Bangladeshi

Bangladesh shares a delta and a language with India's West Bengal but eats with its own accent — sharper mustard, more freshwater fish, less ghee. Sorshe ilish is the national dish: hilsa shad steamed in mustard-and-green-chili paste, the fish so prized that it's named the national fish and exported across the Bengali diaspora. Bhuna curries reduce until the masala becomes a thick paste coating the meat. Pitha (rice cakes) are made in dozens of variations across the seasons. Old Dhaka's Mughlai kacchi biryani is its own genre — raw marinated mutton layered with rice, sealed with dough, slow-baked. Mezbani mangsho is a Chittagong red-chili beef feast served at religious gatherings. The cuisine is rice-and-fish-and-mustard, intensely seasonal, and shaped by the rivers that define the country.