North East Zone of India

The North East Zone of India is the easternmost region of the country.  It consists of eight states – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, which are known as ‘The Seven Sisters’ and the eight state is Sikkim, which is referred to as the ‘Brother’. This is just like my family- we are seven sisters and one brother.

Farming in the North East India

The North East is in the Eastern terrain of Himalayas.  It is full of mountains, hills and rivers. The valleys are deep and narrow, except Brahmaputra valley which is slightly broader.

Therefore, geographically, North East is not feasible for large scale agricultural industry. 

However, the small famers do grow pulses and paddy for their own consumption, but not commercially.

Tea, green vegetable and fruits are grown in abundant in the terraces.                               

 Food:

The food of North east, are less spicy and less oily but none the less, tasty.  Their food has a big influence of China, Myanmar (Burma) and West Bengal cuisines.

Dal has become a household dish in all the eight states now, with the flow of people to and from the very remote areas since colonial intervention.

“Dal was never a part of our cuisine. It’s an acquired taste from hotels, restaurants and mainland people who have come to reside in Arunachal,’ says Karmae, from Arunachal Pradesh.  ‘Now dal has become a habit.’

In most of the states, dal is still served as stew or soup. Some of the states still prefer to cook dal by slow cooking method instead of pressure cook and without tempering. Tempering of dal is a recent experience for some of the states of North East.

Let’s enjoy cooking dal from all the states of North East in alphabetical order – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

Coming up next …………Dal from Arunachal Pradesh.