Northeast Indian

Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew)

Name: Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew)
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Northeast Indian
Ingredients: 1 oz ngari (fermented fish); 3 cups mixed vegetables (squash, beans, potato); 1 green chili; 2.5 cups water; 1/2 tsp salt

Bandana Gogoi @bandana_ghy

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.

30 min Medium Heart healthy Diabetic friendly Low carb Pescatarian Gluten free Dairy free Halal

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

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.

Watch how to cook Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew)

Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.

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.

The cooked vegetable
- Akhuni Yam (Fermented Soybean with Yam and Mustard Greens)
  
  25 min
The protein alongside
- Lauki Chana Dal (Bottle Gourd and Lentils)
  
  45 min
What it is eaten with
- Galho (One Pot Rice, Greens and Chicken Porridge)
  
  40 min

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.

Every tracked allergen in Chamthong (Ngari-anchored Vegetable Stew)
Allergen	In this dish	Cook this instead
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	No
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	Yes	Akhuni Yam (Fermented Soybean with Yam and Mustard Greens)
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

Estimated, per serving

Calories: 80 kcal
Protein: 4 g
Carbs: 14 g
Fat: 1 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sugar: 3 g
Sodium: 420 mg
Saturated fat: 0 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

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.