ARD Dinner

We had our last dinner as the 1st and last batch of ARD as a group at our convener's place (  @ the very famous and the super star academician  SBJ's (Jun's) place), Jun's new house is really good, with front and back side garden, he has been growing potato's in the Garden, Agrarian Studies Professor but farmer at heart :). The dinner was awesome, a combined effort  by all of us, I made Butter Chicken and veg pakoda's, TK made Chappatis and this guy can make chappatis better than all the Indian's in our batch. Jun cooked this really tasty rice with black pepper, olive and grated lime cover,  which I plan to replicate very soon and also chicken, AC made the best Tiramisu for dessert, the best I ever had and the best part about the Tiramisu was the decoration, she wrote ARD with blue berries on top....super awesome. MJR got a lot of appetizers, MA ( Venezuelan but the wannabe Nicaraguan hahaha) bought yummy Macaroons form France and the new Phd guy B made some greek salad, which was also quite yumm. We all had a great time but sure missed our Pinky panda, Hilhil and Prof Vince. At the end of the day I realized what a great year I have spent in ISS with my classmates from all over the world, I am looking forward to going back home and getting back to work but I sure will miss the group a lot.

AC's yummy Tiramisu.....the best I ever had

Globalisation and the food on my platter tonite

Imagine this, I am  sitting thousands of miles away from home, missing home, thinking of home and thinking of the food  cooked by mumma and the local Manipuri delicacies. But the same day for dinner I had Oukabi- Atouba, Kobi ga Nga ga thongba  & Yongchak ga Hawai maton singju, does that sounds like a really exotic Manipuri food platter, but how is it possible to be having all the manipuri delicacies sitting here in The Hague. Well the answer is rather very simple, global trade, Global free trade or in the most popular word 'Globalisation', we may not realize or thinking twice before picking something from the counter of a supermarket about the origin of the food we are buying, where does it come from, under what conditions it was grown/breed, how did it reached the counter and most importantly how much did the food growers earned. Globalisation makes import/export much easier compared to earlier days, Global trade has been happening since time immemorial but now the chances of me finding items from 20 different country in 1 single supermarket is really high compared to 10 or 15 years before. 

Today I was in a very good and positive mood, having made some progress in my RP I felt I needed to shop.....yeah shop but unlike a lot of people I shop for food when m happy....so I picked my bike and went to the best Chinese shop in town. While going through the frozen Fish/Meat/Sea food section I found a picket of Nga Oukabi , m not used to buying Oukabi which is packed well and imported from Vietnam, I picked up another packet of fish a 'Tinfoil barb' which is similar to small Karpu mach  imported again from Vietnam. I moved on to the vegetable section and found Fresh and well packed Haiwai-maton, I was rather excited to see it, I mean we don't get these things even in another part of India lets say Delhi or Bangalore but finding Hawai-maton in Hague sure triggered happiness in me. I also bought a packet of  green Yongchak Maru, I checked the origin of both the item and it was imported from Thailand. So there I was buying things from all over the world from 1 single counter. 

This makes me think how each of us are connected to someone unknown through the food we buy, the connection we hardly think or care about. At the end of the day all we care is the food on the platter. 

Ooti Asangba ( Green Ooti)

Ooti Asangba (Green Uti) Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Small cup of rice( Preferably Meitei chang).

Pangkhokla- mana 10-12 ( Aarbi leaves)

 Maroi-nakuppi.(250 gms)

 Mairen Mana ( Pumpkin leaves).

 Khamen-asinba mana anouba ( Tender Tomato Leaves)

Green chillies (7-8)

Cooking soda.

 Mustard oil.

Salt to taste.

Steps:

•  Mix the rice with some mustard oil and keep it aside.
•  Wash  some extra rice (which can be used for cooking later) and collect the water in a separate container, keep the water aside. ( Cing-he in Meiteilon) ( Using Cing-he is not recommended as it has high starch content but it makes the gravy thicker and the tastes better).
•   Wash all the green leaves and chop it into medium size pieces.
•   In a sauce pan or pressure cooker  put the Chinghe and add  chopped green chilles and all the chopped green leaves including the maroi nakuppi. ( Keep some chopped Nakuppi aside to be used later)
• Once it comes to a boil add the marinated rice and cook on low flame, add a pinch of cooking soda and continue cooking on low flame, till the rice is cooked. ( Try not to stir much as the Pangkhokla Mana may cause irritating in the throat later)
• Once the rice is cooked and the gravy is thick, shut the gas and let it cool for few mins.

The Final process:

• The final step is tempering  or Tadka lagana ( 'Shock touba' in Meiteilon).
• Take another pan and add about 2 tbsp of mustard oil, once it’s smoking hot add chopped Maroi-Nakupppi and Slit green chillies, fry it for 2 mins and add the cooked Ooti in the pan.
• Bring it to a boil and add 2/3 pinch of cooking soda.
•  Let it simmer on low flame and add salt to taste ( Remember that adding cooking soda makes food a bit salty so go easy while adding salt).
• Check the thickness of the gravy and once you feel the consistency is right, switch off the induction/gas and keep it covered.
•   Serve hot with white rice and Soibum Iromba.

Making Uti-Asangba for the first time in my Kitchen

The most important ingredient for Ooti-Asangba are the green leaves, while it’s easy to find the ingredients in Manipur. I had to go to three different places to buy the ingredients ( Pangkhokla & Mairen Mana  from the open market, Maroi-nakuppi from the Oriental supermarket and Khamen-asinba mana from the ornamental tomato plant I bought from Albert Heijn......yeah yeah Hum ‘Ooti- Asangba ke liyeh Kahi bhi ja saktey hai lol ) .  For those who live out of India and are dying to eat Ooti-Asangba, most of the ingredients  are available in the Oriental Stores  or check at stores selling South-East Asian and Chinese food items. The  ingredients I think will be a bit expensive but the taste is rewarding. Happy Cooking.

The almost perfect Cha-luk

Top Chef AN's Cha-luk

My fren AN cooks almost every traditional Manipuri dish to perfection and this time in Shillong she  made 'Ooti-Asangba' on popular demand :). Ooti-Asangba is one of my all time fav. Manipuri dish but I've never cooked it myself, my mom makes it really well but this time when I was home she refused it...she gave me the sarcastic look and said "Look at your weight"  this line was enough to make me stop my demands of all possible exotica Manipuri dish for the whole week I was home, but I knew that when I visit AN in Shillong she will make it (Khane mei thoda cheating chalta hai hehehe). AN had mastered the recipe from one Bamon but according to her she makes it much better than the bamon ( I believe her completely).

That day for lunch she made 'Ooti-Asangba, Ousoi kangshu, Fish fry and Leibak-hawai kanghou', I asked her helper to get the banana leaves from her garden and we turned the lunch into a yummy looking Cha-luk. I plan to make Ooti-Asangba  next week, the recipe will be uploaded.

Shillong again

Living Tree root bridge @ Riwai Village

I was back to being a nomad for a whole month. The journey started with a 10 day trip to home (Manipur) for few days, followed by Tripura and I finally made Shillong happen to meet my BFF Dr. AN (Phd), AN received her doctorate degree few months back from one of the best University is India (Delhi) and I am so proud of her. 

Reaching Shillong was a long way from Agartala, the Spicejet flight from Agartala to Guwahati  was very turbulent because of heavy rain and the trip from Guwahati to Shillong took 4 long hours, the roads were murky and the taxi driver was blasting all kinds of music...Hindi, English and even Spanish. AN came to pick me up and  AN not to my surprise played the perfect host as always, feeding me the best food,  a well arranged picnic and she had already bought so many things for me, from her recent trip to Delhi and few other places. I on the other hand knowing how much she loves Ilish mach, had bought 2 kgs of really good quality  Ilish mach from Battala, fried it and took it for her all the way to Shillong. AN's house  was super awesome....as her husband is an Army officer her  house was huge and what was really cool about her house was the garden, her ground floor flat has a huge garden and she had planted so much of Manipur veggies that I was super impressed with the garden and her house managing skills. 

My 3 days in Shillong went so fast but we did enjoyed a lot, the highlight of the trip was visiting the Living tree root bridge, that was just so amazing. More updates about my trip will follow.

Agartala again

I am back in Agartala for few weeks. The city I made home for 4 years and the city which taught me many things about life and work. I am really happy to be back after almost a year and half.....and yeah I declared it to the world, expressing my happiness as my facebook update is the same. But what is different about this visit is that I am here for academic work and not to do what I consider, I did best in my professional life. 

Talking about Agartala, I personally feel its one of the best cities to live in North-east India, during the 4 years, I saw many developmental activities and changes in the State. Development like improved infrastructure, new hotels, a small shopping mall  and opening of many branded showrooms. I saw all these transformation happening in a very short time and not just in the cities but even in other district and at villages too development did happen. As my work required me to travel lengths and breath in Tripura, I saw improved infrastructure in villages and district head-quarters. For a rural development professional like me, I've to to admit that developing cities does not necessarily mean development in real sense but what matters is the development of  rural areas, which I've seen is happening in most parts of Tripura. Though nothing much has changed  since I left the city but yes I've changed.... for good I hope and assume. 

Its a weird & funny feeling  but I feel like a tourist  this time, though a different kind of tourist, as I know what to expect and what not to, I know each corner of the city and what is best about the city. To feel like a tourist in a place which is so known to me is sure weird. But yes I do plan to eat the best food the city has to offer  ( Ilish Mach @ my fav. Shankar Hotel tops the list) , shop, take pictures and buy tant sarees and some souvenirs like all tourist do and yeah meet all the  people I know in this hot. humid but wonderful city.