Last Saturday Shafique and Farhana hosted Cooking Circles Canberra to an amazing introduction to Bangladeshi cuisine at their Manuka restaurant, Taste of Bangladesh.

They lead thirty of us through the delicate flavours of Chicken Dum Biriyani, fragrant with spices of Cumin, Star Anise, Chilli, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Clove and Mace…

…along with ginger and garlic, ghee, fried  onions.

The spices were ground and mixed with yogurt to marinate the chicken which was then cooked..

…before being layed with the separately cooked rice for the final cooking, that allows the flavours to penetrate layers.

While the Dum Biriyani was cooking, Shafique showed us how to prepare the wonderfully delicious classic – Gulab Jaman.

His shortcut method is to mix a dough using milk powder and baker’s flour (softened with cream) which is rolled into balls…

….and cooked in oil before being added to a sugar (and cinnamon stick) syrup.

Farhana told us about the traditional (lengthy) method used in Bangladesh to prepare this dessert, using paneer. When a new baby is born into a family, the new parents send this special sweet to friends and neighbours.

While we were waiting for the Dum Biriyani, Shafique also showed us an Eggplant Pakora (Beguni) entree.

He first thinly sliced the eggplant…

…then mixed it with spices – chilli, mace and garam marsala…

…and then chickpea flour and water to coat it in batter before frying it.

We were all so eager to enjoy this delicacy that no-one captured any photos whatsoever!

As the meal deliciously came together we chatted and enjoyed mango lassis and glasses of wine…

…but when the Dum Biriyani was served, perfectly matched with yogurt raita, the flavours were wonderful to savour!

And the Gulab Jaman was a perfect end to a excellent meal, with fine company and much pleasure for all the senses, discovering another lesser known world cuisine!