Fermented soybean (hawaijar) cooked with dried fish, herbs and local vegetables into a thick, pungent preparation that is the most intensely flavoured everyday side dish of Meitei cooking. Central to the Manipuri meal.
Ingredients
1/2 cup hawaijar (Manipuri fermented soybean — very similar to kinema; buy at Manipuri/Northeast specialty stores; kinema or natto can substitute)
2 ngari (dried fermented fish) — roasted briefly
3 dried red chilli — dry roasted
2 fresh green chilli — sliced
4 garlic cloves — coarsely crushed
1 inch ginger — grated
1 cup seasonal vegetables (optional — pumpkin or yam, boiled and roughly mashed)
2 tbsp oil (mustard oil)
spring onions for garnish
salt to taste
Method
Roast the ngari: Roast dried fermented fish briefly over a flame or in a dry pan for 30 seconds until fragrant and slightly darkened.
Roast the dried red chilli: Roast dried red chilli in a dry pan for 1 to 2 minutes until darkened and blistered.
Pound ngari and chilli: In a mortar pound the roasted ngari and dried red chilli together into a rough paste. Add crushed garlic and grated ginger. Pound together until combined but still textured.
Heat mustard oil: Heat 2 tbsp mustard oil until smoking, reduce to medium.
Add the pounded ngari-chilli paste: Add the pounded paste to the hot oil. Fry stirring for 1 to 2 minutes on medium heat. The pungent fermented fish smell will transform into a deeply savoury, complex aroma as it fries.
Add the hawaijar: Add the fermented soybean (hawaijar). Stir to combine with the ngari-chilli oil. The fermented soybean and fermented fish together create an intensely flavoured base.
Add green chilli: Add sliced fresh green chilli. Stir.
Add boiled vegetables if using: Add the roughly mashed boiled pumpkin or yam. Stir together. Cook 3 to 4 minutes until everything is incorporated.
Season and taste: Add salt (both ngari and hawaijar contribute saltiness — taste before adding much salt). Stir.
Serve: Transfer to a bowl. Garnish with sliced spring onions. Serve as a side preparation with steamed rice.
Note: Chagem Pomba uses two fermented ingredients simultaneously — hawaijar (fermented soybean) and ngari (fermented fish) — creating a depth of umami flavour that cannot be replicated by any other combination. This double fermentation character is a specific Meitei cooking technique. The preparation is an acquired taste for those unfamiliar with fermented foods but is considered deeply flavoured and prized within Manipuri food culture.