Though the world has woken up to the goodness of Paanta or fermented rice, lately, the poor man’s food has been a centuries-old culinary practice among the Bengali rural households to keep cool and healthy during the excruciatingly long summer months.
With nutritionists and health experts on social media harping upon the goodness of this humble dish, it has renewed interest in Paanta among the urban crowd, always on the lookout for healthy local delicacies. The diners across the city, too, have wasted no time in introducing this simple dish to the urban palate.
Spiegel, known for bringing offbeat local plates to the table, is also keeping an eclectic paanta spread from today onwards. A part of their Poila Boishakh offering, this eclectic paanta spread has been curated by co-founders Arpita Saha and Shakyasingha Chakraborty. The first variant of Paanta, which enticed us, was made using Kabirajshal rice. This semi-fine, nutritious rice grown in Bengal’s soil is traditionally known for its therapeutic properties. Though the majority of Bengal’s farming populace have paanta with one or two accompanying items rustled up from the day before’s leftovers, we had a taste of several such options to go with the dish.
There was Dal sukhno (a spiced-up sauteed paste made with masoor dal), Aam peyaji (mango and onion mashed fritters), Goyna bori (a very local version of ornamental fritters made with various pulses) and essential condiments, including green chillies, onions and Gondhoraj lime. The Bhortas (mashes) included Macher bhorta made with freshwater Katla fish and Shilebata murgi (pestle-ground chicken with local spices), which is such a tasty and easy way to have chicken during the summer.
We also had a calming bowl of Korpurkanti panta soaked in curd water overnight. That came with servings of crab paste and a dollop of light-fried chuno maach (locally harvested small fish). The gut-friendly dishes were followed by some consciously crafted local sweet offerings, including the star item Chyapta rosogollar haribhanga. This delicacy made with flattened rosogollas soaked in Nolen gur-infused milk was a perfect experiment that didn’t overkill with its sweetness.
The paanta offering will continue through the summer months, but if you plan to visit Spiegel during Poila Baishakh, also expect other equally interesting dishes like Kalojeera (black cumin) fish batter fry with ranga aloo (sweet potato) fingers.
For the unapologetic fish-loving Bengali, there’s Fish senf und sahne, a global twist to mustard fish, while the meat lovers can gorge on Kucho mutton er laal polao, a fragrant one-pot rice dish featuring Kalonunia rice from North Bengal.
Available from April 10 onwards.
Meal for two: INR 1,600+ onwards
Timings: 12 noon to 10.30 pm
At Sector 3, Bidhan Nagar.