When it comes to dining, Bangladeshis adhere to some laws and restrictions. Bangladeshi culture is known for being highly friendly and hospitable. Their society depends on open doors, genuine hospitality, and a pleasant disposition. You get a perfect image of social Bangladeshis when you combine plenty of delicious food shared by the guests and host with chic-chat, laughing, and affection.
In southern Bangladesh, Chittagong is a significant coastal city and financial hub. In the first century, the Roman geographer Ptolemy described it as one of the central Eastern ports. Despite having an overwhelming Bengali Muslim majority, Chittagong boasts a high level of religious and ethnic diversity among Bangladeshi cities.
Mezbaani meal is a must-try for anybody from Chittagong looking for a nostalgic culinary experience or wanting to taste a regional flavor of Bangladeshi cuisine. Chittagong is well-known for its delectable cuisine and sweets. Chatgaiya’s favorite foods include rice, fish curry, and lentils.
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Food in Chittagong that you must try
Chittagong’s cuisine is known for its spiciness. Mejban and kabab are the first things that come to mind while thinking about Chittagong. You will fall in love with them if you ever get the chance to try them. Unique cavalry, dried fish (sutki), and many other delicacies await your arrival at Chittagong.
Meals
The hallmark foods of Chittagong’s port city include Kala buna and Mejbani Mangsho. Mejbani Gosht is well-known and well-liked.
Kala bhuna
Beef Kalo/Kala Bhuna is one of Chittagong’s most renowned beef dishes. And the dish’s uniqueness is its spices. In Chittagong, preparing this dish needs traditional spices and beef shoulder pieces. These ingredients get cooked until they are browned and tender. Beef Kala Vuna, a traditional meal, is popular in Bangladesh, particularly Chittagong. You can consume this spicy and tasty feast with Roti, Paratha, Plain Rice, or Pulao.
Aloo Sheddho-Bhaat
You won’t be able to refuse this Bengali comfort food. For a long time, people have been fascinated with the impact of potatoes in Bengali cuisine. The tuber’s incredible adaptability has made it a staple dish of Chittagong’s lavish cuisine.
Apart from the ever-popular ‘Kala bhuna,’ Aloo Sheddho is possibly Chittagongians’ most treasured comfort meal of all time. It’s a deconstructed version of mashed potatoes. Except here, the mashed potatoes’ smoothness gets well balanced by the spicy mustard oil and green chilies. Typically, aloo sheddho gets served with rice or ‘bhaat.’ Short-grained rice with a delightful sticky feel that pairs nicely with boiling potatoes and mustard oil.
Mejbani food
Mezban is a Persian term that means to “host.” It refers to a Chittagong-based ritual known as “community feasting.” Chittagong is known for its spicy and fiery curries, mostly made with meat. Mezbani Mangsho is a traditional Bangladeshi dish from Chittagong. Mezbani mangsho is the product of undying love.
This event may hold for a person’s death anniversary, the birth of a child, any significant accomplishment, the inauguration of a new business, or the celebration of the entry to a new residence. The host’s high prominence gets symbolized by organizing a mezban. The number of people that attend the feast may occasionally reach a few thousand. And Mezban organizers take great joy in this.
The Mezban is known for its simple cuisine consisting of rice and beef curry. But this isn’t just any curry. It takes a whole day and night to prepare, and the spices used within the curry give it a distinct flavor. The flesh, bones, and other body parts of the cow get mixed with onions, garlic, traditional spices, oil in large pots.
Then the beef gets cooked for around six to seven hours over low heat, covered until very soft. This dish requires no water since the meat produces enough liquid to form a stew. This delightful curry is then complimented with a salad of onions, green chilies, and tomatoes, as well as steaming lightly cooked rice.
Dried Fish (Shutki)
Shutki, or dried and cured fish, is a controversial subject among Bengalis. Shutki — a Bengali term that means “dried up” or “anorexic” — refers to dried fish or shrimp, and it’s intrinsically linked to the overwhelming aroma that comes from them when they’re fried. Bangladeshis, in general, adore shutki in all its stinking splendor. Shutki enhances the flavor of curry. It is popular among Chatgaiyas.
Recently, many people are tasting the variations of smelly, fermented, cured foods like blue cheese, stinky tofu, lutefisk, kimchi, and axone. So, maybe it’s time to go back to roots and give shutki a chance. Dried Shutki served hot and spicy is a great way to explore the world of dried fish and meat. We hope you try-out Shutki once you visit here.
Kacchi Biryani
The name “Kacchi” means raw that indicates layering of the biryani components rather than cooking the meat or rice separately beforehand. Kachchi biryani gets traditionally cooked in a clay oven. The cooking pot gets covered with wheat dough to enable the biryani to cook in its own steam.
Kachchi biryani is a traditional meal served at weddings, social events, and festivals. Kachchi biryani consists of layers of meat, rice, and potatoes imbued with warm and delightful combinations of fragrant spices. Each mouthful is a delectable surprise, whether it’s a piece of mutton, potato, alubokhara (prune), or the rice itself.
Rice with Curry, Vorta, Vaji, and Daal
Bangladesh’s staple cuisine is plain rice. Fish and rice are Bangladesh’s most popular foods. If you ever come here, you must have plain rice with traditional curries and vorta. You can have plain rice with a variety of fish and meat curries, vorta (mash) of various vegetables and fish, vaji (fried vegetables), and patla daal (lentil soup) in Chittagong.
Akhni
Akhni (Bengali: আখনী) is a combined rice dish that originated among Bengali Muslims in the eastern Bangladeshi cities of Chittagong and Sylhet. It is sometimes mistaken for a specific kind of biryani or polao. It resembles khichuri but is not the same thing; it is a particular rice-and-beef meal.
The meal is a staple in Chittagong, and the typical Chatgaiyas have it once a week. Rice, frying oil, traditional spices (ginger, garlic, garam masala, tejpata, cumin, onion, salt), nuts, eggs, ghee, meat, vegetables (carrots, potatoes, peas, plums), chili pepper, and sour doi are combined to make this dish.
Duroos
Durus Kura is one of Chittagong’s most important meals. In Chittagong, Duroos is typically for guests during weddings and other events. At other times, it gets cooked for renowned houseguests. So, if you are craving chicken, go for ‘duroos,’ a complete chicken roast.
Bone Soup (Nolar Jhol)
Nolar jhol is a hearty Chittagongian beef stew made with pieces of delicate fall-apart cow shanks and a fragrant sauce. This delicacy, which has its origins in Mughlai cuisine, is particularly popular in Chittagong. Their nolar jhol is a rich supper served with paratha or tandoor flatbread. Of course, you have additional options, ranging from an omelet to a bhaji.
Braised shanks are traditionally slow-cooked overnight with bones, onions, and spices. The beef is melt-in-your-mouth tender and falls apart in the thick, velvety sauce. It’s then eaten with freshly made naan bread.
Paya soup or Nolar jhol (bone soup) is helpful for gut health and immunity support. Bone broth also aids in generating and maintaining a positive mood, increasing energy, and supporting a healthy sleep cycle.
Modhubhat (Honey rice)
Chittagong’s Modhubhat is a rice dish that is quite tasty. This food is delicious and makes a great side dish with beef or chicken. It is also great for stuffing peppers or chicken cutlets. Honey rice provides a lovely taste to a menu.
Curries
Chittagong is known for its spicy and fiery curries, mostly made with meat.
Mutton curry
In a Bengali home, mutton curry is a festive feast. And a well-made mutton curry with a lot of cuisine history and legacy can undoubtedly get people talking. Food is much more than simply a source of nutrition. You go back to your origins and relive them through Chittagong cuisine.
Chanar daal
Chittagong’s Chana Dal is a healthful and saucy lentil dish that goes fine with rice or roti. This chana dal fry is low fat, vegetarian, vegan, and simple to prepare gluten-free, with many spicy spices. Along with paratha, chanar daal is a must-try.
Sweet, nutty split chickpeas (also known as Bengal gram) are pressure boiled and then delicately fried with various spices and aromatics in this traditional Chana dal. Chana dal is almost like curry or a soup. So it has a delicious saucy consistency that goes well with fluffy basmati rice and roti.
Chana dal is not only tasty, but it’s also healthy for you. Chickpeas are rich in fiber and contain vegan protein. Thus, this meal is the best choice for individuals on a low-carb or diabetic-friendly diet, as well as vegetarians.
Begun-Shutki Torkari
Begun Shutki Vuna (dry fish) is a popular Chittagong dish. Begun-Shutki Torkari is a mild curry made with vegetables and dried fish. Many people dislike Shutki because of its pungent odor, but others who like it consider it a favorite. It comes with rice or khichuri as a side dish. It’s a meal for the discerning palate. You either remember its unpleasant odor or drool at the mere thought of it (despite the smell). Shutki fans will like this meal.
Fish curry
Fish curry, also known as maacher jhol, is a basic Bengali fish curry with a subtle flavor. Jhol means “curry or sauce,” while maach means “fish.” The most frequent fish used to make this meal is Rui maach, a species of freshwater carp.
The tastiest sections of a fish are sometimes retained as a fillet in Chittagong and served grilled, broiled, or cooked alongside a fish stew or curry. Its texture contrast is something you should explore at your dinner table.
Liver fry
A great snack or appetizer is chicken liver fry. It is one of the most popular non-vegetarian appetizers since it goes well with heavy beverages. This cuisine comprises herbs, cumin, coriander powder, gorom moshla, soy sauce, and ketchup.
The fat in the liver aids in frying the liver to a golden brown finish. The liver is one of the healthiest proteins, being high in nutrients. This delectable meal may be served as a side dish to accompany your main course or as a snack with a stiff drink.
Curry of Mung Bean
Mung beans are a kind of green legume that is very small. You may also know it by Moong beans, green gram, maash, moon, monggo, mungg, or other names. This green gram curry is a Chittagong dish. This meal is tasty and pairs nicely with simple rice or roti. You can also have it with Jeera rice, ghee rice, or turmeric rice in Chittagong.
Desserts
Chittagong is famous for its delicious desserts and sweets as well. Winter cakes of Chittagong provide a unique experience.
Mishti Doi
Mishti Doi (Bengali: মিষ্টি দই) is a sweet fermented Dahi (yogurt). It’s a favorite dessert all around the country. Milk and sugar/jaggery are the main ingredients for Mishti Doi. The processes used in its creation set it apart from plain yogurt.
Mishti Doi is made by thickening milk with brown sugar or khejur gura (date molasses), then fermenting it overnight. Chatgaiyyas use earthenware as the container for manufacturing mitha doi. The slow evaporation of water through its porous sides thickens the Mishti Doi.
Atikka pitha
Pithas (Bengali: পিঠা) are a kind of Bengali dish that is comparable to pancakes or dumplings. Traditional Atikka pitha from Chittagong is sweet or savory and prepared with steamed cooked rice. Then the rice is shaped with a mixture of sugar, milk, and some spices. Lastly, Kola Pata (banana leaves) are then used to wrap them. They’re usually consumed as a snack or treat on special occasions.
Jorda
After every meal at any gathering or event in Chittagong, it is traditional to provide sweets. Who doesn’t want something sweet before and after a feast? Jorda is a dessert that is both tasty and comforting. Jorda (Bengali: জর্দা) is a boiled sweet rice dish that Chatgaiyyas traditionally offers at weddings and other occasions such as Eid.
Jorda is delicious since it’s warm, not too sweet, and well prepared. Rice and food coloring are the main ingredients in this tasty dessert. Chatgaiya’s uses a variety of spices and components to give it a pleasant and unique flavor. They also use Saffron, milk, sugar, and flavors with cardamoms, raisins, pistachios, or almonds.
Chattogram, or Chittagong, has a diverse culture based on the beautiful Chatgaiya language, the people’s legendary hospitality, drama, literature, weddings, and so on. To speak of its inherent beauty is just an exaggeration. So many things here can calm your mind and make you feel lovely.