Cooking Pork in Assam...

A couple weeks ago, DH (Dear Husband) went on a business trip to Assam and I tagged along to do some sightseeing. We were travelling with friends and it promised to be great fun. After spending a couple days in Dibrugarh, we spent a few days near Kazirangha National Park. We stayed in a beautiful little resort called BonHabi that was at once a home and a vacation spot. The days were cold and the night colder, so much so that we had to bury ourselves under heaps and heaps of blankets during the nights.

In such cold weather, when we heard about a local pork dish made with the world's hottest chilli peppers and cooked directly on wood fire, we jumped at the chance to savor it and accordingly the cook made it for us one night for dinner.

Now, where I come from, pork is one of our chief delicacies and I love this dish and make it every chance I get, so I was eager to see the process of cooking pork in Assam.I happily plonked myself in the little brick and tile kitchen dominated by a wood fired stove and watched the cook at his work. The list of ingredients were simple. It consisted of chunks of succulent, cubed pork mixed with chopped onions and tomatoes, crushed ginger and garlic, some turmeric and chopped cilantro and of course chopped Bhut Jolokia peppers.

The tiny orange thingies sitting on the plate are Bhut Jolokia peppers awaiting their turn to be chopped...

Until recently, Bhut Jolokia was the hottest chilli in the world and that day at lunch I made the mistake of dumbly biting off a chunk of this chilli pepper, burning holes in my tongue in the process and then stuffing myself with plain white rice to deal with the heat! However that did not stop me from salivating over this pork dish.

To get back to the story of this dish, after the meat was prepared, the cook picked up a hollow piece of bamboo and lined it with banana leaf. He then placed the pork in it, packed it in well and placed the bamboo on the hot coals in the stove. To demonstrate the difference between coal cooked pork and pork boiled on the stove top, the cook wrapped some of the mixture in a banana leaf and placed in some boiling water on the stove to let it cook. He then shooed DH and me out of the kitchen advising us to forget about it for a half hour or so.

While kicking our heals impatiently on their beautiful patio, waiting for the cooking process to be completed, I sneaked back into the kitchen and took a picture of our dinner cooking placidly on the hot coals. There was something very heartwarming in the whole scenario, the freezing cold night, the hot as hell chilli peppers and meat cooking in an old fashioned wood fired stove in an equally old fashioned kitchen. Sometimes, going back to the elements can be a wonderful experience!

Finally it was done and the cook brought the entire banana leaf, bamboo package to the table to unwrap it right in front of us. One bite and we were in heaven. It seemed as if the pork had absorbed everything from the tanginess of the tomatoes to the fresh green flavor of the banana leaf and bamboo, the woodsmoke and not to forget the incredibly spicy heat of Bhut Jolokia peppers. After the first few bursts of ecstasy, there was absolute silence as we poured the meat over hot white rice and devoured it hungrily...

I don't know if and when I will ever go back to Assam but I fully intend to replicate this when I have access to pork, banana leaf, bamboo and a wood fired stove all at once...whenever that happens I guess! ???!