Khichuri on the street

Came across a signt that demanded a second and curious glance as I walked towards the Reliance mobile outlet today to pay my mobile bill on the busy Camac Street sidewalk dotted with food vendors. A man was busy having khichuri (Khichdi) and begun bhaja (Fried eggplant) with roasted papad served by a food vendor.

With this, Bengali street food comes more or less a full circle. So far rice-dal-curries-fish curry was available for low-income group with numerous street vendors. Office staff venturing out during lunch break and field executives would have their fill of roti and curries (Chicken and mutton apart from fish in non-veg offerings). The only gap was khichuri. In a highly competitive Kolkata street food market someone must have thought out of the box and attempted to pamper the taste buds of the foodie Bengali with this extremely popular and easy-to-prepare combo in Bengali households- khichuri-begun bhaja. An important element of Bengali food culture, a large no. of Bengalis that include this blogger love it so much that they can have it as luch/ dinner any day. And all those who swear by their khichuri know that it is irresistible in a rainy afternoon/ evening. In the monsoon khichuri finds its hottest partner- ilish machh bhaja (Fried hilsa). Apart from begun bhaja, khichuri goes well with beguni (Another version of fried eggplant, where it is covered with besan), alur chop (Potato fried with besan covering), piyaji (Onion fried with besan covering) and omlette.

Hope I will come some of the above combos in the coming days in the ever-evolving street food scenario of this food-lovers' city.