Sister-chef duo’s Megha treat of Northeastern cuisines

CHENNAI: As part of their Kitchens Of India initiative, ITC Grand Chola recently organised the Khublei Meghalaya pop-up, showcasing the rich culinary heritage of the Scotland of the East. It was led by sisters Daphimanroi and Dakiwanri, who run a brand named Symbai focusing on Khasi cuisine.

“Primarily, there are three major tribes in Meghalaya and we belong to the Khasi tribe. Through our pop-ups, we wish to shed light on authentic Northeastern dishes,” starts Dakiwanri, who did her first pop-up in Puducherry in 2020. However, Daphimanroi is not new to the food industry as she is a professional baker. The sisters visited Chennai for the first time to introduce exotic dishes from Meghalaya to Chennaiites.

There are various stereotypes surrounding Northeastern cuisine. Breaking the misconceptions, Daphimanroi says, “People, who are not familiar with the cuisine, believe that the food is spicy and high on meat. But that is not true. We consume simple food with local ingredients. The chutneys and pickles define the taste of the food. One more misconception is that people assume we are predominantly meat eaters. We have a balance of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.” She also adds that though the ingredients are similar between Khasi and other tribes, the cooking technique and amount of spices add a twist to the flavours.

The Khasi cuisine majorly highlights lakadong turmeric, which has high curcumin content, black sesame and black pepper. It should be noted that the lakadong turmeric received the GI tag last year. Talking about the base for the cuisine, Dakiwanri shares, “The cuisine has influence from the neighbouring states. For example, we use mustard oil, which is mostly used in Bengali cuisine.” In the past two years, the sisters have organised 15 pop-ups across various cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai, to introduce people to authentic flavours of the region.

“Each cuisine has distinct cooking techniques. Here, smoking and fermentation ace the list,” Daphimanroi highlights. “Nowadays we can see many regional cuisine food festivals across the country to expand the knowledge about the rich culinary heritage of each state. This trend has helped to shed light on many not-so-popular regional cuisines that are getting their long-awaited momentum,” remarks the chefs.

At the pop-up, we tried an array of dishes that stood out because of the rustic ingredients sourced from Meghalaya. The traditional Khasi spinach soup reflected the home-style cooking with a balance of flavours. In the starters, the putharo and doh syiar nei long, which is steamed pancakes and chicken cooked in black sesame paste were top-notch, with juicy meat.

Ja stem is Khasi’s very own red rice cooked with lakadong turmeric. The rice went well with dai nei-iong, a dal curry in black sesame paste. Focusing on the smoking technique, doh thad syiar featured smoked chicken pieces blended with a tomato curry. Though the curry had raw tomatoes’ taste, we liked the smoked flavour of the succulent meat. The Khasi-style mutton meatballs aced the expectation with its not-so-overpowering spices. The fried baby potatoes also paired well with the red rice. As said by Daphimanroi and Dakiwanri, pickles elevate the flavours of each dish.

Ending the whole culinary experience on a sweet note, we tried the ja shulia. The Khasi sticky rice topped with apple compote and paired with creme anglaise was toothsome and delectable.