To give a better look to your recipe, you can use different types of colors. Most widely used are light yellow (can use turmeric powder), orange (kesari powder) or red. These will be available in any grocery stores. Make sure that these colors don’t have any essence, as it might finally effect your final recipe.
Head of big fish is used in many recipes in Bengali cooking. Fish head is like a delicacy. Use Rehu, Hilsa for making chanchra. Substitute Rehu for Grass Carp or buffalo.
Fish sauce is the single, most important flavoring ingredient in Thai cooking (also well-loved in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma and the Philippines). Used like salt in western cooking and soy sauce in Chinese cooking, good-quality fish sauce imparts a distinct aroma and flavor all its own.
Fenugreek seeds ( Methi) are used as a spice. They have a bitter taste and flavor and should be used sparingly. Used for seasoning dal and some vegetable. The fresh green leaves are cooked and eaten as spinach.
French beans are long green colored type of beans — one of the type out of varieties of different beans which are available. Buy only bright green color, crisp and not very strong or hard ones.
Eggplant also known as ‘Brinjal, Aubergine in Italy, Baigan/Begun in India’ is a shiny thick skinned vegetable. Most common ones are purple colored but also light red, yellow and white varieties are available. Mostly eaten as fried, roasted and cooked. Buy only hard, shiny and without any blemishes and store in freezer bags in refrigerators up to 3 to 4 days. Eggplants have low energy value — about 10 calories per oz.
Chicken eggs are most commonly used. Duck eggs are also available. Eggs are sold in standard sizes of jumbo, extra large, large and medium. Eggs should be stored only in refrigerator and can be stored for about a month. Normally color of eggs is white but brown color ones are also available. Useful tips :- — To boil: keep in a sauce-pan for about 5 minutes after taking out from refrigerator. Then put on heat and bring to boil and boil for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 12 minutes. Remove shell. — To beat eggs: separate white of the egg by cracking in the middle and holding over a bowl and shaking a little taking care not to break the yolk. Beat the white separately for best result using a fork or using electric beater. Beat till white forms soft peaks and becomes thinner. Yolk is to be beaten separately in the same way. Although eggs can be beaten with while and yolk together.