The New Indian Express ·
Meghalaya’s Home Flavours Come to Sheraton
Flavours that make you pause, take another bite and wonder why you haven’t encountered them before; Meghalaya’s cuisine is full of such surprises. At Feast, Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel, the pop-up Meghalaya Unveiled offered us a chance to discover the state’s earthy, smoky and deeply comforting food, curated by Chef Nambie Marak. She was the 1st runners-up on MasterChef India Season 8 and she will be representing India in the upcoming MasterChef Asia.
For Chef Nambie, however, the showcase was about more than placing a regional cuisine on a buffet. It was about bringing an underrepresented culinary tradition into the spotlight. “I am basically representing the cuisine of Meghalaya. It’s an underrated cuisine. It’s something that people have not heard of. My main aim of coming into the culinary field is to bring forward the underrated, unseen cuisine of the Northeast of India. India is so diverse and, for far too long, the Northeast of India has not been shining. I think it’s high time that the Northeast of India shines,” she says.
One of the most intriguing dishes from the menu was Chicken Kapa, a relatively dry preparation that uses an unique traditional ingredient. Chef Nambie explains that it is made using lye, an alkalising agent obtained from the burnt ashes of bamboo. “It’s an ancient knowledge that has been passed on and we still practise it today. It helps soften the meat and vegetables, and it has a unique taste to it,” she says.