana.

14. narampak sandesh - this is a broad classification for all soft, dry and not fried sweets made of channa. the shop which has attained legendary status in this branch of sweet making is bhimnag, bowbazaar. they are the pioneers and for a long time their name was synonymous with sandesh. the shop was also patronized and blessed by icons of the 19th century Bengal renaissance, like Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, Raja Rammohan Roy, Naren Dutta (Swami Vivekananda), Rani Rasmoni and Ramkrishna Paramhansadeb. in those days they had 40-50 variety of sandesh in their displays. now the number has come down to 18-20. some of the more famous varieties from those times, which are available now are abar khabo, dilkhous, rose cream, basanta bahar.

13. raj bhog - this is a giant rasgulla, bigger and sweeter. K.C.Das, the most famous and in my opinion the best confectioners in West Bengal, with outlets in Esplanade, Shyambazar, Laketown, Bagbazar and Ripon Street, and also a few in Bangalore, is a good place to get these. and beware, after having a couple of these, you might not need dinner.

12. Dorbesh - this is a laddu or ball made with bonde, or sweetened boondi. the difference from north Indian laddu is in the grainsize and texture. Dorbesh is coarser in grainsize and much softer. the best Dorbesh I have had were at Sen Mahashay, bhawanipur and Ganguram, Golpark

11. Chanar payesh - this is a porridge made of thickened milk, cottage cheese and sugar or jaggery. K.C. Das is again most famous for this sweet but I have enjoyed a very good channar payesh at Saradiya sweets, Ballygunge place

10. doi - this along with rasagollas, are perhaps the most famous sweets of Bengal. Bengali moyras are perhaps the only people who know this secret art of making delicious sweet curd. most of the bengali sweet shops make a decent curd, but my favourite varieties are the essenced indrani at Ganguram and the tulsi doi (containing extracts of tulsi herb, good for cough and cold) at hindustan sweets, jadavpur

9. Langcha - this is an kidney-shaped, fried version of rasgulla, very famous in shaktigarh, Bardhaman. you find quite a few shops selling good langchas while crossing shaktigarh in G.T.Road, and the most famous is Langcha ghar.

8. chanar Jilipi - Jilipi is the bengali for jalebi, a very famous north Indian sweet. chanar jilipi is a Bengali version of the sweet, where the complex spiral sweet is made from channa, instead of the usual gramflour. as in case of channar payesh, i like the channar jilipi in both the legendary K. C. Das and the new, small Saradiya sweets.

7. chamcham - this is a kidney shaped sweet made of channa, with a dry exterior, and juicy interior. it is covered with malai, or cream and seasoned with kesar. my favorite places for chamcham are K.C. Das and bancharam, gariahat

6. Nalen gurer sandesh - this is a seasonal delicacy, available only during winter. this is prepared by a special molasses called nallen gur, which has to be collected from the date tree before sunrise in the chilling months of December and January. the sweet prepared is however worth all that pain and is a connoisseur's delight. Girish & Nakur, the icons of sandesh is again the most famous for this variety, though I have tasted some really good nalen gurer sandesh, especially ata sandesh at mahapravu mishtanna vandar, dover lane.

5. Icecream sandesh - this is a modern variety of sandesh developed by the Bengali confectioners as a response to competition to the western desserts. this is the most subtle type of dessert I have ever tasted and is very popular among children. the sweet was developed originally by Dwarik, Bidhan Sarani, along with ice cream sherbat, the predecessor of modern milk shake, but I also love the ice cream sandesh available at Bancharam & VIP sweets, ultadanga.

4. Ladykeni - this particular sweet was invented by Bhimnag to commemorate the birthday celebration of Lady Canning, the wife of Viceroy Lord Canning in Calcutta. this sweet is a trade-off between rasagolla and langcha. it is similar to gulab jamun of north india, but is a bit more reddish in colour, softer in texture and smaller in size.

3. sarbhaja - Sarbhaja, along with sarpuriya are signature delicacies of the famous moyras (confectioners) of Krishnanagar. these are sweetened cakes of fresh cream of milk, ablosutely delicious in taste. You can stop at any of the shops beside G. T. road, while passing Krishnangar, to taste these delicacies, and specially recommended is the shop of Adhar Chandra Das/

2. rasagolla - the praise of rasagolla, the national sweet of India has been sung almost as many times as it has been served, so there is no need of reiteration. However let me share the story of its invention. Nabin Chandra Das, the 'Colombus of Rasagolla' belonged to a family of sugar traders, who left his family business, to open a sweetmeat shop at Bugbazaar, thus becoming a moyra, considered a low profile job in those days. his business however did not run well and becamea rendezvous for old retired people and unemployed youth whose attraction was the unsold sweets they would enjoy at the end of the day. However, they encouraged Nabin Chandra to innovate a new soft succulent sweet, as against the dry hard kadapak sandesh. he finally managed to make rasagolla by boiling the balls of cottage cheese in sugar syrup, using an enzyme he discovered, in the year 1868, which is marked as a landmark year in the culinary history of Bengal. Contrary to advice by his friends to take patent, Nabin Chandra taught the intricacies of rasagolla making to numerous confectioners, thanks to which you can taste good rasagollas in any neighborhood shop in Kolkata. However for any tourists to Kolkata, and for food connoisseurs it is a must to pay a homage to this great inventor, by paying a visit to K. C. Das, the shop run by his descendants.

1. Rasamalai - the legacy of Nabin moira was carried forward by his son Krishnachandra (K.C.Das) who also made a brilliant improvisation on Rasgolla, in the shape of rasamalai, containing of rasagollas soaked in sweetened, thickened, creamy milk with seasoning of pista, badam, raisin and kesar. In my humble opinion, rasmalai can easily defeat icecreams, souffles, etc and be capped as 'the tastiest dessert of the world'.