Bengali sweets are known to be subtle in flavour and light on the bhuri (belly/ tummy). For me it’s a lot about memories too.
Our go to place for mishti in Mumbai for years has been Sweet Bengal, be it for gifting to fellow Bengalis, to non Bengali friends or for chomping on the mishti oneself.
Recently Anjan da (Anjan Chatterjee), the owner of Sweet Bengal, messaged me saying he would like to send me some mango mishti to try.
What you see on the plate is some of what he sent:
1. The green Sandesh that you see is unripe mango Sandesh. It took me back to my childhood in Kolkata. I am not sure why. Perhaps because it reminded me of the green mango Kissan/ Dippy’s/ Druk squash one used to have as a kid. Or the green mango drink I had at Paramount when I was a student of Presidency College. Or the green mango baraf gola one had at Ralli’s at Lindsay Street after catching a matinee at New Empire or Lighthouse.
2. The mango filling in the yellow coloured aam bhora sondesh reminded me of the mango toffee one used to have as kids. Ravalgaon perhaps? Or maybe the summer favourite mango squash of Kissan.
3. The mango pot held a pleasant surprise. There were tiny rasgullas below the thick mango flavoured kheer (Bengali for rabri). This brought back memories of a birthday party in my first year of college where they had served a sweet called Amrapali/ Amravati from Ganguram. That was white in colour and had had pista strewed across. I had 3 cups that day. I was 18 and thin as a rake!
4. The moment I saw the aam doi, I remembered my mom in law and her love for the Sweet Bengal mishti doi and for Alphonso. We often stop at the Sweet Bengal shop at Mahim to pick up mishti doi for her when we go to her place.
I am going to buy a box of mangoes from Lalu’s at Pali Market and send it to her along with the doi.
Anjan da, you wanted to know how I found the sweets, but I am going to reverse the statement and say that I found many memories in them and thanks for that!
#gifted
[mishti, indian sweets, Bengali sweets, mishti doi, ras malai, mango]
What’s your favourite fruit to based mishti/ mithai?