Check Out This Unique Indian Ingredient

While most Indian restaurants have popularized northern Indian cuisine and Southern Indian cuisine heavily, there are certain regional cuisines which even most Indians have little knowledge of. We already covered gems like black rice and red ant chutney. This week we have akhuni.

Akhuni comes from the North Eastern state of Nagaland. Also known as Dzacie aakhone or axone, akhuni is a common fermented food product of the state. It is a paste made of fermented soyabeans and used as a flavorant. Akhuni is relished by people of all tribes, but most notably by the Sema tribe of southern Nagaland.

To prepare akhuni, soyabeans are harvested and cleaned well in fresh water. They are then boiled till they turn soft, but retain their shape. The water is then drained out and the beans are placed in a pot and put out in the sun, or stored next to a fire in order to ferment. The fermentation process takes three to four days in summer and about a week in winter. There is no fixed time for soyabean to reach the right level of fermentation. The locals depend on the smell to judge when the beans are ready.

The fermented beans are coarsely smashed using a mortar and pestle to make a lumpy paste. The akhuni is packed in banana leaf parcels and sold. This paste can be used immediately or stored for a few weeks if placed next to a fire.

The fermentation process gives the soyabeans a strong smell and a distinctive umami flavor. This paste is used to cook a variety of dishes, most notably pork and snails. Akhuni is also used to make a pungent chutney by mixing it with roasted and ground ghost peppers, garlic, ginger and other spices.

While akhuni by itself can be overpowering for most people, once cooked, it gives the dish a very tangy and unique taste. The trick lies in knowing how much of akhuni to use and exactly when to add it to the dish.