Assamese cuisine

The traditional way of cooking and the cuisine of Assam is very similar to South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and others.

The cuisine is characterized by very little use of spices, little cooking over fire, and strong flavours due mainly to the use of endemic exotic fruits and vegetables that are either fresh, dried or fermented.

The practice of bhuna, the gentle frying of spices before the addition of the main ingredients so common in Indian cooking, is absent in the cuisine of Assam.

[8] The discovery of this cuisine in the popular media continues, with the presenters yet to settle on the language and the specific distinctiveness to describe it.

Rice is eaten as a snack in many forms: roasted and ground (xandoh), boiled in its husk and flattened (chira), puffed (akhoi).

Kumol saul is rice that is precooked, dried and then husked; it can be simply soaked in warm water and eaten as a light meal.

Typically, farmers eat cooked rice soaked overnight (poita) simply accompanied with salt, mustard oil, onions, etc.

The small varieties of fish available and eaten in Assam like puthi (swamp barb), Ari (long-whiskered catfish), Goroi (green snake head/ spotted snake head), Koi or Kawoi (climbing perch Anabas testudineus), Kholihona (Indian paradise fish Ctenops nobilis) borolia, mua, ceniputhi, tengera, lachin, bhangun, pabho, etc.

The mas tenga (sour fish), which is commonly eaten by most communities of Assam, has lately turned into a signature dish of Assamese cuisine.

The most popular souring agent for the tenga is tomatoes, though ones made with kajinemu juice (thick skinned elongated lemon) and thekera (dried mangosteen), Ou-tenga, Teteli, Kordoi Tenga (South-East Asian Starfruit), Tengamora(Roselle leaves) are also popular.

The most common way of eating fish in traditional Assamese homes is by preparing a stew with herbs, vegetables, and greens as per preference and availability.

Petu bhoja (fried fish intestines) is also considered a delicacy along with the traditional Assamese Jal, which is an herbal fish curry made with medicinal herbs like bhedailota (Chinese fever vine), noroxingho (curry leaves), bon dhunia, man dhunia, manimuni (Asiatic Pennywort), tengesi leaves, and more.

The Assamese meat and fish dishes are characterized by a low amount of spices and oil, higher quantity of ginger, noroxinghow paat (curry leaves), Khorisa (fermented bamboo shoot) and lemon juice, and differ completely in taste from the dishes of neighboring Bengal and are quite similar to the cuisines of nearby South-East Asian and East Asian countries.

Chicken, venison, squab, mutton, duck and pork is very popular among the indigenous ethnic Assamese communities like Sonowals, Bodo, Rabha, Keot (Kaibarta), Ahom, Moran, Sutiya etc.

The red ant eggs (amroli poruar tup) is considered a delicacy during the Rongali Bihu festival.

Herbs, greens, and vegetables are commonly eaten by simply cooking in water and salt, lightly frying, as a thick soup or by adding to varieties of lentils.

Some herbs peculiar to Assam are maan dhaniya, moran Ada, madhuhuleng, bhedai lota, manimuni, masundari, tengesi, thekera, kordoi, outenga, tengamora': etc.

Dail was not originally eaten by the indigenous people of Assam, but has slowly been adopted and adapted to local preferences due to external influences.

A traditional meal invariably begins with a khar dish, which can be prepared with raw papaya, mustard leaves, vegetables, pulses, fish or any other main ingredient.

The liquid khar is also simply eaten as kharoli with rice which is prepared by adding a few drops of mustard oil.

Assamese people have a peculiar tradition of eating a large variety of bitter dishes, many of which are considered delicacies.

[12] Fish dishes made with fermented bamboo shoot (khorisa) are generally sour, but they are not called tenga.

Tengamora (Roselle (plant)) or noltenga (Indian chestnut vine) and lentil is a distinct tenga curry.

The naroxingho masor jul is another authentic dish from Assam.The fishes are cooked in a light gravy of curry leaves which is a common aromatic herb used in southern and some northern parts of India.

The most popular is aloo pitika - আলু পিটিকা (mashed potatoes) garnished with raw onions, mustard oil, green chillies and sometimes boiled eggs.

Small fish, asiatic pennywort, matikaduri, tengamora leaves, heartleaf, dôrôn (Leucus longifolia), etc.

Chutney is made of coriander, spinach, tomato, heartleaf, curry leaf, chilli, lentil, chickpea etc.

Rice is a primary ingredient for the many rice beers (Nam-lao - নাম-লাও) or (Laopani/Xaaj) and liquors made in Assam by different ethnic communities: zou (Bodo), Aapong (Mishing), Rohi (ৰহি) and Mod (মদ) (Sonowal Kachari), Chuje (Chutia), Nam-lao -নাম-লাও (Tai-Ahom), Haj (Tiwa), Hor (Karbi), Photika - ফটিকা (Kachari), etc.

Made usually with soaked and ground rice, they could be fried in oil, roasted over a slow fire or baked and rolled over a hot plate.

It is made in other areas of East and South-East Asia and has similarities with them rather than any Mainland Indian cuisine form etc.