Love North Eastern Cuisine? Try These Assamese Recipes

Celebrated for its tea gardens, Assam, located in the heart of North East India offers a rich culinary experience. The best part about traditional Assamese food is that it is not laden with bold spices, but is prepared with local and fresh produce. With the use of fermented ingredients and indigenous herbs, the North Eastern cuisine usually stands out for its simplicity and freshness.

So, whether you’re trying the cuisine or want to add a North Eastern dish to a spread, this is just the right article for you. Curated by Chef Ranjan Majumdar, Executive Chef, Mayfair Spring Valley Resort, Guwahati, here are some traditional Assamese recipes that are easy to follow and can be replicated at home.

Bhapa Pitha

Ingredients:

  • White rice: 240 gms
  • Freshly scraped coconut: 100 gms
  • Jaggery powder: 40 gms
  • Cardamom powder: 5 gms
  • Salt: 5 gms

Instructions:

  1. Wash the rice nicely, drain it, and spread it on a tray to dry. Then grind to make powder and sieve.
  2. Dry roast the sieved powder on medium heat until a sweet fragrance emits. Don’t over-roast to make the powder brown in colour.
  3. Transfer to a big mixing bowl. Add salt.
  4. Boil sufficient water and, with the help of boiling water, make a semi-soft dough. Note that you only have to use boiling water to make the dough. 
  5. Cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
  6. In the meantime, make the stuffing. For that, dry roast scraped coconut on medium-low heat for a few minutes. This will enhance the taste and flavour of the coconut.
  7. Next, add jaggery and cardamom powder and mix well until the jaggery melts completely.
  8. Mix well again, and your stuffing is done. Remove from the heat.
  9. Now, from the prepared dough, take a lemon-sized portion.
  10. Make a patty first, and then make a cavity and stuff one tablespoon of coconut mixture. Fold and give the size of a gujiya. This is the traditional size. But I made the pithas with my cookie mould just to give them a new style.
  11. Place them in a steamer. Cover and steam them for about 20 minutes.
  12. Transfer the steamed pithas to a colander and pour some cold water over the pithas. This will prevent the pithas from sticking to each other.

Kaas Kolor Pitika

Ingredients:

  • Raw green banana: 3
  • Onion chopped: 80 gms
  • Green chillies chopped: 15 gms
  • Coriander leaves chopped: 20 gms
  • Salt: 5 gms
  • Mustard oil: 15ml
  • Red chilli flakes: 4 gms

Instructions:

  1. Boil the raw banana along with the peel till it is fork-tender. You can pressure cook for one whistle. Set aside to cool. Then peel the skin off and mash well.
  2. Transfer to a bowl and add all the above-mentioned ingredients. Mix well. You may drizzle some more mustard oil while serving.
  3. Serve with steamed rice or chapatti.

Masor Tenga (Fish Curry)

Ingredients:

  • Rohu Fish pieces: 500 gms
  • Mustard oil: 50 gms
  • Fenugreek seeds: 4 gms
  • Onion chopped: 50 gms
  • Ginger-garlic paste: 20 gms
  • Tomatoes: 60 gms
  • Salt: 10 gms
  • Green chilies slit: 15 gms
  • Turmeric powder: 5 gms
  • Lime juice: 10ml
  • Coriander leaves chopped: 20 gms

Instructions:

  1. Marinate the fish pieces with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder for 10 minutes. 
  2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the fish till golden in colour. Drain and keep aside.
  3. Temper the same oil with fenugreek seeds. Sauté for a few seconds and then add the onion. Stir-fry till light brown.
  4. Add the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder and green chillies. Sauté for a minute.
  5. Then add the tomato puree and salt. Cover and simmer for a minute more.
  6. Add 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil. Add the fried fish and simmer, covered on a medium flame for 3-4 minutes.
  7. When done, add the coriander leaves and lime juice. Switch off the flame and transfer to a serving dish.
  8. Serve this Assamese delicacy with hot steamed rice.

Assamese Pahadi Lai Ki Sabzi

Ingredients:

  • Lai red mustard green: 400 gms
  • Mustard oil: 25ml
  • Dry red chillies broken: 4 gms
  • Hing: 3 gms
  • Salt: 5 gms
  • Red chilli powder: 5 gms
  • Turmeric powder: 3 gms

Instructions:

  1. Remove the tough stems from the base of the greens. Wash the leaves in water twice or thrice to ensure they are clean.
  2. Chop the greens into very fine threads; finer they are cut, the tastier the dish. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed wok over high heat.
  3. Once the oil reaches the smoking point, reduce the heat to low. Add the dry red chillies. Fry for 10 seconds or so.
  4. Add asafoetida and cook for a few seconds. Now add the chopped greens and stir to mix. Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder.
  5. Mix nicely and cover the wok with a lid. Allow the vegetable to cook on a low flame till the greens turn soft. It will take 10 -12 minutes. Stir the vegetables at regular intervals to avoid getting burned.
  6. There should be no liquid from the greens in the wok. Do not cook the greens for too long.
  7. Serve Lai Ki Sabzi warm with rice.