Changing delights of Dhakai delicacies

Top: from left: Bakorkhani and Sutikabab, two famous delicacies of old Dhaka; Bottom: from left: biriyani, faluda and lassi rule the list of food connoisseurs in the old part of the city. Photo: STAR

The morning dawned amid loud crow of cocks. Rotiwalahs (bread makers) prepared their tandoors one after another with flames dancing over… There were not many clocks to know the time… Rain or shine, the sizzling flames of tandoors in the alleys announced the start of the day… As long as my memory goes, the Dhaka dwellers always relished freshly baked bakarkhani for breakfast…
This is how Hekim Habibur Rahman in his book “Dhaka pachash barash pahley” (Dhaka 50 years ago) painted the mornings in Dhaka and the first meal of the day.
Published in 1945 originally in Urdu the book gives detailed accounts of the variety of food items savoured by the Dhaka natives during his days -- from 1880s to 1940s -- along with delicate ways of food preparation and the stylish presentation.
Hekim described the thin, crisp bakarkhanis that melts in the mouth, soft shirmal and naan roti, the spicy fragrant biriyani, pilau, the legendary shutli or persande kebab, handi kebab, boti kebab, taash kebab, shami kebab, nargisi kebab, kofta and korma, spicy yoghurt drink burhani, the sheer-e-faluda, firni, jarda and many more scrumptious items that tantalized the hearts of everyone.
During the long historic course of 400 years, Dhaka's cookery has gone through many transformations.
Historian Prof Muntasir Mamoon recounts some of the memories from his childhood. “During my childhood in 1950s and 60s a zest of what Hekim described left its trail with some kind of transformation,” he said.
“We used to start our day with glasi made with paya (a broth made from leg bones of goats or cows). Bakarkhani or chapatti accompanied glasi. Bakarkhanis always came fresh from the tandur. We loved morog polao for lunch while biriyani was a dish of the evenings,” Prof Mamoon noted.
“Young boys and girls loved to munch on kutti biscuits fresh from tandur. Kulfi just made its debut few years back. And the piping hot malai tea worked as energiser.”
Prof Mamoon observed that Dhakai food does not have a distinctive identity like many other cuisine. Within the course of time the Persians, Turks, Arabian, Armenians, Portuguese, British and others came to this part of the world either to conquer or simply for business. They all brought culinary delights from their part of the world.
“What we know as Dhakai food today is actually a fusion of these culinary heritage with a blend of local recipe and spices added by the cooks and housewives,” he said.
“The delectable names that we hear are basically introduced by the aristocrats of those era. Most of these items are very much meat based. Their recipes were slowly adapted by the mainstream population as they became affordable later,” Prof Mamoon said.
Delwar Hossain, one of the editors of Banglapedia and a researcher for Asiatic Society gave details of the many influences Dhakai food went through during the last 400 years.
He categorises four different eras that left their marks in Dhakai cuisine. First, there was the Buddhist and Hindu era when people preferred vegetables. But it was before the establishment of Dhaka. The Aryans after that introduced meat to Dhakai cuisine. They also brought ghee or clarified butter to this continent.
Then came the Mughal Sultanate period when the Turks, Persians, Arabs, Afghans, residents of parts of the central Asia came along with bakarkhani, shirmal, biriyani, pilau, kalia, korma, dolma, variety of kebab, bundia, sheer-e-faluda. This was followed by the British coming up with their club food, Hossain informed.
Tashkabab is possibly an Armenian food. The bakery culture is an influence of the Portuguese. Kashmiri food also had its influence on Dhakai cuisine through the Nawabs.
Religious establishments and army barracks of different colonial periods played a role in introducing multicultural recipes, Hossain mentioned.
“However, the identity of Dhakai food spread out during the past 400 years or more is slowly becoming indistinct. People who inherited the recipe no longer exist. Recipes have gone extinct or distorted. People's taste has changed over the years,” said Prof Mamoon.
Ramadan brings back bits and pieces of the memory along with some of the traditional items. People from different parts of the city still go to Chawkbazar in Ramadan to savour the remnants of traditional delicacies that old Dhaka still has to offer, he added.
Zarina Sayeed, 58, a resident of Gopibagh still recalls the aroma of her mother's cooking that used to attract the neighbours. “I grew up in Chawkbazar area. In those days the food gave out a pleasant aroma during preparation. Fragrance of my mother's cooking used to find its way to the streets and houses of our neighbours.”
The aroma is absent in today's Dhakai food, lamented Zarina who used to operate a cooking school for girls in 1970s from her Gopibagh home.
“Essentials and ingredients required for cooking such dishes found in the market these days are mostly adulterated. Dhakai cooking also requires time and patience. People these days don't have that much time to spend in the kitchen. So the recipes are vanishing slowly,” added Zarina who tried passing on her knowledge to the next generation.
Today the city dwellers crave for pizza, burger, French fries, cola drinks, sandwich, chicken wings, rolls, icecream and more. The new part of the city has countless new restaurants offering variety of exotic dishes.
“This is basically an influence of globalisation which remixed many recipes and eating habits in Dhaka. This is the present trend and it is ongoing,” said Delwar Hossain.
Yet many traditional dishes still survive within the labyrinthine alleys of old Dhaka. 'Hajir biriyani' at Alauddin Road still attracts thousands. Then comes Nanna Miah's morog polao available at Becharam Deuri. Fakruddin's biriyani is still one of the top choices in weddings.
Bakarkhani may be a little lumpy and chewy these days instead of being crispy like the original ones but they still appear quite frequently inside the glass cases of many stores. Glasi is available in Star restaurant at Thataribazar and Al-Razzak in Bongshal while shutli kebab can be found in Royal restaurant, Lalbagh and Ananda bakery in Chawkbazar.
Dhakai delicacies that still tickle the taste bud are jali kebab, irani kebab, gurda kebab, fish kebab, beef-kima, beef chap, boti kebab along with Kashmiri paratha, nan-khatai, nan-ruti, moghlai paratha, beef-kopta, kalia, jhal kochuri, shahi halim, pilau, shingara, faluda, makhna, bundia, nimok para.
And the love affair with Dhakai food is not complete unless one savours the street food, considered as the common mans' buffet. Street food items like fuchka, chotpoti, ghoogni, velpuri, hawai mithai, jhal muri, roasted peanuts and maize, chhola are available throughout the year anywhere in the city.