What we are cooking this pujo
(Spoiler: there is no polao or kosha mangsho on this list)
Some festive meal ideas for the greatest carnival on earth. Whether you're hosting for breakfast, lunch, or evening get-togethers, we've got you covered!
Mahalaya picnic
Keeping the menu very streamlined this Mahalaya, with rice and mutton curry as the main attraction. If you're keen to add in a dal, we suggest a simple kacha mooger dal, which comes together in 20 minutes max., along with phool chingrir bora (replace phool chingri with kachki machh, based on availability). 🍿 Tip: the boras can also be served as munchies.
Kacha Moong Dal
A quick and delicate dal tempered with radhuni, a type of seed that is quite unique to Bengal.
20 minutes
111kcal
Phool Chingrir Bora
Tiny river-shrimp fritters
- 45 minutes
- kcal
Pressure-cooker Mutton Curry
Bengali mutton curry, cooked in a pressure cooker, with tender pieces of meat and potatoes, and a light, flavourful broth.
- 2 hours
- 653kcal
.avif)
Pepe'r Plastic Chutney
A fun, quick chutney with green papaya
- 30 minutes
- kcal
Pujo breakfast
Luchi with chholar dal and/or kumror chokka, and optionally, a light, unusual chhanar payesh.
Luchi
Bengali deep fried puffy bread
- 1 hour
- 250kcal
Kumror Chokka
A Bengali classic served with luchi
- 1 hour
- kcal
Chhola’r Dal
Savoury-sweet preparation of curried split Bengal gram
- 45 minutes
- 197kcal
Chhanar Payesh
A cottage-cheese and reduced milk pudding
- 50 mins
- 227kcal
Festive lunch ideas
Prepare this meal in full, or skip either dhokar dalna or dal-bhaja, and it will be a memorable one either way!
Shukto
A wide array of mild, sometimes bitter, milky curries served for lunch to open up the palate for the oncoming spicier courses
- 1 hour
- 229kcal
Bhaja Moong Dal Shobji diye
Roasted moong dal with fresh, winter veggies
- 40 minutes
- kcal
Badhakopi’r Bora
or pakora
- 30 minutes
- kcal
Dhoka'r Dalna
Fried lentil cakes in a flavourful sauce
- 90 minutes
- kcal
Kakrar Jhal
Bengali crab curry with a twist
- 90 minutes
- 272kcal
Tomato, Khejur & Amsottor Chutney
A Bengali sweet-spicy tomato compote with dried fruits
- 30 mins
- 123kcal
Pujo potluck ideas!
Assign a dish to each of your friends, and you have yourself an elaborate Pujo potluck! Since there are two torkari and two fish courses in this meal, we're keeping the shukto simple and the dal light. Finish with an easy pressure-cooker amrar chutney. 🍀 Tip: you can replace chhanar koftakari with our latest recipe, chhanar paturi!
Pepe’r Shukto
An easy shukto with green papaya
- 40 minutes
- kcal
Kacha Moog-Mosur Dal
An easy and hearty Bengali moog-mosur dal with ripe winter tomatoes and fresh coriander
- 30 minutes
- kcal
Lau Chingri
Bottle gourd cooked with prawns
- 60 mins
- 154kcal
Chhana'r Koftakari
Light, fluffy, mildly-spiced chhana (cottage cheese) dumplings in curry.
- 90 minutes
- 465kcal
Parshe Machher Jhal Shorshe
Fresh parshe cooked in mustard paste and yoghurt, simmered with flavourful brinjal and dal'er bori.
- 30 minutes
- kcal
Chitol Machher Muithya
Bengali chitol fish dumplings
- 2 hours
- kcal
.avif)
Amra'r Chutney
A sweet, sour Bengali chutney made from two kinds of hog plum (biliti amra and deshi amra), spiced with bhaja masala
- 30 minutes
- 73kcal
Evening get-togethers
A mix of savoury and sweet snacks! While lobongo lotika can be entirely made ahead of time, machher chop and drums of heaven can be prepped earlier too, and fried just before serving. 🍗 Tip: instead of tossing drums of heaven in a sauce, you can serve them straight-up deep-fried, like pakora!
Machh'er Chop
Spicy fish croquettes
- 90 minutes
- 257kcal
Chicken Lollipop / Drums of Heaven
Drums of heaven
- 2 hours
- kcal
Lobongo Lotika
Pockets of kheer, sealed with a clove, deep fried, and coated with sugar syrup
- 3 hours
- kcal
Doodh Cha
CTC tea steeped in milk, and flavoured with ginger, cloves and cardamom.
- 15 minutes
- 140 kcalkcal
Pujo dinner
The greatest radhaballabi you'll ever eat with aloo'r dom (we also have an aloo'r dom recipe with an onion base if you want). Optionally, finish with homemade payesh where you can swap out the nolen gur, which is not in season now, for an equal quantity of micchri (rock candy) or even sugar.
Niramish Aloo Dum
Bengali-style curried new-potatoes cooked in a savoury, tangy sauce, and sprinkled with green peas.
- 1 hour, 15 mins
- 202kcal
Radhaballabhi
A Bengali deep fried pastry with a delicious filling of biuli’r (urad) dal spiced with fennel seeds, ginger and green chillies.
- 2 hours
- kcal
Nolen Gurer Payesh
Bengali rice pudding with date palm jaggery
- 1 hour
- 316kcal
Pujo dinner, Mughlai edition
Burra kabab, rezala, firni—all of them can be prepared ahead of your party. 🔥 Tip: Instead of burra kabab, you can also prepare chicken kathi kababs (from our chicken roll recipe), or mutton boti (from the mutton roll video)!
Mutton Burra Kabab
Double chops of mutton, marinated with spices and creamy yoghurt and roasted until juicy and smoky.
- 1 hour
- kcal
Calcutta Chicken Rezala
Chicken cooked in a thin, pearly white gravy such as the kind served in restaurants like Sabir, Aminia, Shiraz, Royal, Arsalan, etc.
- 90 mins
- 371kcal
Phirni
Creamy, mildly sweet, rice pudding, set in an earthen bowl, firni/phirni can be customised to a few different flavourings of your choice.
- 1 hour
- 234kcal
