Poila Baisakh 2025: Experts On Lesser Known Food Traditions

The Bengali New Year, known as Poila Baisakh, or Pohela Boishakh, is a celebration of starting fresh and traditional dishes. Falling on the 15th of April 2025, Poila Baisakh is an opportune moment to explore not just the well-known culinary traditions but also the lesser-known food customs that make this festival truly special. 

From centuries-old family recipes to locally sourced ingredients, the age-old traditions are what build the essence of a festival. To get insights about authentic Bengali cuisine, typically made for the Noboborsho, Slurrp talked to chefs, home chefs, and culinary experts. Why don’t you read on and explore yourself?

Lesser-Known Dishes For The Bengali Festival

The Bengali New Year's feast, known as "Noboborsho," is incomplete without a spread of traditional dishes that have been cherished for generations. However, while you might be already familiar with the more popular recipes like panta-ilish, shutki, luchi with cholar dal, etc, there are many hidden gems you must explore. 

To learn about the lesser-known dishes made for the Bengali New Year, Slurrp talked to Anand Puri, the third-generation owner of Trincas. One of his favourites is Shrimp & Crab in coconut curry. He says about the dish, “This is a home recipe, but we now make this dish on special request at Trincas. It is spicy, rich with coconut cream, and should be eaten with steamed white rice. The spiciness comes from green chillies; the de-shelled crabs are locally sourced. This dish reminds me of sitting around the dining table with family and friends and focusing on important things - like Sunday afternoons, slow eating and long conversations!”

Another hidden gem came to the surface in a conversation with Gaurav Paul, the Executive Chef of Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield, which was a condiment his great-grandmother used to make. “A simple but unique dish that my mammam (great grandmother) used to make on the day of Nobo borsho was a mango and raisin chutney flavoured with saffron, which she used to call ‘kismis diye aamer plastic chutney’. It has been almost 30 years since I tasted that chutney, but that taste and flavour still linger in my palate. My grandmother, my mother, and all my aunts tried to replicate the same recipe, but no one could match the perfection of my mammam,” the chef nostalgically says.

Traditions And Food Memories

Poila Baisakh is much more than just any other festival for Bengalis. Signifying the New Year, the Noboborsho is to date celebrated with great enthusiasm. To dive deeper into the Bengali traditions and food memories of culinary experts, Chef Tushar Kumar Das, the Executive Sous Chef at Hilton Bangalore Embassy Golflinks, shared, “My earliest memories of Poila Boishakh foods are from family gatherings, where the kitchen would come alive with the preparation of dishes like Shorshe Ilish, Chingri Malai Curry, and Beguni. I vividly remember the excitement of tasting the first bite of Mishti Doi and the sense of celebration that filled the air. Another essential dish for Poila Boishakh was Mutton Kosha served with Basanti Pulao—Poila Boishakh just wouldn’t be complete without it. It was always more than just a meal – it was a way to connect with family, tradition, and the rich cultural heritage of Bengal.”

Looking back at the simpler times when families had the time to spend quality time together whilst street shopping, Samita Halder, a Bengali culinary artist, reminisces, “My favourite memory would always be wearing a new frock, walking beside your father and cousin to visit familiar shopkeepers who welcomed you with lassi, mishti, or daaber jol—captures the soul of that day. These weren’t just business transactions; they were deeply social acts where customer loyalty and mutual respect were celebrated with open doors and sweets on a plate.”

Old Family Recipes The Chefs Want To Preserve

No matter how old you get, some dishes will remind you of home and traditions and will take you back to your childhood. As for the long-lost family recipes that the Bengali chefs are still fond of, Chef Gaurav Paul, the Executive Chef of Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield, talked about her grandmother’s special recipe. “My Thama, or my grandmother, had her origin in Rangoon, now known as Yangon, located in southern Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. She has been very fond of duck eggs since childhood, and she used to make the best-devilled duck eggs or, as we call it, Haaser dimer devil,” the chef describes. Since this is one of his favourite dishes, which the chef inherited from his family, he adds it to the yearly Poila Baisakh menu.

As for Anand Puri, who has a finger on the pulse of Kolkata and a toe each in Delhi and Bombay, he has inherited many regional recipes from his family. He talks about a few, such as Gobhi Shalgam Achaar, which is a typical Punjabi pickle usually made in the state in winter. Anand Puri’s paternal great-great-grandmother used to make it. 

He says, “My grandmother even supplied it to Trincas in the 1960s as a unique must-try. This dish is made once a year in large quantities to share with all. The Crab & Shrimp Coconut Curry is an amalgam of Bengali and North Indian influences from my family living in Bengal for 70 years. Also, Aloo Makhallas, which are made with a specific varietal of potato that appears once a year and comes from cooler climes, is a dish I want to preserve. It comes from Jewish cuisine, and I travelled to my childhood home with Uncle Josh (my grandfather’s business partner in Trincas). His family brought the recipe to Bengal when they fled the Japanese raids on Burma during World War 2 in the early 1940s.” Describing the cooking process, he says that the whole potatoes should be peeled, slow-cooked in a cauldron of oil and then flash-fried. The shell turns crunchy while the inside is soft. Also, even though the dish looks simple to make, it takes hours of slow cooking.