Where is the malai in malaikari?

If you make a list of dishes that Bengalis would swear by, prawn malaikari would definitely be near the top of the list. It might even be at the very top if your participants are Ghotis. It is almost a matter of racial pride that goes with that dish. Die hard fans of Mohun Bagan would make it a point to celebrate with that dish whenever they would beat East Bengal. It is almost synonymous to some people's culinary racial identity.

Having observed all the pride and tradition associated with that dish, let us ask a few simple questions:

1. Where is the malai in the malaikari?

The word malai  means cream in Bengali. However, there is no malai added to this fabled dish. One can argue that coconut milk is added to it and milk and cream are related. Another argument could be the creamy texture of the dish that it is supposed to have. However, both seem quite far fetched and become even more improbable when we look them together with the second point.

2. Why kari/curry?

Despite the existence of opinion that relates curry to the french verb  cuire (to cook) and some early mention of the word with a different meaning and context, it is safe to assume that the word originates from the Tamil word kari, especially when you look at the usage of the word in culinary verbiage. Now, let us ask if there is a single other dish in Bengali cuisine that is called kari. Other than some mentally and linguistically challenged people who take pride in anglicizing their diction, no self-respecting Bengali calls any other dish a curry. The only usage is a conglomerate tarkari which is a possibly combination of  Persian tarah and Tamil kari. And the usage is limited to mean vegetables or nondescript preparations of vegetables. Preparations that are adored are things like jhaal, jhol, ghonto, daalna, chorchori, chhenchki, and so on and so forth. 

3. Is there any other Bengali dish that has a construction similar to the dish in question?

In my limited exposure, I have not come across another Bengali dish that is similar to malaikari. 

The dish malaikari  nonetheless should be familiar to people who have been exposed to the global cuisine. Have you noticed that star anise, although not used commonly, fits perfectly if added to a malaikari? Where else do we see such dishes? Curries made with onion, ginger, garlic, coconut cream, cinnamon, star anise? Of course, the peninsula of Malay! 

Don't feel too heartbroken if your racial culinary pride is hurt. That is the glory of human civilization and culture. The continuous mixing, the adaptations, the reincarnations of one's tradition in another land. 

Acknowledgment: Devapriya Chattopadhyay

The possibly not so Mughal (hi)story of Mughlai Parota

Disclaimer: This post does not claim to be a research article. This is just an attempt to analyze the facts that we know and connect the dots.




Mughlai Parota or Moglai Parota is one of fabled snacks of Kolkata. The word Mughlai evidently declines to Moglai owing the the Bengali accent. Hence, one of the first and obvious guesses about the origin of Moglai Parota leads us to the Mughals whose rich cuisine have had deep and penetrating impact on the Indian cuisine.

I did a simple experiment. I searched for Mughlai paratha in a few traditional Mughal strongholds, using Google of course.

Let us analyze the results that omniscient Google returned.

For Delhi, the first set of results point us to the CR Park area which is an area populated by Bengali migrants. The results do not lead to any traditional Mughal joints.

For Lucknow, the results seem to point towards the "ulte tawa ki paratha" or the thin parathas cooked on top of a inverted kaRhai and not what Bengalis or Calcuttans call Moglai Parota.

Agra does not take us anywhere near the Calcutta Moglai Parota either.

Now let us look at Calcutta. Every other person will have a favorite joint of their own for this dish, and you will observe that none of these favorite places that people swear on for their Moglai Parota fix are Mughal cuisine joints. If it is an older joints, most likely it will be a so called "cabin" where the other dishes on the menu would be variants of breaded deep fried stuff, some stews, etc., stuff that are predominantly influenced by Continental cuisine. If it is a relatively younger establishment, chances are that it would be one of the places serve kati rolls, griddle tossed noodles, etc. But in any case, it would not be a Mughal restaurant. None of the Mughal restaurants in Calcutta, the likes of Shiraz, Arsalan, etc. serve this dish.

Let us now take a closer look at the architecture and anatomy of the Moglai Parota. It is a made out a dough that is rich in oil. The dough ball is then stretched by swirling while holding while holding it at one end. It is not rolled out. The stretching is a result of centrifugal force acting on the glutinous dough. The filling is then poured on (usually a mixture of egg, minced meat, onion, and spices). The four sides are folded over the filling to make a square parcel. The parcel is the shallow fried on a thick iron griddle. I have not come across this cooking technique in Mughal cuisine in my limited experience.

Bengali Moglai Parota before frying. Photo sourced from internet

We should now look around a bit beyond our geography. There are eerily similar dishes that are  popular and mainstay of a large and populous part of the world. I am talking about South-East Asia. Specifically, I mean the area starting from Arakan coast of Burma (just south of Chittagong) to the Malay Peninsula. The dishes that you get there have various names. In Arakan it is called Palotta, Murtabak, and Roti Canai (and other variations of Roti Prata) in Malay Peninsula. The similarity between these and the Moglai Parota is rather striking. From the construction to the anatomy and the cooking technique is exactly the same. Some variants do not have the stuffing, but they still fold it into a square parcel. The fillings are varied as well, from savory to sweet. But, at the fundamental level, these guys are all the same.

Here is a video of a Burmese joint in New York: Burmese Palata in New York

Roti telur. Photo sourced from internet

Murtabak. Photo sourced from internet

Now, to end this rambling and let your imagination get to work, let me add a couple of interesting facts. Portuguese influence on Bengali cuisine (a story for another day) is undeniable and irrevocable. Portuguese have long been involved with the people from Arakan coast in trading slaves. Calcutta was one of the main centers of that trade. And, many of you already are aware that the inhabitants of the Arakan coast are called the Mog.

So, the Moglai Parota could possibly be Mog-lai, and not Mughlai after all.