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Ngari

The pot is sealed with fish paste, leaves and mud, and left at room temperature for months.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE POT IS SEALED WITH FISH PASTE, LEAVES AND MUD, AND LEFT AT ROOM TEMPERATURE FOR MONTHS. Its article is specific about every part: the fish are packed TIGHTLY into an earthen pot called a ngari chaphou or kharung with a small amount of vegetable oil, the pot is sealed with a fish paste, leaves and mud, and it is kept to ferment at room temperature. The seal is the technique. It is not a lid -- it is a plug of organic material that excludes air while letting the pot itself breathe, which is what lets the ferment go anaerobic without the pressure building.
  2. THE FISH ARE SUN-DRIED FIRST AND THEY ARE SMALL. Its article names pool barbs, locally phouba nga, five to ten centimetres long. Dried before packing, not fresh: the drying is what stops it rotting rather than fermenting.
  3. THEY ARE PACKED TIGHT, WITH NO AIR POCKETS. Pressed down hard, layer by layer. An air pocket is where it will spoil.
  4. THE OIL IS A SMALL AMOUNT AND IT IS NOT A COVERING. Three tablespoons for two kilos -- enough to coat, not to submerge. Its article says a small amount, and that is the correct reading.
  5. THE POT IS EARTHENWARE AND UNGLAZED. Porous clay lets a little moisture through and buffers the temperature, the same reason it is used for the curd sweets on these pages.
  6. IT IS LEFT ALONE. Months at room temperature, unopened. There is nothing to stir, check or adjust, and opening it breaks the seal that is doing the work.
  7. THE RESULT IS A CONDIMENT, NOT A FISH. A pungent, soft, strongly savoury mass, used a lump at a time. Its article names the dishes it goes into: eromba, singju, kangshoi and morok metpa -- three of which are pages here.
  8. THERE IS NO SHORTCUT AND THIS PAGE WILL NOT INVENT ONE. A bought jar of ngari, or at a push another South-East Asian fermented fish, is what a cook outside Manipur will use. It is not the same product and the page does not pretend a week in a jar would be.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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