This weekend, Delhi folks can sample the flavours of Bengal’s bajaars (markets) at a special culinary experience by Sienna Café and Store at The Lodhi, New Delhi. The Kolkata-based restaurant helmed by chef Auroni Mookerjee focuses on hyper-local, seasonal produce and traditional Bengali flavours and presents them in innovative forms. Its changing weekly menus are inspired by fresh produce from the bajaar which mirror the seasonal menus across homes in the state. “The baajars of Bengal are a way of life and determine how people eat and spend through the year. These bajaars are still made up of so many small land holders and farmers selling seasonal, indigenous and foraged produce,” says Mookerjee. MangshoTortelliniMaacher Deem
This pop-up organised by Canary Yellow Media is timed to Poila Boishakh and what better way to usher in the Bengali new year than by breaking some bhaat (rice). For guests familiar with Bengali cuisine, the flavours will be immediately identifiable but envisioned in a new and creative format. For first-timers this is a novel introduction. Most Bengali meals begin with teto or bitter veggies like neem leaves, kerala or a dish like shukto (a hearty vegetable stew which balances bitter, sweet with crunchy textures of lentil cakes). This idea is interpreted as the “Eat your teto vegetables” course in the Sienna menu with a neem and rice roll, a gazpacho of shukto and drumstick toast. Following the trajectory of a traditional menu, the bitter course is succeeded by the “Bhaja, bata and hola”—a combination of deep fried and mashed dishes from either side of the border in Bengal and Bangladesh which features crispy gourd peels, gourd pesto, rice, potato and whitebait or bamboo shoot curry. For the mains, classics like mutton kosha or malai curries get a makeover in a patha, luchi and bone marrow jhol (goat meat and bone marrow curry with a deep-fried flatbread) or a Malay curry which combines savoury rasgullas in a coconut malai broth.Kala BhunaChef Auroni Mookerjee at Sienna Chef Auroni Mookerjee’s bajaar-to-table ethos carries from Kolkata to Delhi and this pop-up is as much about his growing up years in Delhi as it is about his current culinary enterprise. “So what we are doing at The Lodhi is interwoven with my memories of the bajaars of Delhi—INA Market, CR Park Market and Khan Market,” says Mookerjee. So while Mookerjee’s exotic escargot from the pukur (pond) dish is inspired by the produce from Bengal’s water bodies, the snails are just as readily available at INA market. “If Gariahat has maacher deem (caviar), Khan market has tobiko and ikura in its gourmet stores. We will continue to follow the traditional Bengali progression but with a touch of Delhi,” he says. Sienna’s limited-edition menu is available at Perbacco - The Lodhi, New Delhi from 14-16 April. The tasting menu (veg and non-veg) is priced at Rs4,000 plus taxes excluding alcohol. For reservations, call 011-43633333. Cre: cntraveller