A quick blog update on how to make an utterly delicious Northeastern dish called Eromba, also known as Iromba, a popular Meitei ethnic cuisine.
I asked my Meitei friends which is the correct name, Eromba or Iromba, and they said since it is an anglicized name from their local language, some spell it Eromba while others spell it Iromba, and either is fine as long as the first letter is phonetically pronounced [iː].
Even though Eromba is a Meitei dish, it is also popular among other Manipuri tribes and even across many other North Eastern states as well. We Mizos too love it. The Meiteis really know how to make a kick-ass dish.
Under the guidance of my good friend Chef Siami, this is how we made our version of Eromba.
First, wash a couple of potatoes really clean and then boil it. After some time, throw in some freshly sliced bamboo shoots along with a couple of Naga King Chillies to spice it up (because potatoes take longer to be boiled).
Meanwhile, take a couple of fermented river fish (Ngari) out from your fridge.
Fry them on a pan with maybe 1 tbsp of oil and once it is cooked, grind it up. For those of you not used to Northeastern culinary, this is going to have a super pungent smell :D
Take the grinded Ngari paste and add chopped cabbages to it, along with some chopped onions and garlic. You can use beans instead of the cabbages too. Mix it up real good. If the bamboo shoot is cooked, add it to the mixture.
Finally, take out the boiled potatoes and add it to the bowl. Add other condiments like salt and chilli powder to it. Add some chopped coriander leaves to it to enhance the taste.
Now mash it all up real good!
Remember I told you to wash the potatoes real good before boiling it? That's because you can now use that leftover water used to boil it to add to the mixture so that it becomes this semi-liquid paste. This my friends, is Eromba!
Of course there are many variants to this. Some of my friends add pork to this delicacy, while others modify it according to how they want, and overall, it is such an awesome cuisine. But the way we have made it just now would take just around 30mins to prepare. And it went well with all sort of food!
So there it is. Eromba, in all its glory. Bon Appétit my friends. Cheers.
