Shillong, the gorgeous capital of Meghalaya, is usually one of the top destinations in the Indian tourist's bucket list.
Called the Scotland of the East, this quaint town is also a place to home in for authentic Khasi and Jaintia food, beyond the chowmein and momos that many a bungling tourist believes is the beginning and end of local cuisine.
Khasi and Jaintia cuisine are similar and usually comprise meat and rice. Like the rest of the northeast, their food, too, keeps spices to a minimum. Steamed and boiled food is preferred, and curries are usually flavoured with onions, ginger, garlic, chillies, mustard oil, sesame and soyabean.
Most preferred are ja doh and ja doh snam, both rice dishes cooked in either chicken or pork stock, with pieces of meat. Ja doh snam, however, uses either pig or chicken blood. Then there's doh khleh, a dish in which fat from a pig's head is boiled with onions and chillies. A popular side dish is turumbai, a chutney made from fermented soyabean. It is similar to the Naga akhuni in pungency and taste, though not dry.
Doh shiar ngiong and doh ngiong are akin to Indian meat curries, but have black sesame paste, which lends a smoky flavour. Doh shiar ngiong has chicken, while doh ngiong uses pork. There's doh jem, a dish made from pork liver and intestines, while doh kpu has meat balls made of pork or beef keema. Another staple is dai doh, which, simply put, is pork dal.
The cuisines also use a lot of fish. Doh kha sdieh is the Khasi version of Assamese fried fish. There's also a fish version of ja doh snam, but one can only find it in Khasi hearths, not hotels, as cooking it is tedious.
Journalist Purabi Shridhar, who grew up in Shillong and co-authored The Seven Sisters: Kitchen Tales from the North East, says few tourists seek eateries serving local food. "There are joints serving authentic Khasi food.
These are called ja cha stores, literally meaning rice and tea eateries. There also jing bam stores, meaning stores that stock things and snacks to eat." Jing bam stores usually sell rice cakes made from steaming rice flour in bamboo, or fried rice malpuas.
"Local workers eat brown rice, turumbai and boiled eggs in many ja cha stores, all of which also stock boiled veggies," adds Shridhar.
Shillong's Police Bazaar, the central marketplace, has popular eateries like Eee Cee, Delhi Mistan Bhandar and an unnamed eatery run by a lady near the old Transport Depot.
Eee Cee, a restaurant with a popular bakery, has been an old favourite. "In the 1980s, mutton keema samosas from here would be sold out within hours," says Purabi. Delhi Mistan Bhandar is known for its puris and kachoris, and Bamboo Hut, for Chinese and Thai.
Police Bazaar always has a variety of produce on offer – plums, strawberries, oranges, custard apple and pineapples, apart from the usual vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and brinjal. One can buy them straight from the field while travelling towards Shillong Peak.
In nearby Cherrapunji, newer resorts stock up on authentic Khasi food for adventurous tourists. Though resorts like Orchid and Rikynjah on the way to Shillong in Barapani offer Khasi food, Purabi says she prefers small joints or home-cooked food.
Writing about Khasi cuisine is incomplete without mention of the bamboo pickle in Nongpoh and adjoining areas on the way to Shillong. "Khasi food does not have bamboo shoot at all. Yet, the pickle travels around the world," says Purabi.
