Bangladesh is popular for its desserts and delicious foods served in every Bengali meal. Bengali Cuisine puts extra emphasis on the fish, vegetables and lentil soup that is usually served with rice as its staple food. Although fish is a common traditional Bangladeshi food, meat dishes can also be found in Bangladesh. There are however different meat dishes but the popular ones are listed in this post. Listed below are some of the most popular meat dishes in Bangladesh that you must try when you visit Bangladesh.
Popular Bangladesh Meat Dishes
Shorshe Ilish
Shorshe Ilish or Hilsa Fish with Mustard Curry.Hilsa is considerd to be a national fish in Bangladesh, in fact at least 70% of the production of Hilsa fish is from Bangladesh.
There are different variations in cooking Hilsa, the most popular is the Shorshe Ilish. With this dish, the Hilsa fish is cooked in mustard gravy. It is usually served with white rice. The mustard gravy is made from different spices.
Kacchi Biriyani (Mutton Biriyani)
Kacchi Biriyani is a special Bangladeshi food. Kacchi in english means “raw”, this means that the ingredients for making Biriyani are mixed as raw instead of cooking the meat and rice. The main ingredients for this dish are rice and marinated meat.
In a traditional way, Biriyani is cooked using a clay oven while the pot is sealed using a flour dough. This will allow the Biriyani to cook from the steam.
With Kacchi Biriyani, the meat that is using is first marinated with various aromatic spices and are then placed uncooked at the bottom of the pot. Then the rice is washed and then also mixed with several spices. It is then added at the top of the meat and are cooked together.
The meat that is usually used to make Biriyani is referred to as Biriyani cut or cuts of meat from the shoulders, chest and forelimbs and there’s the Qorma cut which is a cut of lean thigh meat.
Beef Kala Bhuna (Beef Curry)
Kala Bhuna is a popular meat dish in Bangladesh. It can be prepared by using any meat, though the most famous Kala Bhuna version is the Beef Kala Bhuna.
The word Kala in Kala Bhuna means Black. The meat used in this dish can either be beef or mutton. The meat is cooked using difference spices such as garlic, ginger, chili and cumin. The difference between Kala Bhuna and other curry varieties is that with Kala Bhuna is it cooked for a longer period of time that often gives the meat a blackish color. Hence, Kala Bhuna is also called Black Deep Curry.
The dish is best served with plain rice, roti, and Pulao or pilaf (a rice dish).
Sheek Kebab with Naan (Kebab with Flatbread)
Bengali love Kebabs, the most common Kebabs are made from beef and mutton.
Sheek kebab is a popular Bangladeshi food that is made from ground beef and mutton. It is mixed with different spices such as green chili peppers, garlic, ginger and powdered chili for that unique taste and flavor. The meat is skewered and then roasted on hot coals.
After Sheek Kebab is cooked, it is usually eaten hot when it is still steaming hot. Best paired with Naan (flat bread) and Fresh salad and dipping sauce on the side.
Kolijar Shingara
Shingara is a triangular or pyramid shaped famous finger food in Bangladesh. It can be found everywhere on the streets of Bangladesh, hence a popular street food.
The famous snack is made from flour and fillings such as a spicy potato. But for Kolijar Shingara, it is filled with beef liver or spicy mutton.
With Kolijar Shingara, the beef liver or mutton is first cut in small pieces then stir-fried. Other versions includes mixing the liver with mashed tomatoes, often spicy tomatoes and there are also other versions wherein the liver that was cooked is stuffed inside the pyramid shaped snack.
The shaped snack is then deep fried and served with delicious sauce and salad on the side.
Haleem
Haleem is a popular Bangladeshi food that is made of wheat, meat, rice and lentil mixed with spices. The meat used with this famous is stew is usually beef or mutton.
The Harleem traditional dishes version includes mixtures of wheat, lentils, masoor and chickpeas. The cooking process of Haleem dish involves slow cooking for about 8 hours. The cooked dish is topped with slices of lemon, coriander leaves, chopped ginger, green chili and fried onions.
Mughlai Paratha
Mughlai Paratha is a popular street Bangladeshi food that is made with soft fried bread or Paratha. It is then stuffed with minced meat or also called as Kemma, ghee, eggs, wheat flour, onions, green chili and oil.
Grilled Chicken With Naan Roti
Grilled Chicken is not just popular in other countries but is also served in as a Bangladeshi foods. There are however different ways to grill the chicken and there are also other spice varieties that are used in this dish.
The Grilled chicken is a typical Bangladeshi food that is served with Naan bread, a leavened flatbread. Since Grilled chicken is often used with spices, it has a hint of spiciness. A perfect combination of sweet from the naan bread and spicy from the chicken.
Morog Polao (Chicken Pilaf)
Morog Polao is a Bengali Chicken rice that is made by cooking the rice and the chicken with different spices, butter or Ghee and yogurt.
To make Morag Polao dish, the rice used should be of quality and it is recommended to used short-grain rice.
Panta Ilish
Panta Ilish is a traditional dish in Bangladeshi cuisine. It is a platter made from leftover rice that are soaked in water and then typically served with fried Hilsa fish (national fish in Bangladesh). It is usually served during festivals such as the Boishakh Festival.
It is a dish that is a mixture of Panta Bhat (cooked rice soaked in water) and Fish Hilsa that was fried.
Samosa
Samosa is similar to Singara mentioned above, it is also a triangular or pyramid shaped dish. It originates from central asia and middle east but is now gaining its popularity on Indian Subcontinent.
A famous fried snack that is made by filling the shaped flour with ingredients such as onions, peas, cheese, potatoes, lentils and meat such as beef.
FAQs
Hilsa curry is a national dish of Bangladesh that is made from Hilsa Fish, a budget friendly fish and is always available. The fish is marinated with turmeric and with chili paste. After marinating, the fish is then pan fried after it is added to mustard gravy.
Bangladeshi cuisine typically consists of mutton, lamb, yogurt and spices. The most popular dishes in Bangladesh are Kebab, Kacchi Biriyani, Roast Lamb, chicken and duck.
The most popular dessert in Bangladesh is Yogurt or Bogura Doi. It is made from cow’s milk.
The difference between Samosa and Singara are the fillings stuffed inside those pyramid or triangular shaped flour. With Samosa, it is filled with meat and onions while with Singara it is often filled with potatoes and chickpeas.