Bakorkhani
Bakorkhani is a traditional bakery product dating back to Mughal times. Until very recently, it was a food-product peculiar to Dhaka city. Among the food items of Mughal times this has lingered to date and now it is also found in other cities of Bangladesh. People used to eat bakorkhani bread as their breakfast mixed with korma (sweet-testing meat or fish curry), sheek kabab (roasted beef) and sweets. The original home of this bread or biscuit is Afghanistan or beyond. In Afghanistan, it is still in vogue. Tradition goes that the name Bakorkhani was originally named after an influential Zamindar Aga Baker Khan in the late Nababi period. It is a round crispy bread (roti) made mainly with flour, milk, salt, dalda, ghee, cheese and Khamir (ingredients to make sweets).
The bread is made by stretching a sheet of dough repeatedly skewed with its ingredients before baking on a tandoor or tawa. The Bakorkhani which specially is made of pungent ingredients, cheese, roasted meat (beef) and posset are still found in old Dhaka. In olden times, the demand of Bakorkhani was very high during the two Eid festivals. hakim habibur rahman in his book Dhaka Pachash Barash Pahley 'published in the 1940s gives a detail account of the variety of original food items of Dhaka and their preparation. He mentioned that there were mainly three types of Bakorkhani- Gao joban, Shuki and Nimshuki. Chinshukha roti was also a type of Bakorkhani especially made of sugar, while Nimshukha roti was the dry Bakorkhani. Kaicharoti and Mulam were also other forms of Bakorkhani. Cheese bakarkhani was another delicacy. In every fold, instead of ghee and flour mohanbhog mishti or semolina (suji) halwa was used. These breads known as bhigaroti were sent on dalas (high rim trays) dipped in creamy milk with almond and raisins from the house of the bride to the groom as part of a traditional matrimonial ceremony. It is a very popular and ancient food item of old Dhaka. Now Bakorkhani is found in its new shape (in poly packed) in every exclusive confectionary of Dhaka. [Md. Faruque Hossain]
