Luchi with kosha mangsho

When we were small, a lunch or a dinner at somebody’s house was usually a simple affair. We all assembled at a given time; the table was laid out just before the meal was served. We had our meal and then went back home after a decent interval.

These days, a meal is not just what you eat at the table, but all that comes before it. Appetisers are now de rigueur. Drinks may or may not be served before a meal but a tray of canapés is a must. And since we don’t have the concept of hors d’oeuvres, hosts tend to stick to the few safe options: tikkas skewered on to a toothpick with chunks of pineapples, fish fingers, tandoori paneer and so on.

Chicken salami with rice crackers

But the fact that you can do wonders with appetisers became evident to me some days ago when I was talking to Anjan Chatterjee, who owns some 50 restaurants — including the Oh! Calcutta and Mainland China chains. A publishing house was holding a do in Delhi, and had asked Chatterjee to think of Bengali appetisers that would go well with wine. Chatterjee and his men worked on this for more than a month. And they came up with a delicious variety of stuff, which I happily tried out one evening at Oh! Calcutta in New Delhi.

So what is it about an appetiser that makes it different from our regular snacks? For one, they are bite-size canapés, which you can comfortably pick up and eat with one hand, while holding a glass with the other. Two, they can’t be too heavy, because you are going in for a meal after you’ve tried out all the different kinds of canapés on offer. And three, they should look good.

If you’ve eaten Chatterjee’s spinach-wrapped canapé with mustard-coconut flavoured prawns, you’ll know what I am talking about. It looked great — like a sushi, with a ring of rice and spinach wrapped around it like seaweed — and was outstanding.

The prawns had been marinated and mixed with a coconut, mustard and poppy seed paste. Blanched and flattened spinach leaves had been layered with cooked rice. A prawn was placed in the centre. The leaf was rolled, steamed and cut into smaller slices.

I like the way he has twisted Indian favourites to turn them into little canapés. Something that Bengalis love to eat — hot rice with palak and sheem — has been turned into a marvellous roll. He has done something similar with a pumpkin leaf, which he wraps around rice and a bit of hilsa flavoured with mango pickle oil.

Sheem palong paturi sushi

But the most innovative canapé, no doubt, is the one that’s emerged out of a much loved Bengali twosome of luchis — deep-fried puffed bread — and kosha mangsho, or mutton cooked dry with spices over a slow fire. He turns the luchi into a small basket, and then fills it with the mutton fry. You pick up a basket without sullying your fingers, and neatly pop it into your mouth. And it is indeed mouth watering.

What I like about the canapés is not just the thought that’s gone into it but the mixing of flavours. I’ve always enjoyed the bekti paturi at his restaurant, mainly because it comes with a wonderful flavour of Gondhoraj lebu, which is a lime with a scent so heavenly that when you squeeze it over your dal and rice, it seems like ambrosia. One of the canapés is a piece of bread with a blob of Gondhoraj-flavoured bekti on it . The chicken salami and kosha liver on a rice cracker again is a delectable mix of liver curry, cooked in the rich Bengali way, paired with a little sliver of garlicky salami.

Chatterjee tells me that they had a hundred trials before they zeroed in on a menu of Bengali canapés. In my opinion, the hard work was worth it — for it’s a concept that’s here to stay. As for me, I am ready to make a full meal of the canapés.

Gondhoraj bekti on bread (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 10 small cubes of bekti • 100g sour curd • 30g ginger paste • 5g garlic paste • 45g green chilli paste • 4 Gondhoraj limes • salt to taste • 20ml refined oil • 5 slices of white bread

Method:

Squeeze the juice out of the limes. Mix it with half the chilli paste, ginger and garlic paste and salt. Marinate the fish pieces in this for 15 minutes. In a mixing bowl, whip the curd till creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Take the fish out of the marinade and put in the curd mix. Keep for 20 minutes. Place the fish on a steel plate, cover with a banana leaf and steam for 10 minutes. Cut the slices of bread into two pieces. Arrange a fish cube on each piece of bread. Garnish with Gondhoraj rind.