Until recently, our knowledge of Northeast food culture was restricted to momos and thukpa , and misconceptions about ‘uncustomary’ meats. While eateries focussing on the cuisine have popped up across the country , it has also found a dedicated space for the first time in a luxury property. At the recently-launched ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata, the 24-hour multi-cuisine restaurant, Grand Market Pavilion, will offer signature dishes from all eight Northeast states as part of their daily menu.
Diners can taste the fiery cuisine of Nagaland, Nepalese-inspired fare from Sikkim, and a blend of tribal and Bengali cuisine from Tripura. Arunachal Pradesh’s organic fare and neo-Burmese flavours from Mizoram also make their presence felt at the counter. Manipuri cuisine will surprise vegetarians, while Meghalayan influences from the Khasis, Garos and Jaintyas, and Assam’s multi-ethnicity also come through in the dishes.
Food for thought
Cluster executive chef for ITC Royal Bengal and ITC Sonar, Vijay Malhotra, says given the growing popularity and acceptability, “we felt that Northeast cuisine needs to be on our horizon”. They have employed five chefs from the region, who have past experience of running eateries in their home states, to rustle up authentic fare.
KOLKATA, 22/06/2019: ITC ROYAL BENGAL (TO GO WITH INDRANI ARTICLE FOR WEEKEND SECTION) : Visitors enjoying the North East cuisine at the Multi-cuisine bu?et restaurant, Grand Market Pavilion at newly opened ITC Royal Bengal Five Star Hotel on the by pass road adjacent to the Science City in Kolkata. Photo by: Rajeev Bhatt/The Hindu
Yet, ‘rustle up’ is perhaps an unfair expression to describe the preparation of these dishes — it is more of slow-cooking that brings out the flavour, where onion and garlic score as ingredients over the traditional cumin or five-spice seasoning. Meat, rice and local vegetables are the basic inputs. While recipes have not been modified, Malhotra says they have been picked to suit local tastes, citing instances of some fermented fish and greens that have been avoided for now.
Food historian Ashish Chopra, who is also a culinary expert on Northeast cuisine, sees it eclipsing the popularity usually enjoyed by Chinese food (or the Indo-Chinese version, at least). More importantly, for a region that’s largely ignored, the growing acceptance of their food will help bust long-standing myths, and hopefully, bring people closer, he says.
However, Auroni Mookerjee, chef and GM, The Salt House, Kolkata, says that unless every aspect of the cuisine is showcased — be it beef, pork, offal or fermented foods — justice will not be done to the sheer variety available there. “There are some standard dishes that are showcased in the name of Northeast cuisine. Usually, these do not feature the distinctive meats, like beef and fatty pork,” says Mookerjee. “Offal is also popular, like pork trotters and intestines in Sikkim. Blood is used heavily, in sausages and to thicken gravies. Fermented foods have an acquired taste, but they are also central.” Spice is another integral part, he shares, and using fresh Naga chillies and bhut jolokhia give a completely different taste. “You don’t see many of these coming through. Of course, it will take time to go mainstream, much like miso did. If smaller eateries serving home-style cooking can source fresh ingredients (I’ve had river snails at The Categorical Eat-Pham, Delhi), it should not be too difficult for larger restaurant chains and hotels.”
- Given that the ingredients are not easily available locally, ITC Royal Bengal has developed vendors for sourcing the herbs, vegetables, red and black rice and lentils. While these stocks are replenished once a fortnight, perishables arrive twice a week. “We get parilla seeds for use in stews and making pastes. Badami alu (a variety of potatoes smaller than an almond) is also a key vegetable for stews,” says Chef Malhotra.
- For Ramayom Keishing of North East Kitchen in Chennai, sourcing authentic ingredients can be tricky, but he relies on local suppliers for king chillies and bamboo shoots, while an agent back home in Manipur helps with spices.
- Pooja Pangtey gets parilla seeds, sesame and turmeric couriered to her, while dried pork and beef and sent after her partner Teiksham Lyndrah does a quality check. “Some herbs like basil we buy locally for use in chutneys , but others like hooker chive or Naga dhaniya we bring from the region, either through friends travelling or through couriers,” she adds.
Country kitchens
Not too long ago, a trip to the Northeast was one of two ways to take in its pristine beauty and sample the unique cuisine. The other: wait to be invited for dinner at the home of a friend from any of the eight states. But today, the distinctive flavour of the Northeast has made its presence felt in many cities across the country in smaller restaurants and pop-ups offering a no-holds-barred culinary experience.
Take Ramayom Keishing’s venture in Chennai, North East Kitchen, for instance. The four-year old restaurant has gained cult status for its range of beef and pork dishes, and other specialities. This includes the fermented soybean paste, axone , and smoked pork with bamboo shoot gravy. Their USP: no pandering to all palates; they stay true to the authentic flavours. “After working at various organisations for 18 years, I wanted to do something on my own. I felt that food could bridge the gap that exists between the mainland and the Northeast,” Keishing says. The popularity of the place has helped him recover costs and repay loans.
Flavour trail
New Delhi was ahead of the curve, with small shacks offering insights into the cuisine decades ago. Now, restaurants focus on one particular state: like Oh! Assam and Nagaland’s Kitchen. In nearby Gurugram, Tanisha Phanbuh says of Together at 12th, “We offer a mixed menu, but patrons are quite partial to Northeast dishes like bamboo chicken and bhut jholakia hot wings.” The chef from Shillong, who has worked at restaurants like Monkey Bar, also hosts #TribalGourmet pop-ups, featuring dishes like braised pork belly tossed in a black sesame gravy. Mookerjee mentions The Categorical Eat-Pham in Safdarjung, where the menu includes stir-fried fish gizzards and the fermented Manipuri fish, ngari .
Elsewhere, Bengaluru has Axomi ( aloo pitika ), Mizo Kitchen (smoked meat dishes), Zingron (duck curries) and the Smokey Tribe Restaurant (for a variety of Naga chutneys), among others. Pooja Pangtey, who runs the Mumbai-based Meraki Kitchen with Teiskhem Lynrah, says they were colleagues in a bank “and would often cook simple dishes from our region for one another. That’s when we thought of launching our food business, concentrating on cuisine from my home state of Uttarakhand and hers of Meghalaya.” While Lynrah subsequently left for home, they are still together in the venture, with pop-ups and food festivals on their calendar.
