This is, in fact, a time of great festivity all over India, when the Mother Goddess, Durga, the Ultimate Embodiment of strength, is invoked and her varied forms of Shakti (strength) are worshipped over Nav (nine) Ratri (nights).

In Calcutta – or Kolkata – exquisitely crafted life size clay idols of the Goddess Durga are set up in temples and on fabricated platforms (called Pandals) in various locations, all over the city. Durga is worshipped during these auspicious days as the Universal Mother, the Protector and the Slayer of the demon, Mahishasura. Communities vie with each other to come up with the most original theme for their pandals. People try to visit as many pandals in their town as possible, just to see all the diverse ways in which the themes are used to depict the victory of Good over Evil.

Food and festivity go hand in hand all over the world but Calcutta’s cuisine acquires a new vigor and vitality every year during Durga Puja.  It is as much a social event as religious and the streets fill with people from all communities, walking through the night to see the various idols and sample all the foods available for sale. Calcutta excels in creating both traditional and innovative dishes during the five days of festivity.

We invite you to come into Calcutta Wrap & Roll during this festive time and try our Durga Puja Specials. This year our Puja Specials include Fish Chops, Green Pea Kachori, Aloo Dum and Kasturi Sandesh. (These dishes are usually only available on our Catering Menu.)

Fish Chops are my particular favorite. These are amongst the most popular snack foods in Calcutta. Basically a potato croquette, it has a filling of white fish cooked with aromatic spices. The vegetarian version has a filling of beetroot and carrot and is available on our everyday menu. If you haven’t yet tried it you have missed a true culinary gem.

Green Pea Kachori is a Bengali specialty and it fairly overflows with flavor. (Bengali is the language of the state of West Bengal, where Calcutta – or Kolkata – is located.) This Kachori is different from the North Indian Kachori. The dough used for the Calcutta Kachori is soft and it is filled with green peas cooked in whole spices, roasted and powdered to provide aromatic perfection. The green pea Kachori is traditionally paired with Aloo Dum.

The Calcutta Aloo Dum is rich and flavorful and made with whole baby potatoes cooked in an onion-yogurt sauce and then seasoned with roasted spices. Eating it with either the green pea Kachori or a Poori is a must!

The Kasturi Sandesh is Calcutta’s trademark dessert. It is a delightful, silky-soft, fresh homemade cheese creation, flavored with cardamom and pistachio. It is light and smooth and unforgettable.

Try one or all of these specials this weekend. You will not regret it. The only problem may arise from your wanting to see these specials on our Daily Menu!

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Holi is my favorite celebration, or, at least, it used to be when I was growing up. After all, it is a day when all the rules seem to be relaxed, especially from a child’s point of view. Imagine being able to play with color all day, and by “play” I mean actually being granted the liberty to do some generally taboo stuff, like spraying, not just friends but grown-ups as well, with colored water and smearing “gulal” or colored powder on their faces! Wow! What would I not give to go back to playing Holi with that kind of abandon? But I am getting ahead of myself here. Let me explain what this celebration is all about and why these color-capers are permitted, even indulged, on this day.
To tell the actual story behind “Holi,” the Indian festival of color, I would have to start with Prahlad, the boy devotee of Lord Vishnu, the Preserver form of the Supreme Being in the Hindu Trinity. Prahlad’s father, the demon king Hiranyakashipu, had ordered his subjects to worship none other than him, an order that his son had refused to heed. Prahlad had devoted himself to the worship of Lord Vishnu and this had so enraged his father that he had repeatedly attempted to kill his own son. Each time Lord Vishnu had intervened and saved Prahlad. Finally, Hiranyakashipu asked his sister, Holika, to help him execute his evil plan. Holika had a boon that allowed her to be unscathed by flames and so Hiranyakashipu asked her to carry Prahlad into a blazing fire. The young Prahlad, who kept chanting the Lord’s name while going through the fire, was protected because of his devotion and came through unharmed, while Holika, whose boon did not work because she had not entered the fire alone, was consumed. Thus Hiranyakashipu’s evil plan was foiled and Holi came to be known as the celebration of the triumph of goodness, the destruction of evil and the power of true devotion. Even today, the burning of Holika is enacted in towns and villages all over India by burning effigies of her in huge bonfires. People clean out their homes and burn their refuse at this time of year in individual tributes to the story of Holi. What is interesting to add here, is that this is the time of year when infectious diseases are on the rise and the burning of household refuse aids in the general well-being by killing the disease-breeding bacteria. It is believed that the same is true of the “gulal” or colored powder used during the play with color, which is the other aspect of this festival. Originally gulal was made out of the dried seeds of tropical plants like Palash and Neem, which have medicinal qualities and are said to ward off infection. So the use of gulal in early spring is considered especially beneficial to health.
Gulal brings me to the playful aspect of Holi, the “Rang Barse” or “Shower of Color” that happens on the streets and courtyards, in towns and villages, all over the nation. This tradition of celebrating with color is derived from the love-legend of Krishna and Radha. Lord Krishna is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of the Supreme Lord Vishnu and He is portrayed in many forms: as an infant on Yashoda’s lap, a flute-playing youth tending to his cattle, as a lover playing pranks on his beloved Radha and the Gopis (cow-herding maidens). Krishna grew up in this cowherd community and Radha was his childhood companion with whom he played, danced, quarreled and later fell in love. The Krishna-Radha love stories are numerous and they are interpreted as being symbolic of the human quest for union with the divine. The youthful Krishna is mischievous and is forever teasing Radha and the Gopis, using “pichkaris” (brass sprinklers) to squirt colored water on them. Krishna’s play with color is recreated during Holi when the application of gulal allows people to shed their inhibitions and rejoice without restraint. What a delightful way to usher in the spring!
In certain parts of India, Holi revelers form a human pyramid to reach the pot of buttermilk suspended from balconies and rooftops, in an enactment of little Krishna’s stealing of buttermilk from his mother’s pantry.
Whatever the traditions of Holi each region carries out, the common thread through all these celebrations is fun and food. This is also the time for enjoying cooling beverages like Thandai. With the weather turning warm, the cooling effect of Thandai, made with seeds of watermelon, cantaloupe and lotus stem, almonds, cashew nuts, cardamom, fennel and saffron is very refreshing. Sweets, of course, play a major role in the festival of color and abundant varieties of sweets are cooked and eaten on this day.
While we cannot transport you to a world where colored water is freely sprayed from pichkaris and buttermilk is for the taking if the human pyramid is high enough, Calcutta Wrap & Roll promises to bring you the authentic taste of India in each and every dish which is carefully prepared for your satisfaction. So come on in and treat yourself! Happy Holi!

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The diversity is the real character of Indian culture and as the languages vary (there are about 22 officially recognized languages), so do the cooking styles. While lentils find their way into everybody’s lunch and dinner plates, the variety of lentils and the varieties of their preparation are vast. To give you a quick example, let me tell you about how I introduced Hugo, who is my partner at Calcutta Wrap & Roll, to Indian lentils.

I remember asking him to take a ride to Queens and to go to the back wall of “Patel Brothers” (one of the largest Indian grocery stores) and see for himself the colors and the different types of Dal they have in stock. Hugo called me back and said: “I am in front of this wall. Do you mean to say that all Indians know all of these Dals?”

Well, the truth is that probably not everybody who is from India knows all the Dals, but most of them know the popular ones: Masoor, Moong, Chana, Toor and Urad.
These Dals can be cooked very differently by altering the spices used in the tempering.
When Toor Dal is cooked with vegetables and tempered in the style of the South, it is called “Sambar”. This is a great accompaniment with Dosa (rice-crepes) or Medu Vada (crunchy lentil donuts). Urad Dal is used to make the Vadas in Dahi Vada and Medu Vada, and is added to rice in the preparation of Dosa. Dal is one of the healthiest vegetarian foods you will ever have, when cooked in its simplest form. This super-food is packed with protein and cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber, as well as about twice as much iron as other legumes. And Dals also contain higher amounts of most B Vitamins and Folate,

Dal can be called a Vegan’s delight because it is cooked in water only, without the addition of animal or dairy products. The only exceptions are Dal Makhani (a specialty of Punjab, where butter or cream is added) and Chholar Dal (a specialty of Bengal, where clarified butter or Ghee is used in the tempering). Needless to say, Dal Makhani and Chholar Dal are festive Dals, cooked on special occasions. You can now go out and tell your friends you know all about Indian Lentils!

When you come to Calcutta Wrap and Roll, make sure you try our FREE tasting sample during Dal week.

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Pulses are seed from the Legume family. Lentils are pulse. Other pulses are Peas and Beans. Now that we have clarified these terms, let me tell you how important a role lentils play in Indian cuisine. They form one of the major staples of the Indian diet. In fact, it is often said: “Lentils are to India what Meatloaf is to America.” That is to say lentils are the quintessential Indian comfort food.

All Indian households, whether in the north, south, east or west, serve lentils as a part of their daily diet, accompanied with either rice or roti (Indian flat bread). In the north, lentils are called Dal (or Daal/Dahl/Dhal).

In the south, lentils are known as “Parippu” in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, “Pappu” in Andhra Pradesh and “Bele” in the state of Karnataka.

Stay tuned for more fun and interesting facts about DAL this week, as we are celebrating DAL all week long, January 31st through February 5th, and we will be offering FREE DAL tasting samples when you come into Calcutta Wrap & Roll, so you too can enjoy one of my favorite comfort foods.

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Chorchori is basically a medley of vegetables and leafy greens, slow-cooked on a low flame. It is very popular in eastern India where it is eaten every day as a highly nutritious vegetarian dish and also, on festive occasions, when it is prepared with the addition of baby shrimp or even fish-head.
Here, at Calcutta Wrap & Roll we offer both the all-vegetarian Chorchori and the non-vegetarian Shrimp Chorchori on our Menu, every day!

Our version of Chorchori is very home-style, using a variety of vegetables which include cauliflowers, cauliflower stems, potatoes, radish, green beans, carrots, pumpkin, eggplant and spinach leaves, with a garnish of dried-lentil nuggets called “vadi”. As you can tell from the ingredients, this dish is chock-full of nutrients! It is a relatively “mild” dish, mustard being the only punch folded into it. Other than that, it uses a combination of spice seeds for the initial tempering. The dish can be made more spicy/hot by adding dry red chilly. And the Shrimp Chorchori, of course, has shrimp added to it for extra taste.
Chorchori tastes divine with Rice and a side of Dal.

And now that you know, I invite you to come into the store and try it for yourself. You will fall in love with veggies all over again!

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Eastern India is traditionally known for its SWEET TOOTH and Bengal surely takes the CAKE!

Yogurt is part of the final course in any Indian meal. It is supposed to remove the aftertaste of the heavier entrees, calm the digestive system and lastly aid the digestive process itself because yogurt contains the probiotic cultures that today we readily buy as tablets. The ancient system of Ayurveda (AYU= Longevity, VEDA, from the word VID= Knowledge) has studied yogurt’s beneficial properties for a very long time. This traditional Indian system of healing has always known that the probiotic bacteria in our gut needs to be replenished after every meal.
In Bengal, the sweet-toothed Bengalis brought to this knowledge a local twist. They concluded that whereas they agreed they should end with the yogurt, they were not willing to abandon dessert either. So they combined the two (Mishti=sweet and Doi=yogurt) and came up with “MISHTI DOI”.

Traditionally, Mishti Doi is set in earthen pots of different sizes, individual servings of 4-6 oz being the most popular. As you travel through Bengal you will find millions of small discarded earthen pots that were used to serve either Doi or Chai (tea) to travelers. Talk about recycling! This earthen pot system had given rise to a very vibrant clay potters’ society in the state.
We, at Calcutta Wrap & Roll, are proud to bring you this traditional dish from Bengal.

To all of you with a Sweet Tooth, a fair warning: IT IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. YOU WILL KEEP COMING BACK FOR IT, AGAIN AND AGAIN.

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I will start by talking about the “Chicken Sheekh Kebab.” Kebabs are pieces of meat cooked either in a special clay oven called the Tandoor, on a flat steel plate called a Tawa, or fried in a skillet. Kebabs are usually named after the process by which they are cooked / the section of the country they were developed in / the shape of the kebab / the portion of the meat / the texture of the meat / or the marination used in the preparation of the kebab.

The Sheekh Kebab is so named because it is cooked on Sheekhs (rods or skewers).  Minced meat is wrapped around the iron skewer and cooked over an open fire at high heat, in the Tandoor.

The beauty of the Sheekh Kebab lies not only in that it cooks very fast (because of the extreme high temperatures in the Tandoor) but also in the evenness of the cooking. The skewers absorb the heat of the oven and cook the kebabs from the inside while the outside is seared by the flame.

Every Indian restaurant that has a Tandoor makes Sheekh Kebabs. Look for the subtle tastes of the different spices used (each establishment has its own special blend!), the soft texture and the moistness of the meat.
Sheekh Kebabs are cooked without added oil because the meat releases its own fat which drips off during the cooking process.
Sheekh Kebabs are generally served as appetizers. You may dip a Sheekh Kebab in a Mint-Cilantro or Date-Tamarind Chutney or enjoy it with your favorite beverage. Traditionally the Sheekh Kebab is served on a bed of sliced onions and with a refreshing squeeze of lime.

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