Rice is a dominant ingredient in Assamese cuisine. The state produces different types of rice variants; a few are GI tagged too. Apart from using rice for cooking dishes, pitha or dumplings, and desserts, Assam has a unique culinary fare which employs ground rice to prepare a chicken dish. It came from the Mising tribe and is called Pitang Oiying or chicken in grounded rice gravy. It stands out since practically every home there has a unique method for preparing it. A few also refer to it as Ambin Oing, while some identify it as Pithagurir Lagat Kukura Mangkha (chicken meat cooked in rice flour for dumplings).
What makes it unique?
A platter of local recipes including pitang oiying, Image Source: on_my_plateee@Instagram
The Mishing or Mising tribe is the second-largest ethnic group in Assam and is the source of this incredibly regional recipe. Being a riverine population, rice predominates in the Mishings' diet. While corn flour is typically used in cooking to thicken dishes, the rice here does the trick.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg country chicken
- 1 large onion (chopped finely)
- Ginger- 1"
- Garlic cloves 10
- 4 green chillies
- Fresh coriander, roughly chopped- 4 tbsp
- Rice- 1/2 cup (any variety except sticky rice)
- Salt to taste
- Crushed black pepper- 1 tbsp
- Bay leaf- 2
- Turmeric- 1 tsp
- Mustard oil- 2 tbsp
- Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
- Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp
Chicken cooked in rice flour gravy, Image Source: WhackyTalky@Youtube
Method:
- Clean the chicken, cut it into small pieces and set it aside
- Rinse the rice thoroughly after 15 minutes of soaking. Dry-grind the wet rice coarsely. Make it coarse.
- Wash the green chillies, peel the garlic and ginger and grind them to a coarse paste
- In a wok, heat mustard oil, introduce the bay leaves and chopped onions and stir
- Add the ginger, garlic, and chilli paste once the onion changes colour. Cook for almost five minutes.
- Blend in the chicken pieces and season them with turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt to taste. Sauté all the ingredients for a few minutes.
- Add the ground rice and simmer for an additional one to two minutes. Till the chicken is cooked and the gravy thickens, slowly cook the chicken with the remaining salt and the addition of water.
- If needed, blend in some more water, but ensure it doesn't get runny. Simmer for another couple of minutes.
- Blend in the crushed black pepper and chopped coriander leaves, and turn off the flame
Serve the dish with rice. This can be relished as a one-pot meal as well.
Tip: One can add vegetables as potatoes cut into two halves and mustard greens along with the chicken pieces.
Try this rare and exquisite recipe of Mising tribe and treat your taste buds with Pitang Oiying.
