I am writing this blog on behalf of my younger sister, Debashree and all my words here are her’s today. Hope you enjoy and spread the love by sharing the link.
Today’s blog is about Jamai Shosti and every Bengalis know what it is. A grand day which comes once in a year when mother-in-laws get a chance to pamper their son in-laws with her hospitalities, serving delicacies and sometimes by gifting also. Since my childhood I have grown up seeing my grandmother (maternal) celebrating this auspicious day for the prosperity of her son in law, basically for my father.
So being a Bengali by birth I tried to portray what I have known and seen throughout about this tradition.
HISTORY OF JAMAI SHOSTI
Earlier, due to lack of mode of transports and no source of communication parents hardly travel to meet their daughters after marriage making it hard to connect with each other. On the other hand daughters too after marriage get so much involve in their household job that they hardly manage to take out some time to visit their parents. So jamai shashti is the reason to celebrate the same as a get-together in which daughter with her husband pay visit to her maternal home.
DAY BEFORE CELEBRATION
From the day before, the mother-in-law gets busy in the kitchen, bracing up with unusual culinary skills, presenting mouth-watering delicacies. Usually, the Jamai Sashti Menu includes multiple servings of non-vegetarian dishes that include Meat, Fish, Chicken and Eggs. And when it comes to enjoy food and festival , they live lavishly , they don’t mind to spend Rs. 500 ( USD 10 ) to Rs 1000 ( USD 20 ) per kg for fish during occasion . There is a frantic rush at the fish market to pick up the best bekti, chitol, pabda, lobster, tangra, mourala. But the unstated goal of most fathers-in-law lies in grabbing the best hilsa in the market.
THE DAY OF CELEBRATION
The lavish indulgence starts the moment son-in-law enters the house where the mother in laws lit an oil lamp, puts vermilion on his forehead alongwith some rice and bless him by blowing a conchshell. As it is Sasthi or the sixth day of the month of the lunar calendar, everything is offered in the figure of 6! 6 kinds of fruits, 6 types of sweets and on his lunch plate, there would be a minimum of 6 side-dishes to be served along with rice dishes. However, the menu can be altered accordingly. I have prepared this on behalf of my mom who could not join us due to the covid pandemic.
Because this is the first Jamai Shosti of my husband, I got the grand opportunity to serve him with all the best dishes on this day.
THE FEAST
Starting with five varieties of fries (begun bhaja, aloo bhajha, papad bhaja, khumro bhaja and mach bhaja) it is never too hard to please any food lover, whether he is Bengali or not.
In main course Illish maacher Jhol has been one of the most prized fishes wholeheartedly relished by Bangali bhodroloks along with Kolkata-style kosha mangsho, which is essentially a spicy-dry goat meat curry, and serve it with some fragnant rice/pulao. A real bong will go weak in knees if served with hot luchi on the sides.
The cholar daal and luchi combo can be best regarded as a king’s meal when we are talking about Bengali vegetarian dishes including matar paneer as an additional hit.
Another highlight of the exquisite dish is Chingri Macher Malaikari, Big prawns cooked in rich coconut cream based gravy and Murgi jhol-juicy chicken with traditional spices making it finger licking good.
The meal ends with mishti doi, roshogulla, chatni and Payesh
served with mango and lichi.
As a mouthfreshner you can also serve bettleleaves.
THE VIRTUAL BLESSING
The covid pandemic surely didn’t killed our festive vibes and thanks to technology that I was able to involve my mother through Watsapp video call. Oil lamp was lit and conchshell was blown from the other side with lot of love and blessings showering virtually.
Where my husband was on cloud 9 with so much pampering on him, I gave myself a pat on my shoulder to be able to accomplish all this all on my own.
The Jamai shosti was a big success and my hubby could not be more happy feeling so royal.
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