'Tulsi Rasogolla' for the foodies

Rasogolla, post its getting the GI tag, appears to have become the toast of the season and a new variant 'Tulsi Rasogolla', which has the flavour of holy basil leaves, is on the platter at an ongoing food festival organised by the West Bengal government in Kolkata.

The 'Tulsi Rasogolla', is being lapped up by gourmets at one of the 25 stalls at the five-day food festival 'Ahare Bangla'.

"This particular variety retains the unique spongy charactersitic of Banglar Rosogolla with medicinal quality of Tulsi plants and became an instant hit along with other traditional varieties," a spokesperson of the stall said.

The 'Tulsi Rasogolla' is vying for attention along with the Russian delicacies like 'bliny, 'coulibiac' and vegetarian and pork and chicken cheese variations, which are being sold from a stall set up with help from the Russian consulate.

"This is for the second time that we have brought special Russian food for the Kolkata foodies in association with a cafe and bistro specialising in Russian food," a spokesman managing the Russian stall said.

An estimated 66 food outlet chains of the city, including the 25 sweetmeat shops, are participating in the fair which was inaugurated on Thursday. It opened to the public yesterday and will continue till December 11.

There are stalls for the hugely popular Chinese food too and their spread include the traditional and the signature Schezuan and Cantonese cuisines.

Their offerings range from the Chicken Sui Mui, Chicken Wrap Prawn Shezwan Sauce, Kung Pao Chicken, Prawn with Pok Choy, Cantonese Pork, Five Spice Lamb, Roasted Chilli Lamb and Peking Duck.

The food festival is being attended by 41 leading restaurant chains of the city, Minister of State of Animal Husbandry department Swapan Debnath said.

There are four stalls run by state government departments.

An app of the food festival can be downloaded from .Wbfestivals.Gov.In site, he said.

Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said during inauguration that the food festival would help revive the forgotten cuisine of the yesteryears among the present generation.