“Dada ami kintu bachte chai!” even after 60 years, this dialogue echoes in the ears of every Bengali cinephile and take us back to a trip down the memory lane to the golden era of the film industry where a migrant from Burma came to Kolkata and left an unerasable mark on not only in the Bengali film industry but also in the hearts of Bengalis. This is enough description to picture the legendary actress Supriya Devi who is not only famous for her excellent acting skills but also her culinary skills that are said to be one of the prime reasons why Uttam Kumar fell in love with her. She truly justified the fact that “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”.
This Padma Shri awardee made her debut with Uttam Kumar starrer Basu Paribar and since then she has delivered critically acclaimed performances in more than 50 films including breath-taking films like Meghe Dhaka Tara, Komal Gandhar, Surya Sikha, Chowringhee and many more. But apart from her extremely captivating acting skills she also left her culinary marks in the Bengali film fraternity. Many personages including Uttam Kumar himself in many interviews or TV shows have praised the extraordinary culinary ability of “Benu Di”. She has well used her cooking skills to host her famous culinary show “Benu Dir Ranna Banna” which aired from 1998-2002 and became immensely popular amongst the Bengali housewives who could seek out different Bengali traditional culinary recipes from the expert culinarian, Benu Di. Later on, after seeing the surged fondness for her show, she published a book named “Benu Dir Ranna Banna” where she has penned down her recipes along with the stories associated with the recipes that elucidate that every recipe of hers is a conveyer of nostalgia and remembrance of the sweet-bitter memories of her life.
When we talk about nostalgia and Bengali traditional food, the only eatery that comes in our mind is Chilekotha which holds the tagline “Flavours of nostalgia”. So this time on the first anniversary of Chilekotha, the owner Deblina Chakraborty–being a movie buff herself has decided to pay a tribute to the most remembered actress by curating a special menu with 10 mouth-watering recipes from her cookbook “Benu Dir Ranna Banna”. This specially curated menu includes Chaap fry (Gauri Devi and songe chaap fry), Supriya chicken which is Supriya devi’s special Dahi chicken, Kaaju chicken (Sanjiv Ji and songe kaaju chicken), Murgi n soup (Choti si Mulakat ar Murgir soup), Mangsher Do-Piyaza (Lahiri Poribar r songe Mangsher Do- Piyaza), Palang Paneer Kopta (Ravi Shankar r songe Palang Paneer Kopta), Chingrir bati charchari, Mulor ombol, Bhapa Kankra and lastly Uttam r priyo kata chachchari which is said to be Mahanayak’s most favourite dish. This menu will not only satisfy your taste buds but will give you a ride to the long lost memory lanes of Benu di’s magic. This special menu will be available till the 21st of February.
So do drop in at Chilekotha to taste “the flavours of nostalgia” with “Benu Dir Ranna Banna”.
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