Sicily and Bengal: an unlikely match
July's home style menu, our top Palermo food spots, discovering Mazara prawns and frequenting markets on holiday
Unveiling a whole new menu for end of July which also marks a new series of menus entirely inspired by a Bengali bari and channeling the vibes of all mothers in Bangali British households.
Bari = home
The menu will boast of humble ingredients, accented with some of my favourite ingredients that I have discovered during my travels with family. The focus will be discovering to eat with hands, the nuances between Ghoti and Bangal food and learning to worship mustard oil.
£46pp
4 & 5 July
25 & 26 July
My first time in Sicily felt like a homecoming. I have never really gone somewhere and felt so at home instantly except in India. The rays of the sun, the smell of fresh herbs, the numerous horses on the streets of Palermo and the slow chit chat of friendly neighbours all felt oddly familiar.
Amongst the gentle hum of hearing Italian in the background as I walked around Palermo entirely anxiety free, I was somewhat surprised to hear the familiar sounds of Bangla. Most tourist shops I walked into, most kitchen porters that were smoking on the pavement corners, most grocery store owners in the heaving markets spoke in Bangla. There are approximately 10-15000 Bangladeshis in Sicily. And of course there is some information about the migration pattern on Google upon a simple search but my one week walking around Palermo left me with some unlikely friends and a sense of home that I had absolutely not predicted! We had many conversations and even bagged a few bargain deals because of the shopkeepers - a partially that I am absolutely okay with.
A dear friend of mine, Sean Wyer, who helped us so much with his wonderfully detailed pdf on Sicily also provided the link to this insightful article that you all may find worth reading.
Sean’s recommendations of Sicily got us through the major tourist traps and I basically treated it a bit like the holy grail. We had some phenomenal meals, pastries, espressos and I am thankful I have a friend who turns his insights into a document.
Our top three spots which we both could become regulars at were:
Caffè del Kassaro for the daily menu.
Sardine and fennel pasta
Prawn and courgette pasta
Dessert of the gods - cassata (I’m still dreaming of this cassata ngl)
Trattoria Al Ferro di Cavallo
Squid ink pasta
Sardine and fennel pasta
Ballaro market - majority of the snack stalls for all things fried and ricotta based but specifically the sfincione, polpette di sarde, rizzuole andddd of course this one stall which is on the back end corner of the market where they mostly sell their own family made fresh cannoli.
Ballaro market was possibly my favourite place in Palermo. Luckily our Airbnb was a 5 minute walk away and I made it a bit of a point to visit at least 5 times during our stay. Most people tick off museums and galleries on holiday, I like frequenting markets to see how the locals eat and shop.
The glorious red prawns you see above are Mazara prawns and stuck out to me on day one. The phenomenal red hue was unavoidable. I had truly never seen anything like it. A very disjointed and sign language heavy conversation with the extremely Sicilian fishmonger made it obvious that these prawns are not to be messed with. You either eat them raw with minimal additions or you forfeit. I thought it best to believe him.
We went back the next morning and bought a bag full. I am not lying to you when I say that this may be the best seafood I had ever eaten and possibly will ever eat. The deep, sweet, umami and earthy flavour was nothing short of a magic trick. These prawns are very difficult to farm (thankfully) and are found in deep waters - making them less salty and more sweet and earthy. I cooked down the heads with a dollop of butter, some market sourced evoo, pungent sharp garlic and some basil stems to make the most incredible prawn head oil. The colour was as bright as fire. As for the prawns, nothing needed to be done except a squeeze of Sicilian lemon and silently eaten. As Rijul and I ate these we both wished to be stuck in a groundhog day.
If you read this far, thank you. It means a lot!
I want to give you a little glimpse of the exciting updates for the coming months. Keep your eyes peeled for one of the condiments closest to my heart to launch on Delli. I will be launching my habu’s lonkar aachar (a stuffed red and green chilli aachar with aamchor, mustard and fennel). A family favourite that we all fight over.
The most exciting collaboration with a very close friend, Numra, who has been such an inspiration running Empress Market supperclubs for our homeland’s independence days.
Another tasty collaboration with Alexa, who runs Chilli Maven creating some Indo Mex magic with lots of chillies and lots of lime!
Here’s hoping the sun actually shines on us this summer!