Winter brings many traditional foods with it, and one of them is kumra bori, a tasty sun-dried dumpling. Winter is the right time to make it, and with its arrival the villages of Narail are busy making bori. Kumra bori is unmatched for lifting the taste of a curry, and women in villages across Narail are now busy all day making it.

The main ingredients are black gram (mashkalai) lentils and ash gourd, with a little spice. Lentils bought at the market are soaked overnight, then ground by machine and mixed with water, ground ash gourd and spices to make the paste. This is dropped in small blobs onto tin sheets or cloth, and while soft the bori are laid out in rows on thin cloth or platforms to dry in the sun. Bori is made to some extent in every month except the rainy season; according to the report, there is a rush to make it for six months of the year, with winter the peak season, when almost every village home makes some. Besides keeping the tradition alive, bori is becoming valued as a source of extra income.

Local people said demand for bori rises several times over in winter. They keep what the family needs and sell the rest, allowing women to earn extra for their families. Minati Biswas, a bori maker from Hatbaria village in Narail town, said: "About 10 to 12 of us women make kumra bori commercially. I have been making bori for about 30 years. Almost every home in the village makes some. Because we do it as a business, we grind 15 to 20 kg of lentils a day to make bori. We sell at Tk 250 a kg wholesale and Tk 300 a kg retail."

"We make bori regularly," she said. "When lentil prices are low our profit is a bit higher, and when they are high the profit is lower. Mashkalai with chickpea lentils gives a little more flavour. We make to order as customers want. We sell 10 to 15 kg of bori a day. We make kumra bori for eight months of the year."

Malini Biswas of the same village said: "We charge Tk 20 a kg to grind lentils. Many people come to our homes to buy our bori, and it also sells in Dhaka, Khulna and other districts. Many people come to Hatbaria village, watch the whole process and buy. The reputation of our bori is growing day by day."

Sadar upazila agriculture officer Md Roknuzzaman said: "Kumra bori is very popular in winter. It is made at home, and because the bori made by local women is tasty, people buy it not only for themselves but as gifts. The village women work very hard to make good-quality bori. We buy from here every year. Plenty of bori is available in the market, but Hatbaria's bori tastes different. Because it is completely free of adulteration, demand is high too."

Reported by Hafizul Nilu.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.