#1000Kitchens Recipe Drop: Kangsoi

Daksha Salam simply can’t be boxed in. At the moment, he is a baker at Nari & Kage, where he turns carefully sourced produce into stunningly beautiful baked goods. Formerly a designer for Indie fashion brand, Raw Mango, he carries that sensibility forward into his sculptural bakes, the tablescapes he designs, and most recently, a delicious limited-edition capsule for Daily Objects. Cooking was always been part of who he was — knowing what was going on the table. “I was so attached to my mom and grandma, the women in the household. They were always in the kitchen, so I was always in the kitchen. I was female when I was in the kitchen.”

He’s making Kangsoi, or a Manipuri Jantong. “Jang means simple, tong means stew. We’re making, basically, it’s a simple stew.” Traditionally, the dish leans on fermented fish, smoked fish, and a generous hand with chilli. But this version skews closer to a Salam family favourite, than to a strict Meitei or Manipuri recipe. “It’s what I've learned through the years.” Daksha says. “An amalgamation of what I ate growing up in Assam, what my friends from Nagaland taught me, what my mom and dad cooked for us.”

This is a #1000Kitchens story. Read more, here.

RECIPE FOR KANGSOI

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (approx. 1 mm thick)
80 g hooker chives
2-3 green chillies, slit lengthwise (adjust to spice preference)
1 tomato, cut into thin crescent wedges (8 parts)
1 onion / 2 spring onions, large, thinly sliced
1 thumb ginger, peeled and finely mashed
1–2 small fish roasted fermented fish (ngaari)
A dozen flat peas, trimmed 
80 g wild beans
200 g smoked pork, sliced very thin (approx. 0.5 mm)
Cilantro, finely chopped

Method 

Prepare and cut all vegetables and aromatics as specified.
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.
Add the green chillies, sliced onions, hooker chives, smoked pork, and mashed ginger to the pot.
Roast the fermented fish (ngaari) over an open flame until aromatic; set aside.
Remove the green chillies from the pot. In a mortar, mash them with the roasted ngaari and a ladle of hot broth.
Return this mixture to the stew and stir gently.
Add the wild beans, potatoes, flat peas, and tomato.
Cover and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the broth is well infused.
Finish with chopped cilantro, adjust salt, and remove from heat.

Words by Anisha Oommen. Photographs by Bhavya Pansari.
Special thanks to our partners.

ALSO ON GOYA