An assignment on

“An International Cuisine”

Course: Commercial cookery

Assignor: Zumman Bin Khaleq

Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management
Victoria University of Bangladesh

Assignee: Md Nazmul Haque Parash

Program- BTHM
ID: 150813161
Batch: 13th

Department of Tourism And Hospitality Management

Victoria University of Bangladesh

Date of submission
30 October 2008
Cuisine
Cuisine (from French cuisine, "cooking; culinary art; kitchen"; ultimately
from Latin coquere, "to cook") is a specific set of cooking traditions and
practices, often associated with a specific culture. A cuisine is primarily
influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. For
example, the American-Chinese dish chop suey clearly reflected the
adaptation of Chinese cuisine to the ingredients available in North America.
Religious food laws can also exercise a strong influence on cuisine. For
example, Indian cuisine is characterized by its wide varieties of vegetarian
dishes because Hinduism discourages consumption of meat.

A regional cuisine is a coherent tradition of food preparation that rises from

the daily lives and kitchens of a people over an extended period of
time in a specific region of a country and which has notable
distinctions from the cuisine of the country as a whole. Some
examples of great regional variance can be seen in the cuisines of
France, Italy, Mexico, India and China among others.

The cuisine of Bangladesh has considerable regional variations.A staple

across the country however is rice and various kinds of lentil, which is
locally known as dal (sometimes written as daal) & fish. As a large
percentage of the land (over 80% on some occasions) can be under water,
either intentionally because of farming practices or due to severe
climatological, topographical or geographical conditions, not surprisingly
fish features as the major source of protein in the Bangladeshi diet. There is
also a saying which goes, "Mach-e-Bhat-e-Bangali" (Fish and rice make a
Bengali)Another integral part of Bangladeshi cuisine is beef, presence of
which is a must in most of the feasts and banquets across the country,
though consumption of beef is prohibited for minority Hindus. Regional
feasts such as Mezbaan of Chittagong, Ziafat of Sylhet/Comilla or Dawat of
Dhaka will remain incomplete without serving hot beef.

Now I want to tell you about a Bangladeshi legend cuisine

“Bakarkhani”.
 “BAKARKHANI”
History
Dhakai Bakarkhani,(same as Bakerkhani) the traditional food/snack of the
people of old Dhaka was so famous for its quality and taste that there was
great demand of it in the Royal court of the Mughal Empire in Delhi.
Muslims of Turkic and Afghan origin were first to arrive in India and
brought with them ‘tandoor’ and ‘naan’ to the local culinary. Mughal’s
arrival in 16th century introduced ‘shirmal’ a kind of soft bread.

Baking Methods
In the past, the bakarkhaniwalas (bread-makers) used to lit up tandoor after
midnight to bring out product by morning. Bakarkhani dough of white flour
and mawa thoroughly mixed and kneaded for hours before stretching thin by
hand over the entire span of wooden board. Then after spreading ghee over
it, flour is strewn on. It was folded and process repeated several times. After
sizeable numbers of such small dough are ready, they are made into roti on
the board and sesame (teel) seeds are spread on it. The rotis are then put
inside the tandoor. During the process of baking, pure milk is sprinkled on
them twice. This is the story of making pure bakarkhanis. But now in place
of ghee and milk, molasses solution is added so that the bread turns reddish.’

Dhakai style
Hakim Habibur Rahman in his book “Dhaka pachash barash pahley”
published in the 1940’s gives a detail account of the variety of original food
items of Dhaka and its preparation. He said, the unique feature of Dhaka was
that though rice is the staple food, the varieties of 'roti' (bread) available
were simply amazing and every roti has a history and ancestry of its own.
Shirmal has basic ingredients of flour and semolina (suji), Persian
background, it was soft and thick, whereas, Bakarkhani made of white flour
and ‘mawa’ is thin, crisp and melts down in mouth, it is known as ‘sukha
ruti’.

Other Types of Bakarkhani

Cheese bakarkhani was another delicacy. In every fold, instead of ghee and
flour ‘mohanbhog’ mishti or semolina (suji) halwa was used. These breads
known as ‘bhigaroti or bhijaroti’ are sent on ‘dalas’ (high rim trays) dipped
in creamy milk with almond and raisins from the house of the bride to the
groom as part of a traditional matrimonial ritual. Soon other men joined in
this trade, bidding goodbye to quality and hygiene of the food and this
business came to an end.

The Legend of Bakarkhani

Nazir Hossain, a local of Dhaka gives an interesting story about naming of
Bakarkhani in his book “Kingbadantir Dhaka.” The story goes in 1700 A.D.
when Murshid Quli Khan came to eastern Bengal after obtaining the title
‘Dewan’ (chief officer), he brought along with him Aga Bakar Khan as a
small boy. Aga Bakar grew up as a great warrior and during the reign of
Nawab Shiraj-ud-Doula held a crucial role in the then Bengal politics. Aga
Bakar was appointed the commander of military forces in the Chittagong
district and his amour was a 'nartaki' (dancer) of Arambag called ‘Khani
Begum’. However, Ujir-e-ala (minister) Jahandar Khan’s wicked son
Kotwal Jainul Khan also had an eye for Khani Begum. One day jainul Khan
attempted to take away Khani Begum by force. Learning this Aga Bakar
went hastily for her rescue. There was a fight and Jainul Khan fled. A
rumour spread that after assassinating Jainul, Aga Bakar had hidden his dead
body. Both Khani Begum and Aga Bakar were arrested and taken to
Murshid Quli’s court. As neutral judge Murshid Quli Khan gave the death
sentence to Aga Bakar and put in the cage of a tiger. He fought valiantly
with the animal for his life and eventually succeeded in killing it and escape.
On the other hand, Jainul abducted Khani and fled to the forests of South-
East Bengal. In search of Khani Begum, Aga Bakar Khan headed towards
‘Chandradip’ accompanied by his commander Kala Gazi. When Jainul saw
that he had no hope for survival he plunged his sword into Khani Begum's
chest and Aga Bakar reached the spot only to find his beloved dying. After
the death of Khani Begum, Aga Bakar almost lost his mind. He stayed in
Chandradip which he eventually took under his possession besides
Selimabad and Buzurg Umidpur (Bakarganj named after Baker presently in
Barisal). On Murshid Quli Khan’s order, Aga Bakar had to wed to a
respectable Shia family who gave birth to two sons Aga Sadek and Mirza
Mehdi. Aga Baker was subsequently killed in a battle by his conspirators;
his mutilated body was buried in old Dhaka in the field Aga Sadeq Maidan.
Though Aga Bakar got married, he never forgot Khani Begum, and this he
proved by naming the specially prepared bread 'bakar-khani' roti thus
making his love a part of legend.

Conclusion
Bangladeshi cuisine is a generic terminology to refer to the cooking-style
and trend now prevalent in Bangladesh. However, there are several regional
variations, in terms of dishes, cooking style, serving style and nomenclature.
In general, for cooking purposes, the administrative divisions more or less
correspond to regional divides as well.As a cosmopolitan city Dhaka has
historically been the capital under Persio-Arabic rulers, Dhaka exhibits a
great deal of Western influence in its cuisine. Dishes involving fried rice and
a lot of meat are usually legacies of Dhaka's past as the capital of Bengali
empires. Much of this is still visible in the old city, where dishes like biriani,
Mughlai porota and bakorkhani are made by speciality stores, many of
which have existed for over a century.

Bangladeshi food is now a staple of the British National Cuisine.