Corn n Rice with Greens cooked North East Indian Style~Indian State Meghalaya

Corn n Rice with Greens cooked North East Indian Style~Indian State Meghalaya

At Meghalaya today! So what are you going to eat for....

The people of Meghalaya, like the other indigenous communities, have their typical cooking pattern, according to the availability of food stuffs in Meghalaya. Moreover, the Meghalaya cuisine can be divided into three distinctive styles: Garo, Khasi and Jaintia.

However inspite of their differences in the cooking styles of the tribes the main Meghalaya food comprises of rice along with fish or meat preparations. The food crops of Meghalaya are rice and maize, rice being the staple food. 

 Fruits like oranges, guava, pineapples, bananas, lemon, etc form an important part of the food in Meghalaya and are grown here.

The people of Meghalaya have a varied diet from rice and maize,  millet, tapioca, etc. Besides, the people of Meghalaya rear goats, pig, ducks, and fowls and consume their meat they also eat the meat of bison, deer, wild pigs, etc. Fish, crabs, eels, prawns, dry fishes also form a major part of the food in Meghalaya.

The people of Meghalaya practice 'jhum' cultivation; and the yields are a part of diet.

Don’t be surprised if you see  the people of Meghalaya are chewing Betel leaf and unripe betel nut. Like in the mainland  people  prefer having betel leaf, along with dried tobacco and lime.

In Meghalaya, a special kind of beer is prepared from fermented rice. The rice beer is prepared by fermenting the rice, and then distilling it. The use of rice-beer is most prevalent during the various religious ceremonies.

Thus, it is evident that the Meghalayan food is a typical Meghalaya cuisine with its own innovations and delicacies. 

Coing down to my experiences cooking for Meghalaya...

I was tearing my hair out for Meghalaya .I tried fermenting the soya bean. My experiments with the beans ended up in the bin as Bai decided that I had forgotten the beans and they were not edible.

I was at my wits end… the nagging thought was with so much green cover how come there are no vegetables eaten? Since the food is mainly boiled or smoked or fermented there has to be something  I can make which we will like.

Finally I hit gold when I read this page called Down to Earth the author has introduced “chef from Shillong, Lambert Chiang, currently a junior sous chef at Sheraton New Delhi.

 Chef Lambert Chiang is responsible of introducing the author to the various greens that Meghalaya has and the author has  said, ” It is often assumed that people in the north-eastern states eat only non- vegetarian food. But then assumptions about the culture and cuisine of people in the Northeast is more often than not proved wrong. Just as a meal in a home in the region is considered incomplete without a piece or two of meat of choice, it is equally incomplete without vegetables. “

Then there was a discussion on tree tomatoes, various kinds of mustard etc. and how the different tribes have their meat but it is considered incomplete without greens.

Finally in the last paragraph the site of my buried treasure I found this paragraph,” Last year, Chiang enthralled the visitors by giving a modern touch to the dishes prepared by the village residents. He also tried his hand at innovative dishes, using ingredients like millets. His version of corn rice is worth trying. This is essentially made of short grain rice cooked with corn kernels and water. The procedure is simple: soak the rice in water for ten minutes; take the corn kernels and boil for 15 minutes and blend it roughly and keep aside. The corn is added to the rice and cooked in water. You can have this with any vegetable of your choice. And, it does taste better than plain rice.”

That’s exactly what I have done. Served it with the methi or fenugreek leaves that I had seen at Rajani’s place of course Rajani had used Palak or spinach i had methi and loads of it and hmarcha rawt.

It was awesome.

Corn n Rice~ indian State Meghalaya 

Rice and Corn Meghalaya Style 

Indian State: Meghalaya 

Recipe Source: Greens of Meghalaya

For Rice Meghalaya Style you will need:

• ½ cup rice
• ¼ cup corn
• Salt
• Water

Method:

• Wash and soak the rice (used ½ cup water) for 10 minutes. ( I used Sona masuri).
• In cooker I boiled the corn with ½ cup water for 1 whistle.
• Once the pressure dropped I removed the corn (thanked my stars they cooked but needed some more cooking about ¾ done ) and blended them with the immersion mixer. Coarsely.
• Next I added the corn ( and the water) and the rice with the soaked water. The water  was approximately double the corn and rice, added salt, mixed well and cooked for 1 whistle.
• Remove when the pressure drops.

The veggie is simple you can check it out here but for my own reference I prefer to write it down here.

Greens North East Indian Style

Greens cooked North East Indian Style

Recipe Source:Aakhol Ghor and My Kitchen Trails 

Ingredients:

• 1 bundle methi, washed and picked ( I did not cut it)
• Oil
• ½ tsp paas puran(optional not in original recipe )
• 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ inch piece of ginger, grated
• 1 onion chopped
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat the oil in a kadhai/wok.
• Add the paas puran when it splutters add the ginger garlic. Fry till you get an aroma.
• Add the onion and greens . Let the green wilt a bit.( this gives me a better idea of the amount of salt to use).
• Cover and let it  cook under the lid , say 5 minutes.
• Serve hot with the rice.

As for hmarcha rawt wait till tomorrow!!

Hmarcha Rawt 

Linking up with 
Fabulous Friday Feast at Pavani's  and Usha's!!

An InLinkz Link-up

 

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