Last weekend, on my drive back from the desert, I took a long detour and went grocery shopping at Aladin in LA. That is the only place where I get some authentic Bengali/ Bangladeshi ingredients - like fragrant gawa ghee, bori, tal misri, kuler achaar (sweet and spicy jujube pickle), Bengal Delta's fresh water fish, good quality young mutton, sweets, and special rice. I did not buy any fish and mutton this time, but I did buy two 8lb bags of kalijeera rice, they will last me years, I think.This long post is about rice. (For a general introduction to rice, read this. For a treatise on aromatic rice, check this 300-page document)
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| Kalijeera Rice (mis-labeled as Gobindobhog) |
Basmati is the most popular Indian rice variety here in the US, it is ubiquitous these days. It is long grained and sometimes (depending on the brand) quite fragrant. It is great for pulao or in biriyani too. Being flakey, it feels great to have with dal or curries. But it does not do well with khichdi, neither does the other short grained rice (e.g. calrose) varieties. I find basmati khichdi to be very dry and not tasty at all. Khichdi has to have a flowing texture along with a granular feel in the mouth that matches the softness of the pulse (lentil) used. Both the rice and the pulse need to be in sync in their texture and feel and "bitiness" (I may have coined a new word here!). Basmati cannot do that, it becomes too soft and breaks before the lentils get done. Also, it is a dry variety and does not do good with the fluidity a khichdi requires. Other short grained rice available in the market becomes too soft. Millet, on the other hand, does well in khichdi and is a great substitute for rice in a khichdi.
I have been craving for good old Gobindobhog rice, that is very popular in Bengal. It is a very particular variety that we used back home for many rice dishes, like moori ghonto, payesh, etc. For all religious festivals, this rice was used for the cooked offerings, be it a savory dish or a sweet dish. Gobindobhog does really well with khichdi. Back home we typically would go to the local grocer and buy 500gms of rice, which he'd give us in a paper thonga tied with jute thread. (Oh the beautiful memories of a pre-plastic era!) Gobindobhog is not available in the US. Over the last decade or so, every time I went to India, I'd bring back a 500gms bag (yes, plastic bag) of that rice and use it sparingly, feeling extremely sentimental every time I used it. So I have been looking for a replacement. Our Indian grocers in San Diego had Kalijeera from Bangladesh, in 2lb bags. I have experimented with this rice for a few months and like it. It does not have the fragrance of Gobindobhog, but it is a better substitute than Basmati. It definitely has similar size as Gobindobhog and cooks at the same rate. Excellent for khichdi.
Kali in Bengali means black, and jeera means cumin. The rice is called such because in its hulled form, the rice looks like black cumin seeds. Once the hull/husks are removed, the little grains look more like sesame seeds, just plumper. This rice is good, but not as brilliant as Gobindobhog. I hope that one day the West Bengal government will see some benefit is creating an export channel for the delicious Gobindobhog rice and we can buy it here in the US, and get to relive our fond food memories.
Hi soma. Thanks for this blog. I was trying to figure out whether kalijeera is same as gobindobhog as I wanted to make a specific biryani/tehri dish requiring kalijeera which is not available in western India. I wanted to try and substitute it with gobindobhog but I fear the biryani will have the strong rice flavour after reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteDear Aditya:
DeleteIf you have the real authentic Gibindobhog, it will have a sweet fragrance, similar to the "bhoger khichuri" you probably remember from your childhood. Kalijeera, however, does not have that fragrance. The texture is very similar.
Lately I have been looking at Ponni Rice, which is a variety developed by Tamil Nadu in 1986, and the texture is similar to Kalijeera, no aroma, slightly larger sized grains, but nowhere as long as Basmati. You can also try Sona Masoori rice.
I'd say, try gobindobhog and see if it works for you! It may taste even better with that aroma.
Hi,
DeleteI m from Tamilnadu and before Basmati became popular Biryani was always made with what we call as " Jeeraga Samba" rice. My husband just got a pack of this kalijeera rice and the chicken biryani came out awesome. Although I did notice it was a tad less fragrant compared to what we used to eat it back home. So I would definitely give it a thumbs up to make Biryani.
Dear Sathiya:
DeleteI'm so glad you had a good experience with Kalijeera for your biriyani. Of course, it is not as aromatic as Gobindobhog, but it is quite nice. I also use Sona Masoori at times, I like the small grains when I want that texture. As for regular rice, I recently discovered Ponni, from Tamil Nadu. It seems that this rice was engineered by the TN govt., to help the "common man" get good rice at decent price. Well, here is the US, the rice costs as much as Sona Masoori, but the grains are smaller in size. I made saffron rice with it as well as lemon rice, both tasted really nice!
Hi ,I just ordered a bag of Kaljeera rice from Amazon.It will be delivered soon.I was under the impression that Gobindobhog was the same as Kajeera. Which rice in your opinion is better to eat for example with fish?
ReplyDeleteBlessings.
ReplyDeleteKalujeera rice is way better than Gobindobhog. Especially in terms of fragrance. Chinigura rice is even better than Kalujeera.
ReplyDeleteHi. I want to make Basanti pulao and payesh for my baby’s birthday here in the US, but I didn’t find Gobindobhog anywhere. Can you suggest a good substitute for making Basanti pulao? Should I go for kalijeera rice or jeerasamba rice or any other variety which will give a good fragrance and come closer to the Gobindobhog rice fragrance please? Thanks in advance
ReplyDelete