Tripura Gudok Boiled Vegetable Fermented Fish Mash

Ingredients

• 3 medium potato — boiled and peeled
• 1 cup any other seasonal boiled vegetable (yam, raw banana or pumpkin)
• 2 to 3 berma pieces — roasted briefly
• 3 to 4 dried red chilli — dry roasted
• 4 garlic cloves — roasted on flame until soft
• a pinch of salt (berma is salty — add carefully)

Method

1. Boil the vegetables: Boil potatoes and any other chosen vegetable in salted water until completely soft. Drain and keep warm.
2. Roast the berma: Roast dried berma pieces over a flame or in a dry pan for 30 to 60 seconds until fragrant.
3. Roast the dried red chilli: Roast dried red chilli in a dry pan for 1 to 2 minutes until darkened.
4. Roast the garlic: Roast whole garlic cloves over a flame or in a dry pan until the skin darkens and inside softens. Peel.
5. Pound berma and chilli: In a stone mortar, pound the roasted berma and roasted dried red chilli together into a coarse paste.
6. Add garlic: Add the roasted peeled garlic. Pound together.
7. Add the boiled vegetables: Add the warm boiled potatoes and other vegetables to the mortar. Pound and mash together with the berma-chilli paste.
8. Combine thoroughly: The gudok should be a rough, unified mash where the berma flavour permeates every part of the vegetable. Do not over-pound — keep some texture.
9. Taste and season: Taste the gudok. The berma provides salt and savouriness. Add a tiny pinch of additional salt only if needed.
10. Serve: Serve in a bowl alongside steamed rice. A small amount of gudok eaten with rice is a complete simple meal.
11. Note: Gudok is the Tripuri term for this style of boiled-and-mashed vegetable preparation with fermented fish — directly parallel to Manipur's eromba. This reflects the broader cultural connection between Tripura and Manipur as states where the Tibeto-Burman tribal food tradition of using fermented fish as the primary seasoning for vegetables is practised. Gudok is eaten daily in Tripuri tribal households.