How to Plan the Perfect Bengali Wedding Menu: From Starters to Sweets
From starters to desserts, explore the ultimate Bengali wedding menu packed with authentic flavors!
Catering: Knocksense
A Bengali wedding is more or less like a Hindu wedding, with all the pre and post-wedding rituals that are a must. But when you compare the food, there is a massive difference in the food menus of both weddings. While the emphasis on food is the same, the dishes have no commonality. Bengalis have an eternal love affair with food, and nothing can stop them from ensuring their weddings have a lip-smacking assortment of food choices.
If you’re a Bengali, you’d know how crazy the food discussions can get, but for those unaware of how detailed the menu might be, let us help you figure it all out. The Bengali food can often be compared to a multi-starrer film with too many actors, but the protagonist manages to outshine them all. With the Bengali food menu at weddings, the protagonist has to be the fish, while all the other dishes manage to make their mark despite being overshadowed by the star power of the protagonist.
Therefore, our list of Bengali food menu items at weddings ensures that all the dishes are perfectly combined.
Table of Content:
- How to Create a Traditional Bengali Wedding Food Menu
- Starters & Snacks
- Vegetarian Bengali Food Main Course
- The Non-Vegetarian Bengali Food Main Course
- Must-Have Bengali Desserts
How to Create a Traditional Bengali Wedding Food Menu
Catering: Aharadi Catering
In traditional Bengali weddings, you don’t see separate chaat stations, Indo-Chinese influence or self-serve counters. Instead, once the meet and greet has taken place with the bride and groom, all guests proceed towards the dining hall pandal, where they all sit and get served courses of traditional Bengali dishes one by one. So, if you wish to plan a conventional sit-down Bengali wedding food menu, here's a simple breakdown of factors to consider.
- Starters: Smaller portions of fried foods with Cholar Dal and Dum Aloo so guests don’t feel fuller with just the starter snacks.
- Blend of Flavours: Mix spicy, sweet and savoury options.
- Preparation Variety: There are different kinds of preparations, from deep-fried, grilled, and BBQ to slow-cooked curries.
- Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Options: When selecting fish and meat, emphasize ample vegetarian options as well. Bengali cuisine offers a variety of delicious vegetarian starter and main course options.
- Meat Selection: Fish like Betki and Basa are essential in every Bengali wedding food menu. Bengalis also prefer and enjoy mutton preparations over chicken dishes. In short, add more variety of fish and mutton options to the menu with fewer chicken dishes.
- Chutneys: Seasonal sour, savoury, tangy, and sweet chutneys are a condiment you can’t miss. Add tomato chutney, dates chutney, raw papaya chutney, and pineapple chutney to your list.
- Drinks: Traditional drinks include Indian coolers like Aam Panna, Doi Er Sharbat (a yoghurt-based drink), tea and coffee.
- Desserts: Traditionally, an assortment of dairy-based Mithai is served as desserts.
- Mukhshuddhi: A variety of Paan is a must to conclude a Bengali traditional food wedding menu.
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Starters & Snacks
Guests line up at the Puchka counter, guided by how they like their chaat to be prepared. Next, hot plates sizzling with fish tikkas and chowmein woks are getting tossed and doused with vinegar and green chilly - that’s the vision to behold for starters and snacks in the Bengali food corner menu for the wedding. Here’s a list of dishes you can get your guests started on at your wedding party.
Traditional Starters & Snacks
- Gandhoraaj Fish Tikka: The locally caught freshwater fish is marinated in spices, with citrusy Gandhoraaj lime juice as the prime flavour ingredient, grilled to smokey perfection.
- Macher Chop: Freshwater fish lightly marinated in spices, breaded, deep-fried and served with Kasundi.
- Dimer Devil: Also known as 'egg devil', this starter includes a whole boiled egg encased in a thick layer of spiced mashed potato, breaded and deep fried.
- French Fries: Fried regional potatoes tossed in chaat masala and served with ketchup.
- Radhaballabhi: Urad daal and masalas stuffed with wholewheat puris rolled flat, fried, and then served with chickpea curry.
- Koraishutir Kochuri: Baking flour flat-rolled puris filled with minced green peas are deep-fried and served with chutney, dum Aloo gravy, or Cholard.
- Cholar Dal is a Bengal gram lentil preparation with a thick gravy consistency and the added flavours of cashew, red dry chillies, and sliced fresh coconut tadka. It is served with kachori and puri.
- Beguni: Thinly slice eggplant dipped in a batter of gram flour and deep-fried till crisp.
Non-Traditional Starters & Snacks
- Puchka, or Fuchka, are deep-fried hollow shells made with wholewheat or suji flour. They are filled with boiled potatoes, chickpeas, chopped onions, coriander, and a watery concoction of tamarind chutney, mint, coriander, and masalas.
- Mixed Pakoras: Fritters from seasonal vegetables are dipped in besan batter and deep-fried. They are served with mint and coriander chutney.
- Papri Chaat: Delhi-style yoghurt-based chaat that includes soft moong-dal deep-fried balls and flat papri wafers topped with dollops of creamy thick yoghurt, boiled chickpeas and tamarind-coriander chutneys.
- Chicken Lollipop: This Indo-Chinese dish includes chicken drumsticks marinated in Chinese sauces and lots of garlic. They are then battered in baking flour and deep-fried for a crunchy appetizer.
- Paneer Tikka: Cottage cheese or paneer cubes marinated with chunks of capsicum, tomatoes, and onions are barbequed in a tandoor and served hot with mint chutney.
- Cheese Balls: Pieces of mozzarella or cheddar cheese tucked inside balls made of seasoned mashed potatoes, deep fried and served with ketchup.
- Chowmein: The Indian desi version of Chinese noodles includes lots of veggies, an extra amount of Chinese sauces, salt, pepper, and seasoning. It is tossed in a wok and served hot.
Vegetarian Bengali Food Main Course
Catering: The Wander Therapy
Like other regions of India, Bengal and Bengali food rely heavily on local produce and staple foods to prepare various dishes. Here’s a list of vegetarian main course dishes prepared with the freshest local produce for a Bengali wedding.
- Mochar Ghonto: Red banana blossoms cooked in mustard oil, aromatic spices, and potato are garnished with grated coconut and sliced green chillies. This dish is served with steamed rice.
- Bengali Labra: All the seasonal vegetables are diced and cooked in dry spices and coconut paste till thick and mushy. This recipe doesn't include onions and garlic.
- Shukto: The Bong version of a vegetable stew flavoured with mild spices and milky coconut curry paste served with rice.
- Dum Aloo: Usually loved with a serving of Luchi, this tangy curry is made with small potatoes, a base of onions and tomato and essence of mustard oil.
- Lal Shak Bhaja: A winter speciality, this side dish is made with red Amaranth or Saag cooked dry in very light spices.
- Mattar Paneer: The OG vegetarian dish of Northern India, this gravy includes cubes of paneer and fresh green peas in a tomato and onion soupy gravy base. It can be eaten with all kinds of Indian bread and rice.
- Potoler Dorma: This summer-special green vegetable is prepared by stuffing pointed gourds with a filling of Chholar Dal, coconut, peanuts, mustard oil, ginger paste, and spices. It is then cooked in a gravy of cashews, dry spices, mustard, yoghurt, and potatoes.
- Khichuri: It is a fragrant amalgamation of rice and lentils with a choice of simple vegetables, best enjoyed with chutneys, papads, and pakoras.
- Mishti Pulao: The regular pulao gets a Bong upgrade with turmeric-infused yellow rice, peas, carrots steamed till fully cooked and then garnished with ghee-roasted cashews and raisins.
- Naan Puri (Bengali cousin of Bhature): Puffed bread made of white flour
- Chilli Phulkopi (Cauliflower): A relatively new addition to a Bengali wedding menu but quite a popular dish is Chilli Cauliflower cooked with red chilli and soya sauce
- Chholar dal with coconut and Beguni: An inevitable food item in a Bengali wedding menu is split chickpeas with coconut pieces. This is usually served with Beguni or battered and deep-fried eggplants
- Chhanar Daalna or Cottage cheese Kofta curry: Homemade soft cottage cheese balls mixed with Bengali spices added into a curry- this vegetarian dish is exceptionally flavourful and mouth-watering in equal parts.
- Echorer Daalna: Raw jack-fruit curry cooked with Bengali spices and chillies.
- Paneer Rezala: An extremely beloved dish that’s a must-add on a Bengali food menu. The paneer curry is cooked with poppy seeds, curd and cashew paste.
The Non-Vegetarian Bengali Food Main Course
Regarding non-vegetarian Bengali food, the emphasis is on fish and goat mutton dishes. And with various cooking techniques, each dish represents its unique flavours. Let’s look at different non-vegetarian Bengali food main course options you can shortlist for your wedding celebrations.
Fish-Based Bengali Food Main Course
- Bhetki Macher Paturi: This dish is prepared by lathering Bhetki fish fillet in a batter of yoghurt, poppy seeds, mustard seeds, grated coconut, green chillies, turmeric powder and salt. The marinated fish is then wrapped in banana leaves and steam-cooked.
- Shorshe Ilish: Hilsa or Illish fish cooked in a gravy with dominating mustard oil and paste flavours. It is garnished with green slit chillies and served with rice.
- Koi Macher Jhol: This winter special Koi fish is marinated in salt and turmeric, shallow-fried, and then added to a gravy base of tempered nigella seeds and mustard paste.
- Ilish Paturi: Boneless Hilsa fish fillet wrapped in a plantain leaf and steamed in mustard paste.
- Chingri Malay Curry: Tiger prawns cooked with tomato paste and coconut milk.
- Doi Rui: Fish curry cooked in curd. This one is another super favourite among Bong foodies.
Mutton-based Bengali Food Main Course
- Kosha Mangsho: Goat's meat is cooked in an onion, tomato, ginger, and garlic base and is slow-cooked to get a semi-dry rich gravy. It is served with porotas and pulao.
- Mutton Biryani: The speciality of the Bengali style of biryani is not the mutton but the addition of a boiled potato—slow-cooked chunks of marinated mutton, basmati rice, potato and aromatic spices.
- Mangshor Jhol: This pressure cooker-cooked mutton curry is prepared in a greasy onion, ginger garlic paste, spices and yoghurt-based gravy with potato in attendance and garnishing of slit green chillies and julienne ginger. It is most loved with steamed rice.
- Mutton Rogan Josh: For something unique to add to your Bengali wedding menu, try the Kashmiri-style slow-cooked mutton curry prepared with fatty meat chunks for the Rogan, red Kashmiri chillies, aromatics, and a yoghurt-saffron milk base.
- Mutton Chaap: Slow-cooked spicy mutton ribs…what’s not to love?
Chicken-based Bengali Food Main Course
- Chicken Rezala: An extremely beloved dish that’s a must-add to a Bengali Wedding Menu, this chicken curry is cooked with poppy seed paste, curd, and cashew paste. It's rich, scrumptious, and an absolute stunner.
- Posto Murgi is chicken cooked in poppy seed paste and green chillies. This delectable yet healthy dish is a must on any Bengali food menu.
Must-Have Bengali Desserts
You will forget ice cream and cakes when you indulge in fragrant Bengali desserts for all kinds of celebrations. Here are all the Mishti dishes that Bengalis love having at weddings.
- Laal Mishti Doi: Slow-cooked full-cream milk with sugar or jaggery that is slow-stirred for hours to achieve caramelised flavour. It is set and chilled in earthen pots for umami flavours.
- Bhapa Sandesh: Call it cottage cheese fudge, sweetened with sugar or jaggery. It is steamed until soft and then garnished with saffron milk for added colour and flavour.
- Roshogolla: No one can resist these milky, spongy, syrup-soaked dumplings made of chhena (ricotta) and semolina flour, sweetened in sugar-cardamom syrup.
- Payesh: The Bengali version of rice pudding includes a higher ratio of milk to rice. It is a slow-cooked warm rice, sugar, milk, and cardamom pudding garnished with saffron milk and ghee-roasted dry fruits.
- Pantua: A semolina, chhena, and milk solids dough deep-fried in ghee and then soaked in a syrup of sugar, cardamom powder, and rose water.
- Komolo Bhog: To the dough of chhena and semolina, all-purpose flour, orange food colour, saffron, and orange essence are added. The dough is rolled into balls with a stuffing of Khoya or milk solids, sugar, and orange essence. The balls are then cooked in boiling sugary water syrup until they turn soft and spongy.
- Rajbhog: Balls of milk solids and paneer are cooked and soaked in saffron-sugar syrup. These are stuffed with mawa, saffron strands, almonds and cashews.
So, what do you think of our Bengali food menu for weddings? While the perfect menu has way too many dishes and options, our list has the ones that are impossible to miss at any Bengali wedding. They aren’t just dishes everyone loves, but ones as significant as the celebration and, therefore, almost impossible to miss.
