Translated from Kokborok by Hamari Jamatia. The original article can be found here.
Tripuri food is one of the healthiest cuisines around. The cooking is done without masalas and oil. Yet, the taste will blow your mind away!
I recently had the opportunity to tickle my taste buds at an ongoing food festival held in Agartala. From the time I reached the vicinity of the venue, my mouth began to water due to the aroma that was wafting through the air, mixed with the chill of the winter evening. This is a festival that celebrates my local cuisine and so it was very exciting to have every delicacy available around me. Usually, I would have to wait for special occasions and pujas to taste some of the dishes, but today, I could eat whatever I wanted.
The festival called ‘Tripuri Traditional Food Festival’ is usually held on a grand scale on a big field called Astabol Math at the centre of Agartala city, but this year, it was shifted to the smaller venue of Dasarath Bhavan due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The festival will go on till December 12. All sellers were wearing masks to ensure safety. As can be expected, there was a smaller crowd as compared to other years, which is a good thing.
The moment one enters the gates, one can see people dressed in their traditional best to welcome the guests. After a brief opening ceremony by the Tripura Students Association that had organised the programme, it was time to roam around, enjoy the sights and smell of heavenly food. One of the stalls that seemed to evoke the most interest was stall number 5 that was selling mouth-watering awaang (sticky rice) and wahan mosodeng (pork chilly mix). Here is a list of all the star dishes:
Awang Bangwi
This dish is prepared by wrapping sticky-rice, ginger, salt and onion in a special leaf. It is then boiled in water until the rice are soft and fully cooked. It is an aromatic rice whose smell can spread out into the vicinity. Each piece is available for Rs 20.
Wasong Gudok
It is a very tasty dish where the vegetables are cooked inside a length of bamboo. This type of cooking is common in villages where bamboo is widely available. A variety of vegetables such as mushrooms, beans, bamboo shoots, potato, fresh green chillies and Tripuri’s star ingredient ‘Berma’ (fermented fish) are placed inside the hollow of the bamboo. After that, a little water is poured into it and the mouth is sealed with banana leaves. The bamboo is then roasted on a fire till the vegetables are cooked. Before serving, the dish is mashed using a bamboo pole. It is a great accompaniment to Awang Bangwi. At the festival, it is sold for Rs 80 per plate.
Muya Chakhwi
This dish is considered the star dish of any traditional festival. The recipe is simple given how tasty it is. It is cooked with bamboo shoots, water, salt, berma and soda. About 15 minutes before the dish is ready, rice paste is poured into it to thicken the gravy. Sometimes, other vegetables and lemon leaves are added for flavour. In this festival, the bamboo shoots were mixed with local freshwater snails. You can sample one for just Rs 10.
Awang-sokwrang
Like many Tripuri dishes, this one is also steamed. It is prepared with sticky rice and locally known as mamita mairung. This dish is best eaten with a hot chilly Mosodeng (a type of chutney). It is believed that eating this dish makes one lethargic, but I must say that the taste is worth it.
Muimasing
Muimasing is a sort of bean that is available only in winter months. The vegetable itself is derived from two words — mui meaning vegetable, and masing meaning winter. It can be cooked in various ways, but in the festival, the stall made Muimasing Mosodeng, which is again a kind of chutney. The bean is first boiled in water and then, it is mixed with mashed green chillies and roasted berma. It is available for Rs 50 per plate.
Kakamuk (snail)
Kakamuk is one of the tastiest dishes in Tripuri cuisine. Only indigenous people eat it in the state. It can be cooked as Awandru and Chakhwi. At the festival Kakamuk Mosodeng was available at Rs 20 per plate.
This is how we Tripuris celebrated our traditional food this year. If you are reading this article and want to try our dishes, you are most welcome to visit Tripura and dig into one of the healthiest cuisines.
Note: This article is created as a part of the Adivasi Awaaz project, with the support of Misereor and Prayog Samaj Sevi Sanstha.