Chef Nayana Afroz is back with a special culinary fare at The Astor Kolkata

Her marriage took home chef Nayana Afroz to the neighbouring country of Bangladesh but the foodie in her wasted no time in acquiring culinary knowhow of the region's diverse cooking styles. Over the years Nayana built a rich repository of hyperlocal recipes gathered from her field trips to rural Bangladesh across the eight divisions as a reputed interpreter. Over time, she experimented and tweaked around the recipes to come up with some unusual dishes that highlight Bengal's unique culinary culture.

As winter approaches, she has come up with a brilliant fare of some diverse delicacies in Bengal's Heritage Food Festival that's on at The Astor Kolkata till this Sunday.

Each time Chef Nayana comes up with a curated fare, she ensures that it has a brand new menu offering a different and wholesome experience for your tastebuds. This time too, it was no different. We started off the session with Prawn Patora, a Bengali version of the prawn on toast sans the toast. Made with chopped pieces of soft prawns smothered in mustard oil, a little turmeric, green chilli paste and freshly chopped coriander among other spices, the soft fried patty gets you ready for the gustatory trail that follows.

For the Ilish-loving Bengali, mixing the queen of the fish with too many spices is a sacrilege. Seeing a dish like Ilish Dopiaza on the menu scared the Ilish-worshipping Bengali in us too. After all, using onions, which have a strong pungent element that overpowers all other scents, to cook Ilish is unimaginable since Hilsa is craved for its own distinct aroma, which is best savoured when cooked with subtle spices like black cumin and green chillies or at best mustard paste that helps enhance the inherent flavour of the fish.

As we dug into the dopiaza with a lot of apprehension and doubt, we were stumped by the revelation. The onions did no dis-service to the flavour and aroma of the fish and only went a long way to enhance it further. "Many people have a preconceived notion about the use of onions in any Ilish recipe. But whoever has tried this dish, had to admit they were wrong," tells an effusive Nayana, as she tells us that apart from the onions, she has also used a little bit of garlic in the dish.

As we relished every bit of the Ilish with the Biye Barir Pulao, a subtle and flavourful rice prepared with a spattering of garam masala and ghee, the famed Dhakai Parota and Choijhaal Khashi arrived at our table. The crispy fluffy Bangal paratha was light and non-greasy and went very well with the accompanying mutton. The fall-of-the-bone meat was succulent and the flavourful choijhaal (piper chilli) lent it a gingery and peppery flavour.

We loved the Begun Bhorta that Nayana rustled up for us. Bhortas are Nayana's forte and with this simple ingredient called aubergine, Nayan created magic. Instead of roasting the eggplant before sauteeing it on a pan with oil and spices, Nayana deep fried the brinjals before mashing them with roasted tomatoes, onions, chilies and other spices. The result was lip-smacking. Instead of rice or rotis, we had them with papadams, the Indian version of nachos.

The other gems on the menu like Doi Bhetki, Prawn Korma and Chicken Bhuna were equally delicious if not more. And a special mention goes to the dessert section, which most of the time remains neglected and is filled with usual suspects. Nayana surprised us with a toothsome dish called Custard Cups. The vermicelli cups held soft and delicate custard made with saffron and almond rinds and we highly recommend it. It is nothing like what we have tasted so far and definitely deserves full marks.

So, if you are planning your weekend around dinner or lunch, do visit the ongoing festival for some pleasant gustatory surprises that would definitely leave a satiated smile on your face.