Kolkata, India
Kolkata Biryani
कोलकाता बिरयानी
A biryani from Kolkata with potatoes and eggs, lightly spiced with nutmeg and mace. It evolved from Awadhi biryani and is distinctively mild.
southern-asia
Bangladesh
Explore 67 foods connected to Bangladesh, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
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Bangladesh Essentials
11 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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Traditional foods from Bangladesh.
67 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Bangladesh
Lassi
Mango Lassi
A thick, chilled yogurt drink, sweet or salted, sometimes flavoured with mango.
West Bengal, India
Luchi
লুচি
A Bengali deep-fried bread made from refined flour, similar to puri but softer and smaller. It is served with aloo dum or cholar dal.
Chattogram Division, Bangladesh
Mezban Beef
মেজবানি গোশত
Beef with bone and fat cooked in a fierce red chilli and mustard-oil gravy, ladled out at communal Chattogram feasts.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Mishti Doi
মিষ্টি দই
Milk boiled down with date molasses or caramelised sugar, then set as yoghurt in a shallow earthen pot.
Muktagacha, Bangladesh
Monda
মন্ডা
Pale, dense chhena patty from Muktagachha, made to a family recipe held since the early nineteenth century.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Morog Polao
মোরগ পোলাও
Chinigura rice cooked in chicken stock with ghee, whole spices and a little sugar, with pieces of braised chicken folded through.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Murgi Musallam
মুরগ মুসাল্লাম
Whole chicken marinated in yoghurt and spice, stuffed with boiled egg and mince, and slow-cooked until the skin darkens.
Delhi, India
Nihari
निहारी
A slow-cooked stew of meat and bone marrow, traditionally eaten for breakfast in Delhi and Lucknow. It is simmered overnight and served with naan.
Bangladesh
Nunor Bora
নুনের বড়া
Rice-flour batter mixed with onion, ginger and turmeric and dropped into oil to make small savoury fritters.
Bangladesh
Palm Fruit Juice
তালের রস
Sap of the palmyra palm drunk fresh and sweet in the morning, or left to ferment into a cloudy, sour village drink.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Panta Bhat
পান্তা ভাত
Cooked rice left overnight under water so it ferments lightly, eaten cold with salt, raw onion, green chilli and a little dried fish.
Bangladesh
Panta Ilish
পান্তা ইলিশ
Fermented watered rice served cold with fried hilsa, green chilli, onion and salt — eaten at dawn on the Bengali new year.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Pantua
পান্তুয়া
Chhena and semolina balls deep-fried to a dark brown and then steeped in syrup — the Bengali forerunner of gulab jamun.
India
Papad
पापड़
A thin, crispy, sun-dried flatbread made from lentil or rice flour. It is roasted or fried and served with meals.
India
Paratha
पराठा
A flaky, layered North Indian flatbread made with whole wheat and ghee, pan-fried until crisp. It can be plain or stuffed with potatoes, cauliflower, paneer, or radish.
Bangladesh
Patishapta
পাটিসাপটা
Thin rice-flour crêpes rolled around a filling of coconut and date molasses or thickened milk.
Bangladesh
Payesh
পায়েস
Rice simmered slowly in milk with sugar or date molasses, cardamom and bay until thick, served at birthdays and festivals.
Bangladesh
Piyaju
পিঁয়াজু
Fritters of soaked split lentils ground coarse with onion, green chilli and coriander, then deep-fried into rough patties.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Prawn Coconut Curry
চিংড়ি মালাইকারি
Large river prawns simmered in coconut milk with ginger, garam masala and a little sugar into a pale, faintly sweet gravy.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Rasgulla
রসগোল্লা
Spongy balls of chhana soaked in light sugar syrup.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Roshmalai
রসমালাই
Flattened chhena discs poached in syrup then steeped in thickened, cardamom-scented milk and served cold.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Sandesh
সন্দেশ
Fresh chhena worked with sugar over low heat and pressed into moulds — the driest and most delicate of the Bengali milk sweets.
Bangladesh
Seven-Layer Tea
সাত রং চা
Tea, condensed milk, spices and syrups of different densities poured so carefully that they stand in separate coloured bands in the glass.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Shahi Jilapi
শাহি জিলাপি
An outsized coil of fried batter, the width of a dinner plate, soaked in syrup and sold by weight in Old Dhaka during Ramadan.
India
Shami Kebab
शामी कबाब
A North Indian kebab of minced meat and chana dal, shaped into patties and pan-fried. It has a smooth texture.
West Bengal, Bangladesh
Shukto
শুক্তো
Mildly bitter mixed-vegetable stew with bitter gourd, drumstick, plantain and radish in a milk and mustard base, eaten first in a Bengali meal.
Bangladesh
Singara
সিঙ্গারা
Small pastry triangle filled with diced potato, peanut and cauliflower, deep-fried and eaten with tea in the afternoon.
Sylhet Division, Bangladesh
Sour Fish Curry with Thoikor
টইকর টেঙা
Fish cooked in a thin, sour gravy with thoikor, a small bitter Sylheti citrus, and green chilli, with almost no oil.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tehari
তেহারি
Small-grain rice fried with cubed beef, green chilli and mustard oil until yellow and fragrant — the everyday street cousin of kacchi.
Bangladesh
Tusha Shinni
তুশা শিন্নি
Wheat flour toasted in ghee with sugar, nuts and raisins into a dense halwa, cooked for religious offerings and shared out.