Sylheti cuisine

Sylheti cuisine is the food culture of the people of the area in and around the city of Sylhet, Bangladesh. It is influenced by locally available ingredients, by migration from other areas and by tribal traditions.

Traditional Sylheti diet
Lai shak with mashed potato & fried egg plant.
Furir Bari Iftari
Soft Khichuri, a traditional iftar dish
Seven Color Tea
Part of a series on the
Culture of Sylhet
History
Proto-historic

Classical

Medieval

Modern
People
Native

Tribes

Tea tribes
Languages
Major

Minor
Traditions
Cuisine
Festivals
Religion
Major

Others
Art
Literature
Archives

Institutions
Performing arts
Media
Sport
Monuments

Characteristic ingredients

The Sylhet area is home to a number of citrus fruit varieties such as hatkora and thoikor.[1][2] They are used extensively in Sylheti cuisine, particularly in fish and meat dishes.

Traditional Dishes

Rice dishes

Akhni is a mixed rice dish similar to biryani or polao, made with meat and/or vegetables.

Red and white Birin rice (also transliterated as Biroin or Bireen) is found only in the Sylhet region.[3] It is eaten in savoury and sweet dishes and is the main ingredient for Chunga Pitha, a traditional rice cake.

Khichuri is a rice dish similar in consistency to porridge. During the holy month of Ramadan, it is served as a staple food for Iftar. It consists of aromatic rice mixed with spices, ghee, cumin and fenugreek. It is also offered to sick people mixed with ginger.

Meat dishes

Beef Hatkhora is a traditional festive dish of beef cooked with hatkora juice.

Aash Bash is a traditional dish using duck and bamboo shoots.

Fish dishes
mashed vegetables

Fish is eaten both curried and fried. Dried and fermented fish called shutki, and hatkora, a bitter and fragrant citrus fruit are used in fish curries. Extremely hot Naga Morich peppers are used in broths.[4]

Some local dishes incorporate hidol, a pungent chutney of dried fish matured in earthenware pots.[5] This includes Hutki Shira, a fish curry with vegetables.

Thoikor Tenga is a dish fish cooked with thoikor, a bitter citrus fruit native to the region.

Breads and sweet dishes
Fob

Bakarkhani is a flatbread that resembles porota and is commonly eaten during Iftar, the evening meal during the month of Ramadan[6]

Handesh is a snack made of deep-fried dough sweetened with molasses or sugar. It is served on special occasions such as the festival of Eid al-Fitr.

Sylheti rice-cakes and dumplings

Nunor Bora is a savoury snack made of rice flour and with onion, ginger and turmeric, fried to a golden colour.

Chunga Pitha is a traditional rice cake prepared by stuffing sticky rice inside young bamboo and smoking it slowly. The rice cake is removed from the tube and has the shape of a candle. The dish may also be made with milk, sugar, coconut, and rice powder.

Tusha Shinni is a dessert halwa made from sweetened dough with nuts and raisins that is usually served on special occasions.

See also

References
  1. Kabir, Ihtisham (5 July 2014). "Citrus Story". The Daily Star. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  2. "Mumbai Food: Bangladeshi Dishes Straight From Sylhet At Restaurant In BKC". Mid-Day. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020. the shatkora lemon...native to Sylhet in Bangladesh, the citrus fruit looks like a grotesque cousin of lime, but is only larger and tastes like grapefruit
  3. "History of Sylhet Birin rice". jalalabadbarta.com (in Bengali). 26 April 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2018. The red-white sticky type of fragrant 'Bireen Chaal' is only found in the Sylhet region, hence an undisputed trademark of Sylhet!
  4. Begum, Dina (8 March 2019). "The 6 Seasons of Bangladeshi Cuisine". Great British Chefs. Retrieved 26 April 2020. Sylhet favours fiery curries made with pastes of fresh and dried chillies, roots and spices. Dried and fermented fish called shutki are used in vegetable broths and dry dishes. Shatkora, a bitter and fragrant citrus fruit, as well as the extremely hot naga chilli, also form part of the local diet.
  5. "Shidol Chutney". Atlas Obscura. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  6. "Akhni and Khichuri are favorites of Sylhetis for Iftar". Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 20 July 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2020. Bakharkhani is another accompaniment to Iftar in Sylhet. The practice of eating Bakharkhani with tea during Iftar or at night has been going on for ages. There are four types of sweet and savory bakharkhani, which cannot be found anywhere else but Sylhet, some vendors said.

Media related to Sylheti cuisine at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.