Walk through any bazaar in Dhaka or Sylhet around four in the afternoon and the air tells you everything: mustard oil at frying temperature, green chillies hitting hot batter, the sharp tang of tamarind water. Most of these snacks are built on a handful of everyday ingredients — gram flour, potatoes, lentils, onions — and none need specialist equipment. A deep, heavy pan, a slotted spoon and a thermometer will see you through. What they do demand is attention: fresh batter, oil at the right heat, and seasoning tasted as you go.
Singara — the Bangladeshi cousin of the samosa — is smaller and flakier than most people expect, usually filled with spiced potato and peas. Peyaju (onion fritters) and beguni (aubergine slices in gram flour) are the quickest of the three to master.
For the batter, enough for twelve beguni or twenty peyaju:
The batter should coat the back of a spoon and drip slowly; too thin and it slides straight off. Hold the oil at about 175°C. For peyaju, slice onions finely, salt them for ten minutes, squeeze out the water, then add green chilli and coriander and just enough batter to bind — loose fritters with visible onion are the goal. Fry in batches of four or five so the temperature never drops, and drain on a rack rather than kitchen paper to keep them crisp.
Dal puri is the snack that disappears first at any gathering. Make a firm dough with plain flour, a spoonful of semolina and a little ghee, then rest it covered for thirty minutes. For the filling, simmer chana dal with turmeric until soft but not collapsing, drain it well, and temper with panch phoron, ginger, chilli and a small pinch of sugar. Roll the discs thin, fill, seal carefully and rest again before frying at around 165°C, where they should puff and blister.
Aloo chop works on the same principle. Mash boiled potatoes with fried onion, a little mustard, turmeric, chilli and coriander, shape into balls, dip in gram flour batter and roll in breadcrumbs for extra crunch. Both keep beautifully: fry them early, then refresh in a hot oven for six minutes. Serve with tamarind chutney or a spoon of sharp mustard kasundi.
Chotpoti converts people. Dried yellow peas are soaked overnight, boiled until tender but still holding their shape, and dressed at the last moment. The dressing is everything: soak 50g tamarind pulp in 200ml hot water, strain, then stir in two tablespoons of jaggery or sugar, ½ tsp roasted cumin, ½ tsp black salt and chilli to taste. You want sweet, sour and salty in roughly equal measure.
Build each bowl in layers — peas, cubes of boiled potato, a generous pour of tamarind water, sliced boiled egg, raw onion, coriander, green chilli, and a handful of crushed chanachur or papri for crunch. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and don't stir until the bowl reaches the table, so the crunchy bits stay crunchy.
Puffed rice, or muri, is the fastest route to a Bangladeshi snack. Toast it in a dry pan for two minutes first — this dries it out and keeps it crisp. Then, in a large bowl, toss the warm muri with a teaspoon of mustard oil, chopped onion, green chilli, coriander, roasted peanuts, chanachur, cucumber and a squeeze of lemon. The spice mix is a pinch each of ground roasted cumin, chilli powder, black salt and sugar. Toss hard, serve in paper cones, eat immediately.
Sylhet Spice Table shares practical, down-to-earth guidance on bangladeshi and sylheti cuisine, recipes and dining for readers across the UK.
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