FAQs

How long can I keep the left over before it goes bad?

There are no preservatives in BHS products. However, the spices act as natural preservatives. After any of the entrées have been defrosted it is safe to keep it refrigerated up to two weeks and can be consumed any time during these two weeks without any loss of quality or taste. It is hard to believe but it is true.

What about vegetarian entrées?

We have a number of vegetarian entrées in the pipeline and will introduce them in the near future. In my family recipe treasure trove, there are a ton of exceptional vegetarian product possibilities. However, only a small sub-set of them are doable. The problem is most vegetables don't freeze very well. In Indian cuisine, we don't use tofu or soybean as a substitute. This limits us to lentil-based entrées such as Dal and Paneer-based entrées. If you are new to Indian cuisine, Paneer is a Ricotta-like cheese used for many Indian entrées. We do have one exceptional vegetarian Bengali delicacy made from yellow peas called Ghoogni. Since the word Ghoogni does not mean anything outside of Bengal, think of it as something similar to Mexican Chili. May be we will call it Bengali Chili. It comes both in a vegetarian as well as in a non-vegetarian variety. Ghoogni (Bengali Chili) is ready to go and we would like to get it in our product line soon.

What about those additional entrées on your BLOG?

Except for the wrap all the entrées those you saw on the BLOG (www.bhsblog.net) are ready fully developed as a product and ready to be brought to the market. We have chosen to wait to bring those products to the market simply to make sure that we learn the ropes of this business (which new to us) over a small number of products. Consequently mistakes made are not as magnified as they could be if we launched a large number of products simultaneously.

What about the wrap?

We are not planning to sell the wrap. However, we will (down the road) sell the ingredients to make the wrap – that will be the keema, and a special Indian bread called paratha. WE are already selling the keema and we are working on the paratha. Once we are ready we will have a video primer o our website to show how make the wrap. It is one the best treat one can have out of BHS products.

How do Bengali Cuisine and Indian Cuisine Differ?

Being a very large country, India has a rich tradition for its culinary diversity. Most restaurants in the west serve a variation on Indian cuisine called Mughlai Cuisine. This is also known as Punjabi Cuisine. However Mughlai cuisine is just one of the many different traditions within the vast confines of the Indian subcontinent. Also notable are South Indian Cuisine from the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhta Pradesh and Kerala; Gujrati cuisine from the state of Gujrat, Goan cuisine from the Goa area on the west coast of India and Oria cuisine from state of Orissa. If you can believe it, these are only a few.

The entrées represented in the BHS product line are made in the culinary tradition of Bengali cuisine. Bengali home-cooking is among the finest cuisines in the world. Rich in aromatic spices and possessing a unique blend of savory and sweet flavors combined with meat, chicken, seafood and rice, produce meals that are tantalizing, spicy and completely memorable. Basu’s serves the food that Basu’s mother and family served it in their ancestral home in India. When Basu moved to America, he brought these special home-cooked recipes with him, ones that have been developed and perfected over the years, and are now ready to be shared with the world.

What is the difference between “Spicy” Food and “Hot” Food?

People commonly use the words “hot” and “spicy” interchangeably. However, is that these two words represent two different taste sensations in our palate. When we talk about a food being “hot” in taste, we really mean that it produces a burning sensation in one’s mouth. On the other hand, “spicy” traditionally describes savory and flavorful foods.

For example, we all know that Tabasco sauce is “hot.” Add a tablespoon of Tabasco sauce to your scrambled eggs would inevitably produce a strong burning sensation in one’s mouth. However, one would not call that scrambled egg spicy. By the same token, you can eat some well-seasoned Italian Sausage, that may have all kinds of seasonings and flavor, but you would not necessarily call it “hot.”

What makes a specific food “hot”?

Only two ingredients contribute to the burning sensation that “hot” foods produce: chili (of all kinds) and ginger. Chili can be fresh green chili of many varieties that we find in the grocery stores or it can be dried red chili, of either the powdered or crushed variety (the kind commonly used to sprinkle over pizza). One can put season their food with any other spice that they can find, however, if they don’t have one or both of those two ingredients in their food, a burning sensation will not occur.

What makes food “spicy?”

Cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, turmeric, cloves, cardamom, mustard seed, fennel, saffron, etc. are spicy foods. These and many other ingredients such as onion, garlic, and tamarind make foods flavorful and savory, yet they don’t make them “hot.”

Is Indian food spicy, hot or both?

Indian food is typically spicy but on occasion can be hot. A typical Indian entrée combines many spices including chili and ginger. Added in moderation, chili and ginger can enhance the sensation of one’s taste buds without the sensation of burning. Just as there are regional differences in American food, Indian food can be extremely hot depending on the region of India that it comes from.

What about Basu’s HomeStyle entrées – are they very hot?

The style of cuisine where Basu’s HomeStyle originates from is savory and spicy, but only mildly to moderately hot. Our dishes do have ingredients that connect with the heat receptors on your tongue. However, those hot ingredients are also balanced with other ingredients (sugar, for an example) that produce a smooth, balanced taste and finish. This balanced flavor is the product of delicately blending 8-10 different herbs and spices. The combination is so seamless that the food is neither particularly “sweet” nor “spicy”, but a combination of all the flavors added. This is why our foods, while exhibiting traces of ingredients such as ginger, cayenne peppers, or red chilies (which cause the heat), are nicely complemented with ingredients like sugar, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves (which tends to give the food a sweet yet subtle quality.) It is our experience that people find the taste of Basu’s HomeStyle a perfect balance between spicy and mildly hot. Since what is considered “hot” varies widely from person to person, it’s practically is impossible to be all things to all people. But we try.