Sorshe die Chhana from the book “Thakur Barir Ranna” by Purnima Thakur. Last year when I went to India, my father-in-law and I had gone to visit someone in North Calcutta. While I was at this gentleman’s office, Papa excused himself and went out for 15-20 mins and came back with this little white book. I think this is something which would my Baba (Dad) would have done and I feel so fortunate to receive the same kind of affection from Papa. Sam’s Dad. The book was the famous “Thakur Barir Ranna” by Purnima Thakur.
The Thakur Bari or the famed Tagore family, have been a catalyst for change in Bengali culture, art and literature and lived through the era of Bengali Renaissance. The Tagores have led Bengal through the transition from medieval to modern. Rabindra Nath Tagore played a pivotal role in the refinement and revolution of Bengali literature and his work continues to move and inspire generations with its timeless relevance. And today being the great poet’s birth anniversary, I thought a recipe from the Thakur Bari kitchen would be apt and timely. And this is the first Thakurbari recipe on my blog and it is from the book, “Thakur Barir Ranna”. I knew a little about the Thakurbari culinary traditions growing up, hearing from baba as he spoke of whatever he knew. But then being a sucker for food history, I started reading up too.
When you read about the Thakurbari culinary traditions, the thing that strikes you the most is the freedom, creativity and ingenuity of thoughts and ideas. The ladies of the Thakur Bari household never shied away from treading uncharted territories and going beyond the obvious. Just like art and literature, their fearless creative pursuits contributed to the modern Bengali cuisine. Their unconventional kitchen alchemy is a proof of just how comfortable they were in transgressing the limits of achetypal and orthodox kitchen practices and transformed the kitchen in to an avant garde space for innovation.
For example, the Bengali musoor dal has a recipe set in stone with mustard oil and some basic tempering with whole spices and salt & turmeric.But the Thakurbari musoor dal would have grated coconut, tamarind and curry leaves, tamarind and curry leaves being courageously adapted from the Southern Indian cuisine. It is said that Surendranath Thakur urged his daughter in law to try this recipe. And Indira Devi, his sister, even though was not much of a cook herself, understood the need to preserve these heirloom recipes and would be the one to write them down.
The book Thakur Barir Ranna by Purnima Thakur is a treasure trove of recipes from the days bygone and very aptly portrays how colonialism penetrated into the everyday culinary practices of the Thakurbari kitchen. Most notably, the Thakurbari dinners would see dishes like soups & toast, macaroni with fish, meat roasts and puddings rolled out on a daily basis.
This particular dish that I am blogging today is Sorshe die Chhana. Basically, ricotta cheese cooked with freshly ground mustard and coconut and tempered in mustard oil with generous amount of hot green chilies. I would say this is a dish you would eat “prothom pate e” or you would eat first. It’s spicy, piquant and hot with the coconut lending a complimentary sweetness to the mustard and green chilies. A couple of spoonful with some white rice is all you need to wake your palate up.
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A Thakurbari classic which brings in the best of both worlds. The pungent and fierce, freshly ground mustard paste and green chilies paired deftly with the sweet and creamy coconut and channa (paneer) to create an explosion of flavors reminiscent of the transformative times of the Thakurbari and their contribution to the Bengali modern culinary history.
Ingredients
- 1 liter milk
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
- 2 tbsp Yellow mustard Seeds
- 3 tbsp Grated coconut
- 3 Green Chilies
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 2 tbsp Mustard Oil
- Salt (To Taste)
- Sugar (To Taste)
- 1 tbsp Cilantro (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Bring the milk to a rolling boil and add the lemon juice. Keep stirring the milk over medium heat. You will see the curds separate.
- Strain the curd from the whey and rinse with cold water. Put in cheese cloth and wring out the excess moisture.
- Soak the mustard seeds in hot water for 1 hr. Strain and grind together with grated coconut, 1 green chili and a tsp of salt. Grind to an absolute fine consistency.
- In a pan, add 11/2 tbsp of mustard oil. Add a couple of slit green chilies.
- Pour in the mustard paste, turmeric powder, salt and sugar to taste and start stirring. Cook for 2-3 mins until you see the moisture is evaporating.
- Add the chhana or the curds that you extracted from the milk.
- Mix it in with the mustard and coconut cooking from before. Now taste for salt and sugar and adjust if required.
- Add half a tbsp of mustard oil on top and add the chopped cilantro.
- Remove from heat and serve alongside white rice.