Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 28
Indian celebrity chef and restaurateur Kunal Kapur was here in Nagaland recently in his search for exotic pickles of India. He is well recognized for not only being one of the best chefs in the country but for hosting and judging popular TV shows Masterchef India and Junior Masterchef India. During his trip, he met several Naga pickle makers who will be featured along with their recipes in his upcoming cookbook. Here’s an excerpt of his experience towards documenting unique pickle recipes in Nagaland:
Chef Kunal on his maiden visit to Nagaland
This is the first time I have travelled to Nagaland and I am here to explore the culture, lifestyle and festivities of this land through its pickles. Given the location and climate of Nagaland, I am expecting to see some unique ingredients and spices that are used for pickling. Nagaland is a land of many tribes and each tribe has something distinct about their food and cooking and I am here to savour it.
On his unique project ‘The biggest Book on Pickles’
I am a very passionate foodie and I love the cuisine of India. Indian food is intricate mesh of flavours and ingredients and probably is most complex cuisine in the world. Pickles have long been considered a side dish and have never been documented properly. But pickles of India are as unique and diverse as the people of our country. Sadly, very few inferior varieties of pickles one can easily find on the shelves of supermarkets but nothing compares to homemade pickles. Pickling is like a tradition, is like a festival and I want to capture those moments of families coming together while pickling. As we move ahead towards modernisation the art of pickling is dying and I want my book to be the largest documentation of homemade pickles of India. This is a humble effort to capture the most basic yet the most iconic part of our meal.
Exploring pickle recipes and meeting Naga pickle makers…
My journey in understanding Naga pickles and lifestyle would have been incomplete if it wasn’t for Nagaland’s Chef Joel Basumatari to be kind enough to introduce me to pickle makers of Nagaland. He has been with me on this exploration and was very kind enough to share some of his recipes as well. The best pickle so far for me here has been the Gakriti Pickle (Mustard Leaf Pickle) of the Angami Tribe, which I learnt from a young girl from Khonoma. We did not speak any common language and it took hours to understand what the recipe was. Best was there were around six men and women from the village who came together and we all sat and they translated and gave me this special recipe. For once, I was extremely thrilled as pickle became a reason for that village to come together. In Kohima a very elderly lady taught me how to peel and prepare Yanchak for pickling. She said to me, “Teaching you how to pickle reminds her of the time she was small kid and how her mom taught her how to pickle. Though she is no more but today because of this pickle I am reliving my good time with her.” Chef Joel took me to the local super market and half my day spent there made me learn a lot of the daily ingredients used in cooking & pickling.His take on Naga cuisine…
I tried the smoked pork with bamboo and I must say I was blown away. This dish is very addictive. But the most unique was “Moudi” where meat is marinated and wrapped in banana leaves. Then it is put in a fire pit in the ground and covered completely with mud and slow cooked. Once done the pit is dug and the meat is served. This dish has been really special. On the other hand I am in love with Rossella. I am taking back with me dried rosella and very soon it will be on the menu of my restaurant. I found Naga food to be simple, nutritious and unpretentious. Much like the rest of the cuisine of India it is classic and liked by all. I feel it’s time to take the next step and work on how to use local ingredients to reinvent and create some unique modern Naga recipes.
