Singju

It is not cooked at all: raw vegetables shredded fine and dressed.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 200 g cabbage, shredded very fine
• 150 g lotus stem, sliced thin
• 100 g banana flower or green papaya, shredded
• 60 g maroi chives or spring onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons roasted gram flour
• 2 tablespoons roasted rice powder
• 1 tablespoon Ngari, as on its own page
• 3 dried red chillies, roasted and crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 20 g coriander, chopped

Method

1. IT IS NOT COOKED AT ALL: RAW VEGETABLES SHREDDED FINE AND DRESSED. Its article describes a spicy side dish eaten as an afternoon snack, made in a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian version, and the absence of heat is what separates it from the rest of the cooking it belongs to, which is boiled, fried, curried or fermented. This one is a salad: the only cooking anywhere near it is the dry roasting of the flour and the chillies, which happens before they are ground and goes into the dressing rather than the vegetables.
2. THE SHRED IS FINE AND IT IS THE TEXTURE OF THE DISH. Cabbage cut as thin as you can manage, lotus stem in translucent slices. Coarse shredding makes a raw vegetable salad with dressing on it; fine shredding lets everything take up the dressing and hold together.
3. THE ROASTED FLOURS ARE THE DRESSING, NOT A THICKENER. Gram flour and rice powder, both dry-roasted until they smell nutty, then ground. They coat the shreds and give the dish its body -- there is no oil in it at all.
4. THE CHILLIES ARE ROASTED DRY AND CRUSHED, NOT USED RAW. In a dry pan until they blister and darken, then broken up. Roasting changes them from sharp to smoky, which is most of the flavour.
5. THE NGARI IS MASHED INTO THE DRESSING FIRST. Worked into the roasted flours with a little water to a thick paste before it meets the vegetables, so it distributes.
6. IT IS MIXED WITH THE HANDS AND NOT LONG BEFORE EATING. Tossed by hand so the dressing gets everywhere. Dressed and left, the salt draws water out of the cabbage and it goes limp within half an hour.
7. THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS AND ITS ARTICLE DISTINGUISHES THEM BY OCCASION. The vegetarian one is served at Meitei ritual feasts in courtyards, shrine yards and community complexes; the other is the everyday preference. The difference is the ngari and any fish in it.
8. THE VEGETABLES ARE WHATEVER IS CRISP. Lotus stem, banana flower, green papaya and cabbage are the usual ones. The requirement is that they can be eaten raw and shredded thin.

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.

Filed under India · All recipes