This week's #biobasicslunch plates have been a celebration of our latest launch - Wonderful, traditional specialties of West Bengal.
The soft, fragrant Radha Tilak.
The aromatic, slender Tulaipanji
A beautiful blended rice - a combination of Blended Bengal rices
Our lunch plates as you see
1. Radha Tilak rice served with channa, roasted carrot & beans (garnished with sesame seeds). A spinach, beetroot, peanut butter sandwich on the side.
2. Blended Bengal rices with pumpkin curry, red amaranth thoran, cabbage thoran (Thoran is sautéed greens/veggies with tadka & grated coconut)
3. Tulaipanji Parboiled with banana flower & whole moong thoran, black nightshade greens thoran, a favourite Kerala theeyal (a Kerala gravy made with shallots and roasted coconuts & spices) and peanut chutney powder.
4. Tulaipanji Raw rice made into a pulav with fresh veggies & seasoned with our hand pounded garam masala.
As part of Bio Basics lunch plates we feature traditional lunches with rice and sides, which is a comfort food for most of us in the South of India. We also feature our platters, which are a great option for healthy wholesome lunches for those of us who want to enjoy a small portion of rice along with many sides. Almost all the lunches (a few featured are from friends or customers who use Bio Basics goodies) are cooked and eaten at the home of Devi & Ramesh and every meal that is photographed is eaten. So the photos might sometimes be imperfect, but we can assure you that the meals are real, wholesome and delicious.
More about these rices:
Tulaipanji, one of the rare rices that retains its fragrance even after being parboiled. It is flavoured as a raw rice to make pulavs or ghee rice, etc. While in its parboiled form it is considered an elite table rice. Tulaipanji has received geographic indication for its origins in North Dinajpur in North Bengal. It is an indigenous aromatic/fragrant rice and is supposed to have found mention in ancient Sanskrit scriptures. It derives its name from a Bengali word for aromatic and soft like cotton. Bio Basics Tulaipanji rice comes from a single organic farm in North Dinajpur and processed on the farm.
Radhatilak rice is from Bengal, fragrant, soft, medium size grain, with a buttery taste, this rice is perfect for variety rices and picks up flavours and adds its aroma to the dish. Yet again the name comes from the story that this was flavoured by Radha.
Bio Basics Radhatilak comes from a single organic farm in North Dinajpur. It is processed on the farm naturally. Available and used commonly as raw rice.
Blended Bengal rices, this is a combination of a trio of red-black-brown, Chingruli-red, Dudheswar-brown and Kala baat black. All slender rices with high fibre, anti oxidants and anthocyanins this makes a wonderful combo.
When cooked the rices bleed colour to become a light purple cooked rice.
Bio Basics blended rices comes from a certified organic farmers group, the farmers grow the rices in Nadiad, West Bengal.
This rice was a great option for a platter with a combination of sides. With a piquant taste when cooked this required overnight soaking and cooking.
Curating traditional rices from single origin organic farms and organic farmers groups we are committed to increasing agro biodiversity. That will happen only when we all welcome this diversity into our plates and palates. Reach out to us if you would like to know more about cooking & taste profiles of rices & healthy organic rice/millet platter ideas.
