In her autobiography, Bangladeshi writer Noorjahan Bose remembers her mother’s skilful cooking

In our big and bustling household, there was always someone cooking in the kitchen and always someone eating – no one ever left without eating. As the wife of the eldest son in my father’s family, Ma had a lot of responsibilities, including cooking. I vividly remember the taste of Ma’s special treats. Ma was famous for the delicious nasta or snacks and desserts she made. She had learned how to make these fancy treats in her childhood home of Mia Bari, so many of her recipes were unique, and no one else in our village could make them like her.

Her morobba, or fruit candies, were legendary. Ma made morobba with the sour bel (wood-apple) fruit, which is the size of a grapefruit and has a hard shell that must be cracked open to reveal the pungent orange soft center. I loved her delicate morobba of chal kumra, a huge white gourd or pumpkin that grew on the roofs of our homes. Her papaya morobba had a beautiful pinkish orange color, and her morobba of ripe cucumber was a pale gold.

She also made a scrumptious sweet and sour morobba with green mango. She would grind coconut and make narkel borfi, a type of shandesh or fudge. Ma also made a delicious flan or caramel custard that we called “pudding.” Her dudh lau –...

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