RumiCooks

Whenever I visit any ethnic food festival in Assam, the food that mostly attracts me are the smoked pork sticks and local liquor. The smoked pork sticks looks so tempting that every visitors stopped at least once near the fireplace to have a glance of it. But I find those pork sticks little dirty and unhygienic and prefer to eat homemade one.  Last Friday I visited one of such ethnic food festival and after having a look into those pork sticks, came back home and decided to cook it at home on the new year's eve. But I can't controled my temptation for the local liquor and I brought a small bottle of locally made liquor in just rupees fifty only. Selling local liquor openly without licence in Assam is illegal but in different traditional food festivals, different ethnic groups sells local liquor as a part of their traditions. Smoked Pork Sticks : Assamese cuisine is less spicy and those pork sticks prepared by some local woman were spice less. I asked her about the r...

This guest post is by Chinmoyee Bayan. Her hobby is baking and cooking. Before she was a teacher by profession but now she's  fully a housewife & doing baking business from home. Bread  is a staple food prepared by way of baking from a dough of flour and water.  Pav  bread is basically a small loaf of bread. So today I'm going to share a simple recipe of Eggless pav bread . INGREDIENTS: Maida 2 cups Yeast 1 spoon Luke warm milk 1 cup Salt 1/2 spoon Sugar 1 spoon Olive oil 2 spoons METHOD: In a bowl take 1 cup of Luke warm milk, yeast and sugar. keep aside for 10 minutes. After ten minutes yeast will be active. Then add maida, oil, salt and luke warm water( if necessary) and make a soft dough. Cover and keep the bowl in a warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour the dough will be double. Then knead for 5 minutes. Divide the dough in equal parts and shape them and keep them in a grease pan. Let them rest for another half hour. This will...

Indian food means lots of spices . Varieties of spices are used in Indian cooking . Again the spices are used in different forms: whole, grounded, roasted etc. But I believe in minimalism. I use very less amount of spices in my cooking . Every vegetable or fish or meat has its own taste.  Too much spices may spoil the real taste of the vegetables or fish or meat.  Here is a list of 12 spices which I used to store in my kitchen for everyday cooking. 1. TURMERIC : Turmeric is one of the main spices of Indian cooking.  It's a bright yellow coloured powdered spice which is used in many Indian dishes. Turmeric is used to brig colour in the dishes and it is used in Indian cuisines since time immemorial.  Fresh turmeric is quite orange in colour from inside with an aromatic and spicy fragrance. Fresh turmeric can be also used in cooking. But it is easy to use in dried powdered form. 2. CUMIN : Cumin is again an important spice of Indian cooking....

I generally use sun dried lentil dumpling in red lentil soup which are easily available in markets and it also saves time.  But in this recipe I made dumplings myself from urad dal (split black gram) . It is very soft and fluffy in comparison to the dried one. Dried one is little hard and you can directly add it to the dal after shallow fried. Red lentil with sun dried lentil dumpling  Indian red lentil soup with lentil dumplings can also be served as a side dish with rice. It is very easy to prepare as I'm using pressure cooker to cook red lentil.  You need to soak split black gram for few hours to make dumplings. The dumplings can be prepared by dip frying instantly after the batter is blended. Indian Red Lentil Soup with Lentil Dumplings 📎 Course :  Main Course  📎Cuisine : Assamese  🔪Preparation Time :  15 minutes ♨Cooking Time :  30 minutes 🕞Total :  45 minutes 🍴Servings :  4 INGREDIENTS: Fo...

Starfruit  is also known as Carambola. It is yellow in colour and have five angle in shape. Star fruit is sweet as well as sour in taste and is very rich in Vitamin C. The star fruit tree is a small bushy tree. In Assamese we called it ' Kordoi ' . We also have a starfruit tree.  In the morning my mom-in-law gave me few starfruits to make pickle. But the sky is cloudy and to make pickle we need to sun dry the starfruit slices before diping them into oil. So I postponed the idea of making pickle. Then I asked for recipe ideas in my facebook foodies group. My foodie friends shared many ideas but as I am a very lazy cook and like the short cut ideas I cooked this simple recipe in just no time with simple ingredients.  And believe it, it turned out really very yummy 😋.  Tawa grilled starfruit / Toasted starfruit is a simple recipe that need not much afford to make.  You can directly grilled it on a tawa but I'm using aluminum foil to avoid burning. ...

Doron bon(দোৰোণ বন)  is a medicinal plant with tiny white flowers that blooms in the winter.  Scientific name is Leucas aspera and  found in many parts of India and are generally  grows in open fields and waste lands. In Assam this medicinal plant is used as a vegetable and is for herbal remedies. In curing sinusitis and headaches, doron bon is used as nasal drops. It is also good for appetite and digestion. Today I am going to share two recipes of doron bon.  Doron bon has a strong taste and smell. So everyone may not like it.  But I like the taste and like to consume it for its medicinal value. Khar  is an alkali prepared from sun dried skin of some varieties of  banana.  It is prepared by filtering the water from the burn ashes of the skin of the banana Therefore it is also called  kolkhar  (kol means banana). It is preserved in bottles and can be used for months. It sounds bizarre but Assamese people are using khar as...

Chicken with spinach curry or Chicken saag is a classic Indian chicken curry recipe cooked with spinach. Spinach is an excellent source of many vitamins and iron. So this recipe is full of flavor as well as nutrients. To know more about spinach recipes on my blog > click: • Fish with spinach curry • Spinach with cottage cheese Chicken with Spinach curry 📎 Course :  Main course  📎Cuisine :  Indian 🔪Preparation Time :  20 minutes ♨Cooking Time : 40 minutes 🕞Total :  60 minutes 🍴Servings :  2 INGREDIENTS: 500 gms of chicken spinach, 1 bunch 2-3 green chillies 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 1 big potato (optional) 2 onions finely chopped 1 tomato chopped 1/3 tbsp cumin powder 1/3 tbsp coriander powder 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder 1/3 tbsp garam masala 1/2 cup cream 2-3 tbsp mustard oil salt taste METHOD: Wash spinach under running water.  Boil spinach, drain and let it cool. In a blender  ble...

Indian gooseberry or amla (in Hindi) or amlokhi (in Assamese)  are fruits which are low in calories are a good source of essential nutrients like vitamin C and A,  manganese and dietary fiber.  Indian gooseberry chutney is a simple raw chutney that can be served with fritters, or as a side dish with rice or roti. Indian gooseberry chutney / Amla chutney/ Amlokhi chutney 📎 Course :  side dish /dip 📎Cuisine :  Indian 🔪Preparation Time :  5 minutes ♨Cooking Time :  0   minutes 🕞Total :  5 minutes 🍴Servings :  3-4 Ingredients : (for one bowl)  5-6 mature Indian gooseberries 1 tbsp grated coconut  10-12 peanuts  10-15 curry leaves  2 green chillies  a little piece of ginger  salt to taste  Method: First we need to de-seed the Indian gooseberries and then chop it.  Soak peanuts in lukewarm water for 10 minutes. Combine all the above ingredients in a mixture an...

Bhedai lota  (in Assamese ) or  Skunk vine   is a green leafy vegetable found in  Assam . The tree is a climber.  It has many medicinal value. But it's leaves give a distinctive odour when crushed.  Yes, it is edible. After cooking it's odour extinguished. Bor  or  fritters  are fried food generally consists of chickpea flour or any other flour together with different chopped vegetables. In Assamese cuisine bor is generally served as a side dish with rice. But bor or fritters are good to eat with a hot cup of tea during rainy season. Fritters are quick, easy and require minimal effort to make.  Fritters can be prepared with almost any vegetable. Here in this fritters recipe I'm using skunk vine leaves which are very tasty. INGREDIENTS : 1 bunch of skunk vine leaves  1 onion chopped  2-3 green chillies chopped  1/4 cup long coriander leaves chopped  1/2 cup chickpea flour  1 tbsp rice flour...

Assamese cuisine is known for its simplicity. Use of less spices makes it very healthy. Here I'm going to share a simple fish curry recipe where no powdered  spices are used. Fish curry with taro root and thai basil is a simple fish curry recipe. Taro or colocasia  is a tropical plant grows all over Assam. In Assamese it is called 'kosu'. The leaves, flowers, stems and roots of a taro plant are all edible. For making this fish curry I am using the root part. Thai basil or lemon basil is available in few parts of Assam and few communities of Assam used it as a cooking ingredient. It has a real citrus like smell and taste. But if you don't have thai basil you can use any other basil or use coriander leaves. Preparation time :  10 minutes Cooking time :  30 minutes Total:  40 mimutes INGREDIENTS:  3 pieces of fish (any)   1 taro root   1+1 tbsp red lentil and split moong dal   1 tomato  1/4 tbsp fenugreek...

Pasta is a type of noodle originally from Italy typically made from durum wheat and water or eggs. Pasta can be of different shapes and cooked by boiling in water . Now a days most products found as pasta are made from common wheat. Pasta can be cooked in many different ways.  Masala pasta recipe is an Indian style pasta recipe cooked with different Indian spices.  It's a very easy and simple recipe that can be prepared in just no time.  Serve this recipe at breakfast or pack it in your kid's school tiffin box. Masala Pasta recipe (Indian style pasta recipe)  INGREDIENTS: • For cooking pasta  1 cup pasta 3 cups of water  1 pinch of salt  2-3 drops oil • For masala base 1 onion finely chopped  1 tomato finely chopped  1/3 tbsp cumin powder  1/3 tbsp coriander powder  1/2 tbsp red chilli powder  1/3 tbsp garam masala powder  • 1 onion • 1 tomato • 1 capsicum  • 2 tbsp tomato sauce...

Fruit custard is the simplest dessert recipe I used to cook when I was a beginner cook.  It's a simple dessert recipe that anybody can make.  Some find fruit custard as boring but it is a tasty and healthy dessert recipe that can be prepared in no time. Here in this recipe I'm using egg free custard powder. You can add any fruit of your choice in this dessert. Fruit Custard  📎 Course : Dessert  📎Cuisine : World  🔪Preparation Time :  10 minutes ♨Cooking Time :  10 minutes  🕞Total :  20 minutes 🍴Servings : 2 INGREDIENTS: 2 cups of milk 2/3 tbsp custard powder 4-6 tbsp of sugar 1/2 cup of mixed fruit cut into pieces (apple,  pomegranate,  grapes etc. ) METHOD: Heat milk in a saucepan on medium heat.  In a bowl take custard powder.  Add some milk and mix thoroughly.  Now add this custard and milk mixture into the  boiling milk , stir continuously.  Add sugar,  stir...

If you think that Indian cuisine is all about spicy and oily food,  then you are certainly wrong.  Indian cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisine. Nagaland is a state in the northeastern part of India.  The food of Nagaland is known for its variety and simplicity.  Naga food is considered to be healthy due to less use of oil. Powdered spices are totally a no no. Instead of powdered spices,  fresh herbs and spices are used in Nagaland cuisine. The use of  King chilli or raja mircha in Nagaland cuisine gives it an unique identity.  Rice is their main food.  A traditional naga meal consists of some kind of meat boiled, smoked or dried served with rice.  Nagaland people preferred boil food much.  Bamboo shoot  is an important ingredient of Nagaland cuisine. It is used in both fermented or dried form. Naga style Chicken with bamboo shoots is a naga style chicken recipe I cooked yesterday.  I used z...

At the very beginning a short introduction of the Tai Khamyang community of Assam : Tai Khamyangs are popularly known as Nora. As many Khamyangs historically used ' Shyam ' as their surname, so Tai Khamyangs are also popularity known as Shyam. Tai Khamyang is a subgroup of the greater Tai community of Assam. They are numerically a small group of indigenous Assamese community. The word 'Khamyang' is a Tai word which means 'having gold'. 'Kham' means - gold and 'yang' means - to have.  Tai Khamyangs are Buddhist by religion and are found in Sivsagar, Tinsukia,  Golaghat and Jorhat Districts of Assam and in few places of Arunachal Pradesh. Tai Khamyang men and women in their traditional attire  Tai Khamyang Cuisine : Tai Khamyang cuisine is the cuisine of Tai Khamyang people residing in different parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Tai Khamyang people are non-vegetarian and rice is their main food.  They grow their own rice a...