Celebrating harvest festival with delicious food from the Northeast and beyond

Long before affirmations and gratitude journals became fads Nature made farmers honour the lay of the land This weekend is the turning point to sow the seeds with hopes of a great harvestmdashBaisakhi in Punjab and northern India Vishu in south India Rongali Bihu in Assam Thingyan in Burma and Songkran in Thailand We stop at each festival spoon at the readyOh no a tamarind drink served in traditional lacquerware made with jaggery fresh coconut water shaved coconut rose and pepperlsquoHoli with water and flower petals and greeting with thanakarsquoAs a welcome gesture Ankit Gupta cofounder Burma Burma slathers our face with thanaka a paleyellow face paint with medicinal properties obtained from padouk trees It has an instant cooling effectldquoThis is how we celebrate Myanmar New Year We play Holi with water and flower petals and greet each other with thanaka which is also used round the year as sunscreenrdquo his mother Urmila 65 who lived in Prome or modernday Pyay from 19531975 explainsNext Ankit dips a betel leaf into water from Burmese silverware fragranced with thanaka and washes our hands Food traditions ensue as we bite into a jaggery dumpling made of sticky rice flour and topped with black sesame It is similar to an Assamese pitha or a Maharashtrian modak Thingyan is the buildup to Myanmarrsquos new year and is celebrated over four days starting April 13 ldquoOn the first day locals offer prayers at the temples and care for their elders by washing their hairrdquo shares AnkitThanaka a paleyellow face paint obtained from padouk trees PicsShadab KhanldquoOn new year day which falls on April 17 this year Buddhist monks are invited home to chant and bless the familyrdquo Urmila who learnt the nuances of Burmese cooking from her friendsrdquo explains This encouraged Gupta to start Burma Burma in Fort which completes 10 years next monthAnkit Gupta applies thanaka on his mother Urmila on the occasion of ThingyanTo give us a feel of the street food mood of the festival they have prepared a vendorrsquos tray with buddhi chow bottle gourd fritters plum rubber slivers of star fruit marian plum and plum mango We dig in coating the fruits with a tangy seasoningThingyan thali with om thame pumpkin curry budhi chow tamarind chutney sanwin makin and mete sebaiHer Burmese lingo may be fading but her love for her home country runs deep ldquoWhen I visited last year fond memories came rushing back I met my old school friends after 50 years I remember how along with making Marwadi food at home we also integrated Burmese cuisine into our lifestyle Food in Burma is colourful and textured and it makes you so happyrdquo she says serving us a traditional thaliDuring festivities vendors sell budhi chow bottle gourd fritters plum rubber slivers of raw mango star fruit and tangy marian plum or plum mango on the streetsOver stories we are in for a wholesome treat of om thame coconut rice which we mix with mete sebai peanut chutney with onion tomato garlic and pumpkin curry For a sweet ending therersquos sanwin makin of a rawahalwa consistency made with strawberry coconut and semolina sujilsquo101 greens to ward off BordoisilarsquoKasturi Barua who ran Kasos Kitchen in Mumbai and moved back to Guwahati in 2023 explains that the biggest of all Bihus harvest festival falls on April 15 celebrating lives and a lot of feasting It is preceded by Goru Bihu where the cow is honoured as a symbol of a good harvestmdashbathed in the rivers and ponds and fed vegetablesKasturi Barua shares picture of a family table with Assamese delicaciesA rural practice is to make a concoction out of 101 herbs believed to have medicinal properties that keep you healthy all year round ldquoThese leaves are also used in dishes as a souring agent or an ingredient that adds a distinctive flavour A mythological female figure Bordoisila flies throughout Assam causing storms and rain just before Bihu Drinking this keeps water and dustborne diseases awayrdquo says BaruaOn April 15 New Yearrsquos Day families make Assamese sweets called pithas visit close family and exchange gamusas something to wipe the body with We make Jolpan the celebratory Bihu dish made of flattened rice and jaggery topped with curd or cream in a bell metal kansa vessel and my favourite is the gheela pitha Jaggery is stuffed into a batter of freshly pounded rice powder and fried in mustard oil Our familyrsquos secret recipe is to add a little orange zest to itrdquo she tells uslsquoTime for til pitharsquoDipannita Sharma whips up Jolpan made of overnightsoaked flattened rice with yoghurt and jaggery PicANURAG AHIREFor actor and model Dipannita Sharma Rongali Bihu is time to indulge in sweets ldquoI love the sesame pithas made of white rice powder wrapping and folded with jaggery and til I used to love watching mom and my aunts make itrdquo says Sharma who grew up between Guwahati and Duliajan where her father was posted as a doctor in the Oil India town and spent time in Jorhat and Tezpur between her maternal and paternal grandparentsldquoClearing out one myth Though Assam is the land of the spiciest chilli bhut jhalokia the locals donrsquot consume as much spice ldquoWe take the bhut jhalokia on the side just to bite into for a gentle zing Or we make pickle out of it and use it sparinglyrdquo says Sharma Jolpan is something she makes for herself on the festive day ldquoItrsquos a threeingredient mix of soaked flattened rice with yoghurt and jaggery Another delicacy is the tekeli pitha where a kettle pot used to steam the pitha is placed on the mouth of the potrdquolsquoBihu brings in the folk singersrsquoMusician and composer Joi Baruarsquos eyes light up when he talks about Rongali Bihu ldquoI grew up in Jorhat an army town in central Assam with the Brahmaputra on one side and Nagaland on the other Tea gardens surrounded usrdquo he smiles his voice softening Food was less fried packed with dal chicken mutton and lots of fresh water catch from lakes and rivers such as rohu catla and hilsa along with smaller fish like ariJoi Barua PICKIRTI SURVE PARADEldquoAs kids we would fish in the lakes for koi Mum would make a fiddlehead fern dish with potato and onions and sour it with lemon For festivities we would have kichuri with duck egg curry My favourite was the narikol ladoo and til ladoo I also enjoyed the chivra cold dahi and jaggery Our Bengali neighbours shared patisapta pita with a cream fillingrdquo he says remembering how as a child they loved to bathe the cowsRongali Bihu also marks the onset of the music season where musicians from interiors and villages sing songs in open fields under the trees ldquoIt becomes their livelihood of They arrive in trucks with musical instruments khol drum dhol flute and the buffalo horn hornpiperdquo Barua translates a line from a song Donrsquot mourn or bury me just drag me and put me by the Brahmaputra and let the river float me away ldquoToday the festival is a dominant force for all musiciansrdquo he addslsquoMy Eurasian grandmother taught me all the traditional dishesrsquoBangkokbased Phyu Cyn known as Lady GooGoo on Instagram is a nomad chef who cooks Burmese food across Asia and Europe ldquoI lived in Burma until the age of 16 and learnt to cook Burmese and AngloBurmese delicacies from my late maternal grandmother who was a Eurasian with English and Karen an ethnic group in Myanmar rootsrdquo GooGoo tells us over email parroting the foods made during Thingyan from MontLoneYayBaw glutinous rice balls with a jaggery centre and rolled in grated coconut and ShweYinAye or Golden Heart Cooler Burmese lod chong with coconut milk pandan noodles and sago pearlsOn the first day we stay home and share salads or cooling desserts with neighbours In the following days youngsters splash water on each other During the new year we clean and polish our shrine and Buddha statues followed by the spring cleaning of the house In the evening we pay respect to our elders and donate meals to the less fortunate at the local monastery or community centrerdquo says GooGoo adding ldquoIt usually consists of a carb a vegetable in season and lots of chilli flakes for merdquo She recalls how her grandmother would mix all the ingredients in a large bowl for everyone and the family members would queue up for their sharerdquo she addslsquoThere should always be a good tom yum and steamed whole fishrsquoChef Seefah with her mother cooking togetherApril is a hot month in Thailand and what better time to get wet ldquoYou welcome people by throwing cool water on themrdquo Seefah Ketchaiyo giggles on a call Chef partner at Seefah has lived in Mumbai for 13 years and misses the festival The different regions of Thailand make their homestyle foodldquoBut there should always be a good tom yum and steamed whole fishrdquo she says adding beef pork and omelette ldquoThere are many traditional oldschool recipes that are being forgotten The elderly in the family would make them such as the Thai pineapple fried ricerdquo she addslsquoA festival to respect elders and drench loved ones in waterrsquoSuksan wan Songkran Happy Songkran Day is how wishes are exchanged on Thai New Year which is all about showing respect to the elderly spending quality time with family and playing with water to beat the heat Garima Arora chefowner at Gaa has lived in Bangkok for eight yearsLing left with a serving of lod chong along with chef Garima Arora rightldquoItrsquos usually a working day We greet each other Sawadee Pee Mai happy New Year in Thai spray water guns and dig into my favourite desert lod chong creamy coconut milk and pandan noodles made by our housekeeping team member Lingrdquo says Arora adding ldquoDuring Songkran we eat something that helps cool you down during the hottest time of the year A traditional Thai dish exclusively available during this season and difficult to find elsewhere is kaochae aromatic rice soaked in iced water with savoury condiments Initially reserved to the royal family it is now available for the public and is enjoyed by people from all over Thailandrdquo she explainsApril 1317THINGYAN MYANMAR BURMAApril 1420RONGALI BIHU ASSAM