Yongchak -- A Popular Manipuri Dish

A Myanmarese girl selling yongchak

 at Indian border town Moreh, Manipur

Ask any Manipuri, who has been outside the Northeast for a good period of time, what he missed most in his daily menu; lo and behold, he will retort "yongchak iromba". Known by different names such as stink bean, bitter bean, twisted cluster bean etc., this tree bean, yongchak, has occupied a unique place in the culinary delights of every Manipuri in particular and every Northeastern tribal in general. The inclusion of this item, as a side dish, in the Ningol Chakouba festival of the Manipuris, held every year in the month of November, is considered privileged. Being a seasonable produce, the availability in the market just starts trickling in around this time and hence the scarcity galore. A couple of pods cost much more than what is in normal time.

An evergreen rain-forest tree, it is grown mostly in Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland. The height of the plant is about twenty five to thirty metres and leaves are evenly bipinnate, thirty to eighty cm long. Known as Manipur-urohi in Assamese, Manipuri-seem in Bengali, zawngtah in Mizo, with wide spreading crown having yellow white flowers, the pods are about thirty cm long, pendulous and greenish before ripe, black and shining afterwards. A plant of the genus Parkia in the family Fabaceae, both its flowers and pods are fondly eaten either raw or cooked by the Manipuris.

 Loklei (galangal) a ginger family

The demand for yongchak is so much that the farmers of Manipur cannot meet it and therefore have to purchase from outside the state. Namphalong, near Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh, and Silchar in southern Assam via Jiribam, are the known routes of this vegetable for Imphal market. Due to soil and climatic variation of different topographical areas, the flavour reportedly varies from place to place. This could perhaps be one of the reasons why it values in taste in some areas. Known as Kampai, among the Rongmei tribe of Tamenglong district in Manipur, the pods of the plant at Dailong village generally mature ahead of others. Imphal bound passengers rush for it in their morning market.

For preparing the famed yongchak iromba, a host of local spices as ingredients are needed to enrich the aromatic and tangy flavour. Loklei (galangal), lomba (esholtzia blanda), maroi nakupi (Chinese chives), tokningkok (chameleon leaves), phakpai (Vietnamese coriander), koukha (arrowhead), along with ngari (fermented dry fish) and fresh indigenous fish like ngakra (clarias magur), and Meitei ngamu (channa orientalis) are just some of them besides coriander, spring onion, Manipuri red potato, chilli etc. In fact a fish or chicken preparation is less expensive in terms of money and time than a yongchak iromba dish. For vegetarians who do not eat fish, yongchak can be cooked in many ways. Cooking with fermented soya bean, locally known as hawaichar, is one good combination, while stir-fry with koukha (arrowhead) and shrimp is another tasty option.

Lomba (esholtzia blanda)

Another equally popular item is yongchak singju -- a Manipuri style raw salad. Peruk (centella), pheija (flower of a wild plant), tender pea leaves, etc., besides yongchak make the preparation not only rich in anti-oxidant but also wholesome. In fact, peruk and pheija are never planted generally but grow wild naturally in the nearby hills and valleys. This makes their nutritive food values organic. The flower of the yongchak plant is also used in singju. 

Known commonly as petai or pete in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, mai-karien in Myanmar, karieng or riang in Thailand, cupang in Philippines, the plant is native to Southeast Asian countries, including the Northeastern part of India and Bangladesh. It is said that no southern Thai meal would be complete without stir-fried stink beans. Indonesian nasi goreng kambing pete, fried rice with goat meat and stink beans, Thai mu phat sato, pork stir-fried with stink beans, are just some of the popular dishes.

Much had been said about Look East. And now it is about Act East. But what about Eat East? It is right time now to rediscover some of the traditional cuisines of the Northeast.

Konjengbam Kameshore

(Courtesy: Eastern Panorama, Shillong, March, 2015)

NB: The writer is not responsible for use or abuse of blog caption "Kameshore's articles" in any form, manner, site, whatsoever by anybody.

Konjengbam Kameshore

Imphal, Dt. 24.07.2015

Chirus Celebrate the Cupid

LAMBAKA FESTIVAL

Lambaka festival at Waithou Chiru village

 photo by Angir Chiru

The state of Manipur is inhabited by many tribes who are broadly divided into two – the Naga and the Kuki. The Chiru tribal belong to the Naga fraternity and have a Mongolian type of countenance. Dolang, Waithou, Charoi Khulen, Bungte, Nungsai, Kangchup, Lamdangmei, Thangjing, Sadu and Ural are Chiru inhabited villages with a total population of about seven thousand only. It is believed that they are originally from Tamenglong district.

Like some of the Naga tribes, the Chirus have a recognized house called Sher where unmarried young men at night keep in ready weapons of attack and defence like licenced guns, spear, daos, and shields etc. Females are strictly prohibited to enter it. It is the hub of village polity and events ranging from festivals to group clashes are discussed and decided here first.

Lambaka – the festival of merry-making is held every year in the month of Wakching (December-January) in front of the Sher for three or four days consecutively. The village elders including the chief come to the Sher for morning obligation and discourse. Dance items and songs are frequently interrupted with liberal supplies of yu (rice beer) and pork cooked in ginger and chilli sauce.  Girls of marriageable age called Sangpi come to the Sher with head loads of yu brewed in their homes. Before the liquor is served it is customary on the part of the Sangpi to enact a dance by rounding the Sher three times. Boys of marriageable age, Reibak Derkai, dance opposite the Sangpi.

During the dance, a peculiar dholak made from hollowed tree trunk and skin of Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) is used. Mouth organs consisting of gourds and small bamboo tubes and also horns of either a buffalo or a mithun (bos frontalis) are other musical instruments.

The Lambaka festival is an ideal occasion for the young boys and girls to meet. The elopement, Sungkung Moiloi, follows the festival. Mangkat (bride price) consisting of three bronze saucers, a strong and coarse cloth, Ponrobo, and rupees three hundred are inspected and agreed by the Tangba, the henchmen of the village chief, before the marriage is solemnized. After the formalities, the boy and girl are declared engaged.

The boy has first to stay for three years at the residence of the girl’s father helping him in his work. The system is called Leng lo and if anyone breaches it the punishment is either a big pig or a cow for community feast and the offender has to pay the bill. During this period of three years no physical intimacy is allowed.

Konjengbam Kameshore

(Courtesy: North East Sun, New Delhi, February 26-March 4, 1994)

The Cup That Cheers

 TAMENGLONG TEA

Tea plants growing wild 

at Tamenglong Khunjao

Tea is a popular beverage and everybody loves to drink it. Tea drinking in the cold afternoons became so good a tradition in England since 1744 that George Berkeley, the Irish bishop, declared it fit for consumption as “the cup that cheers, but not inebriates”.

Drinking tea regularly can replace the bad habit of Bacchus worshipping. Arup Kumar Dutta of Assam in his famed book “Cha Garam – the tea story” says that from an early period Chinese society had tried to use tea to fight the evils of alcoholism and the immoderate use of wine. He further says that though there is no etymological evidence to prove it, the word ‘teetotaller’ or a person who abstains himself from drinking alcoholic beverages is a phonetic derivation of ‘tea-total’ or a total drinker of tea.

When Sir James Johnstone, the British political agent in Manipur (1877-1886) once approached the king, Chandrakriti Maharaja, for permission to grow tea for his own consumption, the latter sent an official and told the agent, “The Maharaja will supply you with all the tea you want free of cost, but begs not to think of growing it”. The fear of being annexed had prompted the Maharaja to prevent the political agent from growing it.

Tamenglong district shares a common boundary line with Cachar district (Assam) where tea was introduced long time back. And it is natural that the plantation came from the neighbouring area. However, it is believed tea plants have been growing wild in the hills of Tamenglong since time immemorial. Unknown to the outside world, it has been an essential item for the tribals. 

Tea is so popular in the region that there is not a single village in the entire district where at least some plants are not grown. It is planted as boundary fencing of homestead land also. Tender leaves are plucked and dried either in the sun or in the fire according to the taste of the villagers. Then the dried tea leaves with stems are hand-crushed and packed for the morning market. They sold it at Rs. 35 a kg.

Another popular way of drinking it is to wash down the meals with liberal dose of it which neither has sugar nor milk in it. They prefer sipping it seated around a fire and visitors are welcomed over a cup of this tea that cheers the mood and is so mild and benign that it does not inebriate at all.

There is a likelihood of pesticide residue in the company marketed tea that will affect the health of consumers whereas the organically grown tea of Tamenglong is hundred percent chemical free and perfectly safe for drinking. Manipur Plantation Crops Corporation Ltd., established in 1981-82 as a government company under Company Act 1956 to promote tea and coffee plantation could not extend desired credit facilities to the poor tribal villagers. Big players like Brooke Bond, Lipton and Duncan Agro etc., may not like to extend their hands for plantation in the district though they may have different schemes in neighbouring Assam.

Anyway, when someone says about Tata Tea ( or for that matter any tea company) I would say my Tamenglong Tea because it is not only cheaper and tastier and free from possible chemical residue but also organically grown, clean, healthy and what not.

Konjengbam Kameshore 

(Courtesy: North East Sun, New Delhi, October 15-31, 1998)