Celebrate Navarathiri with this 'unsavoured pujo menu'

CHENNAI: Chennai is all geared up to celebrate Navarathiri and many houses in the city are decked up with golu dolls and eye-catching decorations. To add more to the festive spirit, the Mustard Restaurant at the Pharos Hotel has introduced a new menu to celebrate the festival with Bengali essence.

Cooked by a team of Bengali chefs and curated by chef Rajan, this new menu will be served in the restaurant till October 24 as a tribute to goddess Durga.

“Pujo festival is all about celebrating and highlighting the rich culinary heritage of the country. We have a few traditional dishes which are the heart of Bengali cuisine,” Rajan states.

“Pujo festival is all about memories, and emotions and it is the homecoming of goddess Durga. These home-style foods adds more authenticity to the festive fervours,” he adds.

The restaurant serves wholesome dishes representing the cuisine, providing an equal number of variations in veg and non-veg. The most delectable feature that attracted us on the menu is their pujo festival platter. Chef Rajan clarified saying that Bengalis refer to this as platter and not thali. They have a few customisation options too.

The pujo festival platter consists of morog pulao, which is juicy and delicious chicken pulao. Next comes the chanda maaccher roast, a perfectly-cooked fried pomfret. One of our favourites on the platter is their mangshor jhol. A mutton curry with an apt amount of flavours and butter-like mutton pieces. It makes a good pair with the chicken pulao as well as steamed rice. Dal, begun bhaja and tomato chutney are also part of it. Rosogulla tops the list for its subtle and exquisite taste. The veg variation includes green peas pulao, steamed rice, alur dum, bhaja mooge dal and chor chori, followed by begun bhaja, tomato chutney and rosogulla.

In the starters, mutton pantheras, which is the spicy minced mutton, rolled inside a thin sheet of egg, and coated with breadcrumbs is a must-try.

Apart from this, crispy prawn, made with malabar spinach called the chingrir and laal pui shaket bora is also a good bite. It should be highlighted that the veg options are no less in flavours when eaten alongside the non-veg options.

For those wishing to try this exclusive 'Navarathiri pujo' menu, visit Mustard Restaurant, Nungambakkam, as the menu will be open till October 24.