Ratna Roy

I never thought that I will write a cookery book. While studying for my graduation in Scottish Church College I had thought of becoming a lecturer or scholar after completing masters, but fate took a different turn and I got married in a conservative joint family and my dreams took a backseat. I wasn’t a good cook before my marriage. I knew how to make sweets, which I learned from my mother. I owe all my culinary skills to my mother-in-law who would do all the household cooking. We often had guests visiting us at my in-laws, and the responsibility of the kitchen fell on my mother-in-law, with me as her assistant.

Few years later when I shifted to Delhi with my husband and son, I was surprised to find that our friends from different communities there liked Bengali cuisine, especially vegetarian dishes and Bengali sweets.  They would often request me to write down the recipes for them to try at home, since there wasn’t many Bengali restaurants.

During my visits to my son and daughter-in-law in Singapore, I found that Bengali cuisine is popular here too, especially Bengali vegetarian dishes which is cooked without onion and garlic. I would often get requests from the friends of my son and daughter-in-law. I didn’t even realize when my habit had transformed into a passion.