একটি পারিবারিক রান্নার বই · A family cookbook

The recipes Mom never wrote down.

Seven Bengali dishes from Mahamoda's kitchen, filmed and transcribed by her family, with the cooking steps preserved.

Browse the recipes →
Bengali biryani with eggs, potatoes, chicken, and Chinigura rice

The cook

Mahamoda's biryani mid-cook on the stove

The biryani, still on the flame.

আমাদের মা · Our Ma

Mahamoda

She never trained and never measured. She taught herself by watching, tasting, and adjusting, and she cooks for whoever walks through the door. Everything here is her cooking, exactly as she does it.

How we captured her recipes →

Here is what she cooks when the whole family comes home.

The dishes

Every dish, as she cooks it

Seven recipes, and counting

Ask her for the secret and she gives the same answer every time.

"আস্তে আস্তে এইটা হোক, এইটাই ভালো"

"Aste aste eita hok, eitai bhalo"

Mahamoda: "Let it cook slowly, that is best."

Why we filmed her

In Bengali households, recipes rarely get written down. They live in hands and habits: a pinch judged by eye, a flame lowered at the right smell, a word like koshano that carries a whole technique.

So we brought cameras and microphones into Mom's kitchen and let her cook the way she always has. Every session was filmed, every measurement watched, every Bengali term captured and translated. What you read here is her cooking, transcribed faithfully by her family.

"If you want it to be more delicious, fry the potatoes first."

This site is our way of making sure none of it gets lost.

The jhol, just before the tarka.
Onions frying in the wok at the start of a curry
Onions in the karai, where almost every recipe begins.

Now it is your turn at the stove.

Pick a dish, take it slow, and cook it the way she would: with patience.

Start with the Biryani → Or ease in with the Pakora