Continuing with my series of Bachelor food dishes, this time I will focus on my favorite - Mizo Bai.
In case you have missed the previous post, do read it - Bachelor Potatoes.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I call this the Bachelor food series because:
1) They are easy to make
2) Do not require much culinary skills
3) Very simple ingredients involved
4) Extremely easy cooking instructions
5) And finally, they are so tasty that they can almost substitute the girlfriend you don't have.
So coming back to this topic - Bai.
Bai is one of our most popular Mizo traditional cuisines. Unfortunately, some of my dirty-minded friends like RTPa, Puia Hmar and Chhama Chenkual might interpret the name of this post in a different way because over here, "bai" means maid, and with their dirty-mind working in action, they might comment about a bachelor's desi maid etc. Kindly do ignore them :D
There are many types of Bai in our Mizo community, and as one of my foodie friends rightly said, no two Bai are the same. Even if you are making the same type of Bai, they will taste a bit different from each other because of the number of different ingredients added to the dish.
The type of Bai I make is a mixture of brinjal, potatoes and beans.
I once climbed the highest mountain in Mizoram - Phawngpui, and spent 7 days and 6 nights meditating at the peak without eating or speaking to anyone, until I gained the knowledge of how to make this particular Bai. :P
So this is how I make my signature bachelor bai. You will need -
Potatoes
Brinjals (small variant)
Beans
Green chillies
Soda
Salt
That's all.
First, peel the potatoes and chop them into medium pieces. Boil water and place the potatoes into the pan. Keep the flame at high.
Wait for some time because potatoes take the longest time to cook.
Meanwhile, wash the brinjals. DO NOT chop them yet, because they turn brown due to oxidation.
Once the potatoes are almost cooked, quickly cut off the stalk of the brinjal and slice them into two pieces vertically and then throw them in the pan immediately. Repeat this with the other brinjals.
After all the brinjals are in the pan, add half a tea spoon of soda. Stir immediately as the soda react with the broth.
When the brinjals are almost cooked, throw in the beans. Beans hardly take time to cook.
Add green chillies to the mixture as well, to give it a really spicy taste. Add salt along with them and stir again.
Finally once it is almost ready, add a fistful of dried fermented soybeans.
Make sure there is enough water because the dried fermented soybeans will absorb a lot of it. Also, the mixture will turn more brownish in color because of this.
Thadaaaa, the awesome and yet so simple to make bachelor Bai is ready for consumption. Have them with the Bachelor potatoes I wrote about in my previous post.
It goes great with bachelor Smoked Pork (will write a post about it soon).
Also goes great with bachelor Scrambled Eggs and bamboo shoot pickle.
And even Boiled Potatoes with Fermented Shrimp (Nghapih) paste. Yummm.
So that is my secret to how I make my signature bachelor Bai.
Do try it at home too, and let me know if you like it. Cheers everyone.
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