Northeast Indian

Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern)

Name: Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern)
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Northeast Indian
Ingredients: 3 cup fiddlehead fern (ningro), trimmed; 1 tbsp mustard oil; 2 garlic cloves; 1 dried red chili; 1/4 tsp turmeric; 1/2 tsp salt

Bandana Gogoi @bandana_ghy

Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern) is Northeast Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the cooked vegetable. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

20 min Easy Heart healthy Low sodium Low carb Vegetarian Vegan Halal Gluten free Dairy free Pescatarian

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

3 cup fiddlehead fern (ningro), trimmed
1 tbsp mustard oil
2 garlic cloves
1 dried red chili
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt

How to cook it

Trim the fiddlehead ferns and rinse them well, since the curled tips can hold onto grit.
Blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain well.
Heat the mustard oil in a pan and let the crushed garlic and dried red chili sizzle for a few seconds.
Add the blanched ferns, turmeric, and salt, and stir-fry over medium heat until just tender, about 6 minutes.
Serve hot with rice and dal; this quick stir-fry is ordinary tarkari in Sikkimese Nepali kitchens, not a foraged novelty.

Watch how to cook Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern)

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 Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

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. Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.

Every tracked allergen in Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern)
Allergen	In this dish
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	No
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	No
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: 60 kcal
Protein: 1 g
Carbs: 4 g
Fat: 4 g
Fiber: 2 g
Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 290 mg
Saturated fat: 0 g

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

When to cook it

Ningro Sabzi (Stir-fried Fiddlehead Fern) takes about 20 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. It is at its best in spring, which is when what goes into it is worth buying.