Bengali duck egg curry - hasher dim kosha
In the past, eating chicken was frowned upon in Bangladesh, however, it was acceptable to eat eggs and duck meat. In Bangladesh, backyard poultry often meant ducks were raised for eating and chickens were kept as game birds for fighting. Due to scavenging behaviour and lack of veterinary care, the inputs needed were incredibly low. People were willing to consume many kinds of eggs, including duck, quail, tortoise and even pigeon eggs, but due to social and religious taboo they were reluctant to consume chicken eggs. Throughout the past two decades, the tenacity of this philosophy has waned.
Besides serving as a source of protein for food, poultry animals on farms served other crucial functions. Insect population was managed by hens. If allowed to roam the farmyard, chickens would consume ticks and larvae that could infest other animals in addition to the many pests common in gardens. Animals used for poultry farming were permitted to glean the fields after harvest, where they consumed lost grain and spread fertiliser while foraging. The alarm system of poultry was also effective. The farmer would awaken to a new day each morning from the rooster. As vicious as any guard dog, the domestic swan [rajhans] can be.
On winter weekends, we enjoy a traditional Bengali comfort brunch of overcooked fragrant gobindobhog rice with a dollop of clarified butter, hot mashed potatoes with butter, and soft-boiled or hard-boiled eggs cooked simply in mustard oil before being mashed with potato, sliced onion and green chilies. Every time, the smell of somebody cooking in the neighbourhood acts like a stimulant in the mind, and the aroma of this special rice with ghee is so tempting that it sharpens our hunger. Nonetheless, a Bengali today can hardly go a day without eggs. Yet I have rarely seen a duck egg at a social gathering.
Ingredients
- Hardboiled duck eggs, 4
- Boiled and cubed potatoes, 1 large
- Ginger garlic paste, 1 tbsp
- Minced onion, 2 tbsp
- Turmeric powder, 2 tsp
- Red chili, black pepper, coriander seeds paste, 1 tbsp
- Whole garam masala [1 inch cinnamon, clove, and cardamom], 2 each
- Bay leaves and whole dried red chili, 1 each
- Salt and sugar, to taste
- Mustard oil, 2 tbsp
- Whole green chili and coriander leaves for garnishing, optional
Instructions
- At first pierce the eggs with a fork and season the eggs and cubed potatoes with salt and turmeric. Heat oil in a deep pan and fry the seasoned eggs until golden brown. Keep aside.
- In the same pan add bay leaves, whole red chili and whole garam masala. Add minced onion, salt and sugar, and fry a little. Add ginger and garlic paste and fry until the color changes. Then add the cubed potatoes and mix well.
- Now add the masala paste and 2 to 3 tsp hot water. Mix well, keep the fire on simmer and wait until oil oozes out. Add the fried eggs, mix, and put off the fire. Add coriander leaves and green chili. Cover for a few minutes. Duck egg masala is then ready to be served with any type of rice or bread.
Ande ki Fanda
Perhaps the very first animal product that humans consumed was an egg. Early hunters and gatherers adopted eggs from nests as a food source since they were often the perfect size to be eaten in one sitting. Every society on Earth seems to have a people, tribe, environmentalist group or ethnic community that uses every culinary resource at its disposal. Over time, ritual restrictions on some foods at specific moments gradually became taboos. It is important to distinguish between proper limits and improper taboos. This practice has been widely studied, especially in relation to prehistoric hunters and gatherers who needed to maintain a balance between production, availability, conservation of natural resources and personal health. Slokas were often used by intellectuals because they were easy to teach and remember.
See the food thoughts in Bengali traditional folk counting-out riddles
"āĻāĻ¨āĻি āĻŽিāĻ¨āĻি āĻĒাāĻĒা āĻিāĻ¨āĻি
āĻাāĻ¨ āĻুāĻ¨্ āĻ াāĻļা,
āĻšাঁāĻ¸েāĻ° āĻĄিāĻŽেāĻ° āĻাāĻļা
āĻে āĻāĻ¤ āĻāĻ¨া āĻ¨েāĻŦে āĻŦāĻ˛ে āĻĻাāĻ āĻ¨া ||"
"āĻāĻĒāĻ¨ āĻŦাāĻĒāĻ¨ āĻৌāĻি āĻাāĻĒāĻ¨,
āĻāĻ˛ āĻĸোāĻ˛ āĻŽাāĻŽাāĻ° āĻোāĻ˛,
āĻāĻ āĻেāĻ˛েāĻি āĻাāĻিāĻ¯়া āĻোāĻ° ||"
"āĻāĻŦু āĻĻāĻļ āĻুāĻĄ়ি,āĻ¨াāĻĄ়িāĻুঁāĻĄ়ি,
āĻিংāĻĄ়িāĻŽাāĻেāĻ° āĻāĻ্āĻāĻĄ়ি,
āĻে āĻāĻ¤ āĻāĻ¨া āĻ¨িāĻŦি āĻŦāĻ˛ে āĻĻে āĻ¨া āĻ°ে ||"
It is simple to understand how occasional abstinence can develop into a custom and ultimately become a historical food taboo. Eating taboos have often been attributed to magico-religious causes or the contrast between positive and negative rites in social anthropological studies. Yet the beginnings of rituals and taboos based on spiritual, religious and magical ideas must also have had a history, showing the broad range of origins of food taboos.
This opinion has generated much discussion, and no one hypothesis can fully explain why humans have certain food taboos. However, any dietary taboo that is accepted as part of a community's traditions and has no legitimate medical justification can promote social cohesion and help that group maintain its identity in the presence of outsiders, bringing relief and a sense of belonging. Food taboos are often imposed during coming-of-age rites, initiation ceremonies, droughts, floods, lunar eclipses and many other natural events. In this sense they also serve to mark important occasions.
Food taboos: their origins and purposes
Street vendors in Kolkata still sell duck eggs in baskets. Chicken eggs arrived much later in Bengali food habits. There was conflict between chickens and caste religion even in the last century. In Bengal, Masan Kali is worshipped under a banyan tree in Dhumpur Balasi village of the Dewanhat block under Cooch Behar district headquarters. A pot is worshipped as an idol-less symbol of the Kalimburupa Masan deity. Puja is performed there every Tuesday. The main ingredients of the puja are panchkhol curd, chira and atiyakala. People from neighbouring villages gather together and perform puja. Goat, pigeons, duck eggs and fruits are offered as vows at this Kali Than on the orders of Bhongria.
During religious ceremonies for Brahmins who were educators by profession in the caste system, the offering of food to the gods always preceded food intake. Food thus became sanctified and was called prasad, God's mercy, which was then partaken. This practice follows the Bhagavad Gita, in which the Lord says that if one offers with love and devotion a leaf, flower, fruit or water, it will be accepted. In this way food becomes both ritual and nourishment.
They understood that plants also have life, though in a more sedate and sedentary form. The use of plants as food is considered less sinful than taking the lives of animals, yet they should not be broken or harvested after dark. The saying "You are what you eat" is explicitly echoed in the Bhagavad Gita, which describes foods of goodness as those that increase life, purity, strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. In contrast, very bitter, sour, salty, pungent, dry, stale or impure foods are said to cause pain, distress and disease. Thus the message does not command simply “do” or “do not do”; it describes effects and leaves the choice to the individual. Foods not selected in this framework may gradually become social taboos.
Modern people have fewer food taboos to observe, but some still exist. People belonging to particular race, creed, caste or class may partake in fish, eggs and meats such as chicken, goat or mutton, yet these are often never cooked or eaten during religious occasions, marriages, times of mourning, breaking fasts, pilgrimages and similar times.
It is a well-known fact that India gifted the world the Red Junglefowl [kukkut ā¤ुā¤्ā¤ुā¤] and the Silver Junglefowl, from whose progenies poultry were domesticated and crossbred. The history of poultry in India is about 5,000 years old. The paradox is that although this country introduced poultry to the world, it remained indifferent to it for a long time. The main factor was a religious taboo on poultry products in many Indian communities. Credit for developing poultry in this country is often given to Christian missionary organisations and some British people who brought superior exotic breeds at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Indigenous Knowledge
For ethnic tribal groups and communities, indigenous poultry are of special interest because of their socio-religious use. They are efficient converters of agricultural byproducts and wastes into high-quality meat, and they also provide eggs, feathers and rich manure. Spoiled eggs are often separated from good eggs by immersing them in a bowl of water. It is believed that spoiled eggs float while good eggs sink. This practice is still followed in rural areas.
See some great interesting facts about egg at https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodeggs.html
