Yongchaak story

Yongchaak or Parkia speciosa (petai, bitter bean,sataw, twisted cluster bean, yongchaa, yongchaak, zawngtah or stink bean), I bet its most manipuri's fav. veggie. Yongchaak
can be eaten in many form raw yongchaak singju(after peeling the green cover), boiled and mashed with aloo and other veggies 'Yongchaak Eromba', fried with other veggies 'yongchaak Kanghou' and sun dried after peeling the green cover for later consumption. I never used to like yongchaak eromba as a kid but I always liked yongchaak singju and another preparation of yongchaak I really like with 'Yongchaak ka aloo ga kangmet', that happens to be one of my mom's fav. dish from the list of things I cook.

In Tripura the locals also eat yongchaak but they are not very fond if it...its not as popular as it is in Manipur, I guess thats why its much cheaper the yongchaak I buy for 10 bucks here will cost me more then 100 bucks in Manipur, its yongchaak season now and I've been having yongchaak singju almost everyday resulting in many loo diaster hahaha. I was seraching for yongchaak in google and came across some interesting post on yongchaak, its popular in Malayasia and other south Asian countries, its good to know that....I also read that its very nutritious and high in energy after consumption some research was also conducted using yongchaak and it was found be very good for athletis.....accha hai yongchaak khane ka aneek reason mei se eek aur good reason mil gaya humko.....

Soibum Eromba

Eromba, a generic name of the dish prepared with crushed boiled vegetables, fermented fish with chilly. This taste is different depending on the type of vegetable used, for example with Bamboo shoot it is called “Soibum eromba” with Giant bean “Yongchaak eromba” with young banana stem “Laphu eromba” and so on. Where “Ametpa or Morok Metpa and Singju” meaning dry crusted with Ngari with chilly, Chilly with fresh vegetables is even used in the fast food in the local restaurants, it is a hot and tasty preparation. Eromba by its nature is usually on the higher side of hotness when it comes to the amount of chilly used.(Source wikipedia: Meitei)
The above pic. is of Soibum(fermented bamboo shoot) eromba one of my fav. eromba.
Ingredients:
1.150 gms Soibum.
2.2 medium size potato
3.10-12 dried red chillies.
4.Ngari (Fermented fish)
5. Salt to taste
Method:
-Wash the soibum for 4-5 times.
-In a pressure cooker put soibum,potato's and chilles.
-Keep till three whistle.
-Make a paste of the boiled chillies, ngari and salt.
-Mix the chille-ngari paste with aloo and soibum. Add water if u wish to make the gravy light but do not add the same water in which you've boiled soibum.
-Garnish with onion, the mouth watering soibum eromba is ready....m feeling hungryyy

Terracotta Art

(Pic. of terracotta items on display and sale during the 19th I& C Fair, Agartala)

Terra cotta has been used throughout history for sculpture and pottery, as well as bricks and roof shingles. In ancient times, the first clay sculptures were dried (baked) in the sun after being formed. Later, they were placed in the ashes of open hearths to harden, and finally kilns were used, similar to those used for pottery today(Source Wikipedia: Terracotta)

(Pic. of terra cotta utility items during an exhibition Dilli Haat)

Terra cotta utility items were the first to be used for cooking and other purposes, excavations from historical sites have revelled that. Whether its Harappa civilisation or mesopotamia pieces of terra cotta items have always been found, I've a small piece of terra cotta pottery from Harappa; I was thrilled when I collected it that was during a college trip to Pakistan. Everything abt the trip to Pakistan was memorable esp. the Harappa site visit, Takht-ti-bahi, Islamabad, NWFP, Lahore and the famous Kinnarid College.

Coming back to Terra cotta, my association with terra cotta utility items is since birth, my dad's village is a village of potters, in Manipur there are very few villages which does potery and my dad's village "Thongjao" located in Thoubal Dist. i one of the very few villages which does pottery. From ngari-kharung to flower pots almost everything they make, the potential for developing the village and the craft is there but sadly nothing much can be done looking at the current situation. Some NGO's have done intresting work with Terra Cotta I found one during the 19th I&C mela in Agartala, I bought some items the best were the spoon and knife holder for my kitchen simple yet elegant....

Nariyal ladoo-A Success Story

I knw koi connection nahi hai...btw a nariyal ka ladoo and a success story, few years back thats how most hindi movie titles were like...Daag-The fire, pple can go really bonkers. Talking abt my story this weekend I tried making nariyal ladoo's and yeah this time it’s a success story, last time I tried making nariyal ladoo it was a TOTAL DIASTER after spending the whole day grating coconut the result was not nariyal ka ladoo but some really bad Nariyal kheer lookalike….somebody wrote a comment on my blog (I really wonder who read my blogs nor I’ve any intention of publicizing it)that I shd use desiccated coconut powder, instead of freshly grated coconut …….I tried the recipe and bingooooo the ladoo’s were yummy & turned out as good as the Agarwal Sweets one I normally buy from Delhi…man I was so damn impressed with myself…sala nariyal ka ladoo bana diya bahut sahi…addition of another recipe, in list of things I can make very well……dao are you reading?????????????

Beaches,Fish fry and more

I love beaches for the simple fact that I can sit at the shore for hrs an hrs without getting bored for a single moment....watching the never ending waves ebbing and enjoying a good roasted corn....awesome..... I've visited many beaches.....Juhu,Mumbai was the first beach I saw in my life (before that I had seen only in film and posters) I was not so impressed, it was very dirty and me and my fren "A" just chilled for sometime and came back....that was when I was in Mumbai.....then Bandstand, Bandra, Marine Drive and alsmot all the beaches within city limits of Mumbai I visited.....Alibaug was 2nd....then...3rd was Puri, I'll never forget the trop to Puri beach coz I dropped my phone on the beach and found it....4th was Marina Beach...then Pondy where some of my ex colleagues went gaga over the beach and one ex colleague didn't liked sitting at the shore...this person was like "Chalo aap log kya kar rahe ho, bore nahi ho rahe kya" that was lil too much.....then the Kovalam trip....the best were our class picnic to Alibaug and yeah Kovalam, Kovalam was a paid luxury trip, stay at Leela...backwater ride it was like a dream come true.....My first trip to Marina Beach in Chennai was memorable...the trip was abt 3 yrs back...it was so much better then the Mumbai beaches WHY??? Marina beach still has a lot of sand left.....and the best part abt the visit to Marina beach was the pomfret fish fry I had and of course the butta...this time too I had the same thing again but didn't bought anything....last time I had purchased corel, to gift to colleagues back in Ahmedabad...my colleague "K" bought pearls...she was of course thrilled with the buy as she was planning to get married....and she had elaborate plans to use them in her jewellery....it was sure fun and I did had a good time.......this time also I enjoyed every single moment and would love to go back again....just watching the never ending sea and people going mad in the water...kids, young couple, old couple, whole village gang and me enjoying one happy moment in life....

Giving way in the new year-2009

Lemme start the year with giving way to wild animal crossing....m sure alot of us have seen sign post saying "Give way to pedestrian" but sign post like this one m sure very few of us've seen...I've been seeing this sign post for more then one and half years...and I think its really cool...its the sign post near Sipahijala Sanctuary...unfortunately except for some monkeys I've not seen any animal crossing road in the past one and half years of my passing through the area...Sipahijala Wildlife Sanctuary is Tripura mei world famous..any dignitaries coming from outside the state is taken there... god only knws why...I mean its a nice place but nothing great...I took mum there when she was here "last year" (for some reason I am really thrilled to write 2008 as last year)...we went to the zoo there which was stinking like crazy....the only fascinating wild animal I saw was the "Royal Bengal Tiger"....winter at Sipahijali is supposed to be good.... many species of migratory bird migrate at the sanctuary, so for bird watchers I am sure it must be heaven...the forest dept. has good accommodation facility and some nice jungle lodges...maybe I shd visit and try out the accommodation there...just for kicks