Northeast Indian
Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew)
Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew) is Northeast Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the soup. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1 oz ngari (fermented fish)
- 3 cups mixed vegetables (squash, beans, potato)
- 1 green chili
- 2.5 cups water
- 1/2 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Cut the mixed vegetables into bite-size pieces.
- Bring the water to a boil in a pot and add the ngari, breaking it up so it dissolves into the broth.
- Add the vegetables and slit green chili and simmer, uncovered, until the vegetables are just tender, about 15 minutes.
- Season with salt, tasting first since the ngari already carries a strong savory note.
- Serve hot with rice; the ngari, not oil or chili, is what carries the flavor of this everyday stew.
Serve it with
A Northeast Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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The protein alongside
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What it is eaten with
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew) carries fish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | Yes | Assamese Chicken Curry |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Light
- Protein
- Low
- Food groups it covers
- Vegetables and Meat or fish
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew) takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on vegetable and fish.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from Northeast India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.