Assamee Cuisine

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Overview of Assamee Cuisine History
Assamese cuisine is an adventure on its own even though meat dishes are hard to find in it. With mostly fish and vegetarian dishes, it is still a delicious and convenient cuisine. Historically, Assamese cuisine has brought with it many traditional and simple dishes. Many of these have been known for a long time, and their methods of preparation have hardly changed. In order to cook them, there are simple techniques employed that were practiced many years ago. If you are keen to follow a good diet Assamese cuisine is certainly low on calorie content because fish and rice are the staple foods. Vegetables and lentils are very commonly used in main course meals in addition to fish, but never any chicken. Wide varieties of food including meat dishes may be included at times of celebration at banquets.

Through time, Assamese cuisine has focused on its limited use of spices, and quantities of salt and oil used. It is known Assamese cuisine tends to use a minimum of these in order to produce simple dishes that taste nice. With this practice, you can say that food loaded with spices and salt or for that matter is not really required in order for it taste great. This is in fact a great quality of this food.

Indian Food Glossary
Finding the ingredients for an Assamee Recipe is not so easy when you do not know the names of the ingredients. Take time to make a list of ingredients and the name they may be found under at the Local Markets.


 * Check out the Indian Food Glossary

Preparation Methods for Assamee Cooking
In order to have a good meal, you need to make sure that food is well prepared. Most cuisines require you to prepare meals extensively. However, in Assamese cuisine, there is little preparation. In fact, this cuisine is known for having the easiest and most convenient meals to cook. Marinating process is almost non-existent. At the most you would find some degree of seasoning. This is normally applied to fish prior to them being cooked.

Seasoning is a type of marinating process, as it the use of spices and salt. However, the process is not for long. At the most it would be around 15 minutes or so. This is because most seasoning is carried out at the time a meal is being cooked in Assamese cuisine. What they usually do is advise you on the seasoning process, and tell you to leave it aside until you heat up the oil and sort out other ingredients on the side. While you do that, the fish gets seasoned, and then when your oil is ready to fry the fish, you dip it in.

Soaking of rice and lentils is common, and there is even rice that you do not need to boil. You simply soak it and it is ready to consume straight away with curd or milk and sugar. This is a type of processed rice that is consumable without boiling,and its known as "Bora Saol.(chawal) or komol saol"

Cooking methods and methods of preparation in are vital in order to influence the end result of a dish. Assamese cooking does not utilize meats like chicken, and fish is most commonly cooked in this cuisine. Lentils, pulses and vegetables are most commonly used too Assamese cuisine is simple, and does not contain too much oil or spices. Yet, it tastes great.

Special Equipment for Assamee Cooking
In Assamese cuisine there are so many utensils that are required in order to cook a meal properly, and these utensils are similar to other cuisine too. In order to cook dishes in Assamese cuisine, you need to know all the necessary steps. With the right kinds of utensils or equipment you can cook more conveniently and get just the right kind of taste. Since rice is an important component in almost every Assamese meal, you need to have at least one or two deep boiling vessels for boiling rice and other foods. Rice should only be boiled in one utensil in order for the taste of your rice to be the same. If you boil anything else in your boiling rice vessel, oily residue from curries for example will be left in the rice utensil. Remove oily residue during the course of you cooking is problematic, and even then sometimes, the taste still changes the next time you boil rice in it.

The same rule applies to boiling fish. If you boil other foods in a utensil in which you have boiled fish, the boiled substance would almost certainly have a fishy taste and odor to it.

You would also need boiling vessels for lentils and pulses. However, with these food substances, since using the same utensil for boiling these foods does not make much difference, you could have one common one.

In addition to these cooking vessels, you need pans for frying. This is because you will fry a lot of fish and other ingredients as well. Strainers stirring spoons are also important to use in Assamese cuisine. Also, a tawa is very important if you need to make chappati. Certainly, as observed above, there are several utensils and cooking equipment that you need when making Assamese cuisine.

Assamee Food Traditions and Festivals
Assamese cuisine is thought to be one of the healthiest cuisines. This is because of the fact that it is almost a vegetarian cuisine. Nearly all the foods ignore meats, and they are mostly made from lentils, pulses and vegetables. This surely makes interesting eating, as there a great number of people who survive with this cuisine, and also enjoy the unique and delicious taste of Assamese food.

Indeed, in Assamese cuisine, there are variations. Many main dishes consist of fish, rice, dal, curry, vegetables, salads, bota(the assamese vareity of chutey)and plain curd. Assamese food is not very oily or spicy.

One of the main dishes that is considered to be most traditional and would be present at festive occasions is the Assamese non-vegetarian thali. This includes: rice, fish, chicken duck pegion etc, as well as dal, vegetables, khar, pitika, chutneys and payas.

Other special dishes in this Assamese cuisine include fish cooked inside plantain leaves, curries of duck and dove. In Assamese cuisine, meals are usually served in stainless steel utensils. However, traditionally, Assamese cuisine will be served in gunmetal utensils.

Another part of tradition in Assamese cuisine is that you eat with your hands. Forks and spoons are not used. You also need to sit on the floor on bamboo mats however a modern kitchen does permit the use of dinning table.

Traditional Assamese style of cooking and consuming food in this cuisine is an adventure in itself and a great treat to experiment.

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Assamee Related Recipes

 * AssameseFood.com (2009) Assamese Food - taste for a difference
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