Nagaland is a region that is known for its distinct culture, traditions, and, most importantly, for its cuisine. The state that hosts the famous Hornbill festival is home to the famous Naga rice, pork, chicken, and all things spicy. Almost every Naga home has a bunch of "Ghost chillies" (named after Bhut Jolokia, the world's hottest chilli), and the cuisine is known to combine certain herbs and spices with meat and bamboo shoots.
Besides the popular Naga dishes such as pork stew, zutho, and fish in bamboo shoots, the cuisine also boasts of certain side dishes that many of us might not be aware of. One of Nagaland's most popular delicacies, Akhuni or Axone, is found and used in almost every household. It is an intensely aromatic type of condiment made with fermented soybeans.
Axone is a standard fermented product in the region that is prepared all year by people of all tribes. However, it is the Sema tribe from the southern part of the state that is largely credited with producing the best axone in the state. Axone, fermented in a semi-coarse soya bean paste, is used along with vegetables to make a stew. It has a bitter, smoked taste, which people in Nagaland enjoy with smoked pork or dried river fish.
Akhuni can be enjoyed as a chutney as well, which is commonly prepared by roasting and grinding a handful of red chillies, tomatoes, and ginger, which are then added together and mixed well for a great texture. Akhuni is also enjoyed in cake form, which is not very common as it takes much longer, often days, to ferment perfectly.
To prepare the cake form, dry soyabeans are boiled in water until they are tender. They are then poured into a bamboo basket, covered with a leaf, and kept near a fireplace. The heat from the fire begins to ferment it. And the beans are left to go through the process undisturbed for about 4 days. After that, they are pounded and mashed gently, rather than a fine paste. The pounded cake is further divided into smaller portions. Each portion is wrapped in a leaf and left to ferment for a day or two before being served to consume.
