Home-cooked Bangladeshi food is hard to find, but there was plenty of it when friends from Bangladesh gathered for a picnic in Lake Balboa Park in Van Nuys.
Two women brought the food, one a professional caterer, the other a home cook.
Faiza "Sonia" Sumaia Hossain, the caterer, served mutton biryani (above). Fragrant with kewra, it was made with Indian parboiled rice, not the usual basmati rice.
Here is the plate of food she dished up, including the biryani and a tuna cutlet.
The golden tuna cutlets (above) were delicately seasoned.
Hossain also fried samosas (above). These were not like the heavy mashed potato samosas you get in most restaurants. Instead, the potatoes were in small cubes mixed with vegetables, and the wrappers were thin and crisp.
She also fried the street snack piaju (above). These crunchy bites were composed of lentil paste, onions, chiles, turmeric, cumin and cilantro.
Here she is at her fry station.
Asma Jaweed (above) grilled tandoori chicken and made chai.
Her chicken (above) was fragrant with spices.
Another of Jaweed's specialties is tahari, a Hyderabadi rice dish with meat, potatoes and spices, similar to pullao. Perhaps she'll bring that to the next picnic.
To drink there was borhani, a pale green yogurt drink that is slightly sweet and a little spicy, a complex mix of poppyseeds, mint, green chiles, cilantro, cumin and other ingredients.
Once in a while, Martin Shah, Bangladeshi owner of India's Tandoori in Brentwood (at right), serves borhani, but it's not on the regular menu.
For dessert, Hossain supplied tender gulab jamun (above).
Other women set out spangly Indian clothing and packages of saris to sell. Tanzeena "Farah" Hussain (above) produced elegant mehndi designs.
Sonia Hossain sold jars of ghee, which she makes with heavy cream, not butter. The flavor is toasty with a hint of caramel, unlike any ghee I've tasted. On top of the ghee in the photo are containers of gulab jamun.
A halal caterer, Hossain makes Indian and Pakistani dishes as well as Bangladeshi food. Her catering business, Sumaia's Kitchen, is in Glendale. To reach her, go to her Facebook page, @Sumaia21kitchen.
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