TRADITIONAL DELICACY OF MAGH BIHU

(The writer is a faculty of Geography in Biswanath College, Chariali. He can be reached at borah.gunin@gmail.com)

Any Festival of India is never complete with some unique delicacies of the region. The food along with the music and dance give the festival a unique regional flavour that gives it a distinct identity. Magh Bihu is a celebration of the bounty of Nature's harvest and an ode to the continuity of existence. It is only natural that Magh Bihu as it is commonly called is a rich celebration of the state's rich reservoir of traditional food and delicacy preparations. People usually made food items from rice, coconut, jaggery, sesame and milk products. These ingredients are locally available during the occasion of Bihu and play an important role in preparing different festival delicacies.

Magh Bihu also has quite a few ritualistic traditions associated with it. Community worship and feast are both integral parts of the celebrations.

Pithas are traditional Assamese sweetmeats that are the most integral of delicacies that rev up the Bihu feast. Prepared usually from rice flour and other indigenous ingredients, pithas are essential to the Assamese cuisine culture.

Til Pitha is prepared with rice flour, Bora rice flour, in particular, backed on an open surface (Tawa) steamed as rolled cylinders with a delicious stuffing of Til (sesame) mixed with jaggery or sugar syrup. Narikol Pitha is prepared, similar to Til Pitha with the filling of Til inside the pitha replaced by a sweeter mix of grated coconut mixed with sugar syrup. Another Pitha 'Tekali Pitha' plain rice flour mixed with jaggery, sugar, coconut packed inside cloth pocket and steamed by placing them on the mouth of a kettle pot of boiling water makes this delectably wonderful mould of sinful delights.

Ghila Pitha is basically the great Indian Malpua remade in Assamese style with deep-fried flattened rice flour, which is immersed in sugar syrup to make yet another lip-smacking sweets. Assamese and Northeastern cuisine has forever been attributed uniqueness owing to the different methods of cooking with bamboo. Cooking inside bamboo has been one uncommon place speciality of different Assamese dishes. Even one variant of pitha undergoes preparation inside the humble bamboo. It is known locally as Sunga-Pitha, this bamboo prepared variant of pitha needs sticky rice flour being patiently baked on an open fire after being stuffed into hollow bamboos. Touted as the Assamese version of the Dosa, Kholasapari Pitha is prepared with plain watery rice flour shallow fried on both faces in just a bit of oil. Served either savoury with Aloo-Bhaji or sweetened with chunks of jaggery. Rice flour and jaggery or mashed bananas steamed inside banana leaves make up this healthy yet delicious Bihu Pitha.

Pithas made from a mixture of rice flour and grated gourd immersed in rice sugar syrup are so much an exclusively Bihu preparation in Assam. Coconut Laru is fried grated coconut mixed with sugar and shaped into balls in such a relished delicacy of the Bihu celebrations. Til Laru is fried sesame seeds (Til) mixed with jaggery and shaped into tiny balls called 'Til Laru.' Muri or puffed rice bound together with sticky jaggery syrup and shaped into homogenous balls are called 'Muri Laru'. Rice flour mixed with jaggery or sugar syrup and formed into balls are known as Gura Laru.

Sandoz Guri is prepared with rice flour obtained after grinding fried rice and consumed with milk, curd sweetened with jaggery or sugar as per your own choice. Even with black tea, Sandoh Guri is a popular Assamese breakfast during and even after the feasting days. Traditional Assamese Jolpan is prepared, whether it be soaked Komal Saul with curd, cream and sweetened with bananas, jaggery, sugar or soaked Bora Saul cooked in milk and sweetened to arrive at a soft and chewy rice pudding or the more ubiquitous 'Doi-Chira-Gur' that is the hallmark of 'Khati-Okhomiya' breakfast option is never limited with the ambit of traditional Assamese cuisine.

'Maoh-Korai' is another traditional item prepared with soaked black sesame seeds, Bora Saul, gram or Maah, Boot (Chana) fried and flavoured with mustard oil, ginger, salt etc., all make up this crunchy munching delight, that is so much of a delight to relish during chit chats in chilly winter evening.

The ceremonial burning of Meiji and Bhelaghar, as people offer the first Pithas, Maah, Til, and Saul into the fire as an obeisance to the fire God. It is only after all rituals have been taken care of that people feast on the Bihu delicacies of Pitha-Pona, Laru-Sira. As an occasion of celebrating the bounty of nature, food rules are rampant in the Bihu festivities.

However, as much as Magh Bihu is about feasting and gorging on delicacies, the community and celebratory spirit underlying this defining festival of the people in Assam is much more encompassing and evocative. As a festival that pays obeisance to the fire God and celebrates the rich harvest of the season, Magh Bihu is a rich observance of culture and an expression of gratitude. The article is sent for publication on the occasion of Magh Bihu in January 2022.