Chawkbazar iftar market draws crowd

People swarmed the capital’s traditional iftar market at Chawkbazar in old Dhaka to buy mouth-watering iftar items on Friday, the first day of Ramadan. Like previous years, traders started putting on display varieties of iftar items since noon. Dhaka south city mayor Sayeed Khokon visited the iftar market and warned the vendors not to sell adulterated food. He said 10 mobile court teams were monitoring the market and if anybody was found selling adulterated items, he would be fined. Miftaul Raisha, a housekeeper from Segunbagicha, who was buying iftar at Chawkbazar, said the price does not matter as these are traditional food items of old Dhaka. She said, ‘I have bought one kilogram of Boro Baper Polai Khai at Tk 400 for my family.’ People who did not buy the traditional item, they at least had a look at it. Some sellers, however, are selling this item at Tk 300 per kilogram. The item, prepared by Mohammad Ali, is said to be the oldest one, which is a mixture of chickpeas, brains, minced meat, potatoes, chira, eggs, chicken, 13 spices and ghee. Last year, it item sold at Tk 300 per kg but this year the price increased, said Tabib Hasan, a banker from Dhanmondi. People were seen to buy mutton leg roast at Tk 450, duck roast Tk 300, chicken roast Tk 220, Koel roast Tk 60-50, pigeon roast Tk 180, dhoi bora at Tk 50—150, chicken parata Tk 40 per piece, beef parata Tk 35, plain parata Tk 30, borhani Tk 100 per bottle, Labang Tk 100, Faluda Tk 40-150, firni Tk 20, saslik Tk 40-50, gilapi Tk 100, bundia Tk 160, pakora Tk 4, dim chop Tk 15-30. Delicious kebabs of different shapes and tastes were also the favourite iftar items. At the market, suti kebab were available at Tk 400 per kg, jali kebab Tk 25 per piece, kathi kebaba Tk 30, Dhoi Bora Tk 50—150. ‘At least 15 kinds of kebab such as suti, shik, boti, hari, shami, jali and reshmi are available at one place, which is rare at other places,’ said vendor Kamal. The vendors were busy drawing the attention of buyers to their collection and they said they had a huge sale on the first day. The common iftar items in the capital markets were chhola boot, puffed rice, beguni, aloor chop, piyaju, fried items and drinks prepared with fruit or sugar or molasses and water. Halim of mutton, chicken and beef is another item that attracts buyers for its delicious preparation and a pot Tk 100 to Tk 350. A salesman, Sheikh Mamun, expects a turn-over of Tk 3,000-4,000 every day. Price of a small papaya is Tk 150, lotkon Tk 100, guava Tk 100, berry Tk 100, watermelon Tk 80 in the Chawkbazar iftar market. Puffed rice is available at Tk 50-80 per kg. News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net