bengali bazaars

Winter in Bangladesh means harvest season for vegetables – and the markets are bursting with the fresh bounty of the fertile lands. As we traveled through the countryside in the North, we passed perfectly neat square fields of squash, spinach, and eggplant.  A meal in the village is pretty much from the earth straight to your plate.  Back in Dhaka, a trip to the muddy, rowdy fish market offered a glimpse into a staple of the Bengali diet. Bangladesh is basically a giant delta where massive rivers from the Himalayas meet the clear blue Indian ocean at the Bay of Bengal.  As a result, all kinds of fish large and small, as well as the famous prawns, are a part of most meals.

in the village, a sea of cauliflower at the wholesale market

eggplant straight from the fields

tidy plots of veggies and rice

spring onions bundled for delivery

and off to market the shallots go

packing up the morning's cabbage

before it is packed, here's how it arrives from the farm

Bogra is famous for its new potatoes

curry 101: ginger, garlic, chilies, shallots

across the street from the wholesale market, you can buy all the veggies you need

get a couple of kilos of rice

from giant piles

or free range eggs

in the city, the fish market is bustling early in the morning as the catch comes in

so many types...

...that I don't even know all their names

get your fish cut expertly on the bonti - a long flatcurved blade mounted on wood

if you can't get to the market, it comes to your door

finally, sweet plantain-like bananas and coconut

I hope you enjoyed this brief journey through the delicious markets of Bangladesh, and I will not soon forget the memories, the aromas and the people.

Click here for part one of photo-journaling through Bangladesh.

food journal – bangladesh

We recently returned from a visit Bangladesh where we were able to travel a bit around the country.  I have so many food-related memories of that country, from the abundance of vegetables over the winter harvest, to the funky tropical fruits, and the homemade-with-love specialties. Bangladeshi food is similar to north Indian food, but with more of a focus on fish and vegetables than meat or dairy. Here, a photo journal of our travels:

We took a bus from Dhaka to Khulna,  where we boarded a riverboat to travel to the Sundarban mangrove forest.

passing by fields of mustard

this street vendor has everything handy to make jhaal moori: puffed rice with chilies, tomatoes, onions and mustard oil

as the bus waits for the ferry, a vendor offers fresh young coconut

a passenger drinks the sweet, refreshing coconut water

making fresh sugar cane juice

yummy fresh parathas (fried bread) and eggs right off the hot griddle

oranges on the ferry

in khulna, a giant statue of prawn

on board our boat, veggies for our lunch and dinner

rolling down the river eating spinach curry, potatoes and cauliflower, and fresh fried fish

grinding an aromatic masala including cloves and coriander

for breakfast, a light squash curry and flaky luchi bread

sliced starfruit with salt

bangladeshi prawn - not your typical shrimpy shrimp

uniquely bengali food - pakhan pitha, a syrupy and crispy fried cake

the thorns of a date tree are used to make the intricate designs

no bengali meal is complete without dessert. here, thick sweetened homemade yogurt stacked in clay pots

we couldn't decide at the sweets store, so we chose one of each!

Phew! That’s plenty for one post. Next time, I’ll show you some photos from visiting the markets in the countryside.

cheap eats

Another wedding weekend, another full belly.  I met up with Julie to hang out in my old digs, Maryland and specifically Baltimore, to attend a high school friend’s wedding that left us feeling really old.  So of course, we self-medicated with Italian pastries and an assortment of open-air goodies at the farmer’s market.   But first, I’ll tell you a secret.

There is only one place on Earth where the food is as comforting as my mother’s own and which I seek out every time I’m back near DC.  I couldn’t tell you how to get there or where to find it, I only know that once Linda took me there for Korean food many years ago, it’s been a deciding factor into schlepping down to Northern Virginia to visit her. “Hi Linda, I’m coming to visit you – oh, and get tofu stew.”  It’s called Lighthouse Tofu House in Annandale and of course after I moved from Maryland, they open one there, too.  So here’s how it works, you order a tofu stew from the short menu (with vegetable, mushroom, seafood, beef, or pork) and you help yourself to the really refreshing barley iced tea.  Next, you’ll be served a small bowl of cold kimchi soup with some daikon radish, cabbage and jalapeno and you’re going to try really hard not to finish it before everyone else at the table, because it’s amazingly delicious.  Then they’ll serve some panchan: small accompaniments of kimchi, pickled cucumber, bean sprouts, etc.  Lastly, you’ll get a piping hot cauldron filled to the brim with spicy tofu stew.  In an instant, your sinuses will be clear and everything will be extremely lucid.  You then crack your egg into the bowl and bury it under the tofu to poach.  You can add some fresh cooked rice to soak up the rich broth.  Let me assure you, you will not leave this place hungry.  I’m pretty sure the equivalent of an entire tofu block is in a bowl of stew and the more you eat, the more you can not stop, until you’re unbuttoning your pants so you can finish off the bowl.  At the end of it all, cool down with the delicious rice crust left over to soak in some barley tea.  There are other Korean dishes there, but I can not bring myself to have anything else.  And at 10 bucks for the whole meal, you can save your money for tomorrow – because that’s the next time you’ll be hungry again.

Now, Baltimore.  I love Baltimore – there’s a reason it’s called Charm City.  (Although, the charm is not immediately apparent, I understand).  But as a poor student, I have a lot of great food-related memories of a city that fed me well on the cheap.  Once you step away from the tourist trap that is Inner Harbor and explore the neighborhoods, the charm starts to become apparent.  Mount Washington’s creperie is owned by French ex-pats, Federal Hill’s Irish seafood stew will warm you up on a cold winter night, Mount Vernon’s Afghani jewel The Helmand is a heartbeat away from Hamid Karzai, Greektown’s souvlaki gets better one shop to the next, and Little Italy (truly little) has Vaccaro’s.  No matter how late, no dinner in Baltimore is complete without a pit stop at Vaccaro’s for some fresh filled cannoli.  Or in Julie and mine’s case, tiramisu and a chocolate napoleon.  Yes it was midnight and we weren’t even hungry but how can you pass up such sweet deliciousness?  I’m amazed we got the treats home, usually I end up eating everything in the car while still parked outside the shop.

My own corner of Baltimore was Charles Village.  When I wasn’t my usual lazy self, I dragged myself out of bed Saturday mornings over to the Waverly farmer’s market up the street.  In a hardened city where the grocery stores in poor neighborhoods don’t make fresh healthy food a real option, the Waverly farmer’s market offered some hope.  I’d grab some French rolls, a wedge of farmer’s cheese and whatever fruit was in season and shuffle back to my place with a portable breakfast.  If I couldn’t wait, I’d have the mushroom stand’s famous grilled portabella mushroom stuffed into a pita with feta cheese and greens, or the Asian food stand’s fresh mango and sticky rice and steamed shrimp shumai, or the curry shack’s flaky caribbean veggie samosa.  For a humble neighborhood market, it was surprisingly worldly – much like the city itself.  That was Saturday.

mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms!

steamed shrimp shumai and bean buns

caribbean veggie samosas

On Sunday, if I were really inclined to eat well (cheaply) for the rest of the week, I’d haul myself to the city-wide farmer’s market under the JFX expressway.  That behemoth gets thousands of people per weekend and there is no shortage of veggies, fruits, herbs, flowers, baked goods and prepared treats.  So with hours before my flight on Sunday, Julie and I stopped there to sample a bit of everything and cobbled together a delicious breakfast from a hodge-podge of delights.  All my favorite stands were there, plus a donut-maker, a crepe stand (5 dollars for a meal in your hand!) and someplace selling maryland-crab-jambalaya over omelets – how can you go wrong??  After we ate, I grabbed some clover honey, a loaf of sunflower seed bread, and a bag of raisin-studded tea cakes and stuffed them into my luggage to bring some Baltimore goodness back home with me.

under the JFX

over 20 varieties of apples

fresh baked loaves of artisan bread

colorful cauliflower

a rainbow of cherry tomatoes

pumpkins of all shapes

a whole lotta mums

sweet and savory crepes

fresh herbs

real baltimore 'hon (ey)s

to market we go

So I ate my way through New England this weekend.  Not really (yes, sorta!).  Not only did I stuff myself with brie and tomato omelets and cinnamon-y french toast at the B&B we stayed at, but then there was the chocolate-raspberry wedding cake, too!  I wish I had been more hungry, though, because I didn’t get to overindulge in one place I usually do – the farmer’s market!

After a refreshing mountain hike up Gile Mountain, we stopped at the Norwich, VT farmer’s market.  This market was as crisp and cool as the fall New England air!  The fresh cut flowers were cheerful, and the organic smell of wool abounded.  You could pretty much have breakfast, lunch, and pack up dinner here in one stop.  We made room for some homemade sugar donuts (who wouldn’t?) but wished we had room to indulge in the cozy display of fruit cobblers, carrot cake, tea biscuits, and something called ‘chili pie’.  The same elderly couple who fried up our donuts also had a vat of steaming veggie soup and a giant warming dish of pulled pork for sandwiches.

The stall was bordered by this giant wall of jams.  And jellies.  And spreads.  Oh, also, preserves.  And a few sauces.  And dressings.  Plus, pickles.  All homemade?  Of course.  This picture is just a section of the giant wall of condiment heaven.

Amidst the expected (but still comforting) offerings of neat amber rows of maple syrup, and giant cousin-It sized balls of dyed sheep’s wool yarn, was the most popular stall of all.  No, not the wild game freezer with the foreboding biker-proprietor.  Nope, it was the African food stall.  A long line of hungry people waited for their North and West African fare, from crispy hot falafels to an aromatic savory veggie stew over rice.   Apparently, stew is delicious even at 11AM when the spicy smell is too enticing to pass up.

My favorite stall, however, was the pepper pile-up in the back.  Gorgeous, glossy peppers by the bushelfull, spilled out over a table in all different colors and shapes.  If I weren’t so wimpy, I’d be plucking these up and popping them like little nuclear candies.  And so, peppers make way for pumpkins as summer turns to fall – and I’ll be visiting my local farmer’s market again to bring home more fresh fruits of the harvest, and hopefully leave more room for tasting it all.