From roasted black rice to bhut jolokia honey, a culinary showcase peels back the layers of Northeast Indian food culture
Kaji nemu with komola roxh sher bet (Assamese lemon with orange juice), wheels of orange, pickled radish on a bed of hung curd, finished with a drizzle of bhut jolokia honey, a scattering of nuts, and crackling dry-roasted black rice. Then comes the famous Assamese khar, but reimagined as a soup.
Raen, the chef’s studio at The Leela Hyderabad, is offering a vibrant bouquet of flavours from the Northeast through a pop-up titled Mamazaki, curated by Farha Naaz, an independent chef from Guwahati.
Farha, a self-taught chef and top 20 participant in MasterChef India Season 8, brings together contrasting textures and ingredients to create what she calls a “flavour bomb.” But do not expect the usual suspects — no smoked pork, akhuni, or bamboo shoot preparations here. And no, not even the beloved alu pitika.
“These dishes and ingredients are close to my heart,” she confirms. “However, I’m here to show what else the region offers —how we can use our ingredients to explore new pairings and presentations. This is Northeast food with a fresh twist.”
And why the shift from the expected? “Food from the Northeast has a bold taste and aroma, which can be overwhelming for some. I’m a chef by choice, but an agricultural engineer by training, with a specialisation in food preservation,” she explains. “My approach is to start mild, start slow — like a flirtatious meeting. Once the flavours settle in, people are hooked. That’s when their curiosity kicks in.”
Farha’s signature orange blossom salad was followed by a prawn and pear salad. Then came the omita khar — a traditional Assamese papaya khar — served as a soup. As an Assamese myself, I was both curious and ready to pass a mildly judgemental remark.
As the team plated the soup, I noticed all the classic elements were there, including the distinctive hint of ginger, which is usually reserved as a garnish. When the bowl finally arrived, I took a spoonful and it tasted exactly like the omita khar my mother makes at home. A comforting flavour. The sautéed masur dal sprinkled on top added the right bite to balance the runny consistency. My only gripe was the temperature. It could have done with a few more degrees of warmth to truly hit the spot.
When she is not curating pop-ups across cities, Farha keeps busy with menu development, recipe consultation, and culinary collaborations for restaurants around the country.
Farha’s culinary research has also led her to explore the cuisine of the Monpa community in Arunachal Pradesh. “It was a WWF project where I trained a group of women in traditional Monpa cooking. The cuisine relies heavily on foraged herbs, local greens, and fruits. It was a challenge, given the limited reference material available,” she explains.
What makes Farha’s food stand out is not just the play of ingredients, but the thoughtful attention to how people in the Northeast consume staples like rice, meat, and fish. Think pani pitha (rice crepes) with a choice of chicken or duck, or a warming datsi soup with dumplings — both must-tries on her menu.
A particularly clever touch is her use of slow-roasted black rice (korai bhaja) as a garnish, which introduced Hyderabad diners to the Northeast’s version of a homemade breakfast cereal. “The surprise on everyone’s faces when they learned it was roasted crispy rice was worth the effort,” she smiles. The fiery bhut jolokia makes frequent appearances, both as honey and a sriracha-style sauce. “It was fun watching people fight the heat but not give up. The honey really acts as the catalyst,” she adds. Another standout condiment was the saw tooth coriander oil.
While bhut jolokia is often reduced to its title as one of the world’s hottest peppers, Farha believes it deserves better. “That’s old news,” she says. “I see it as a hero ingredient for sauces, oils, and dips — it’s far more approachable that way.”
Since it’s Bohag (spring) in Assam, she has rounded off the pop-up with a traditional Bihu jolpan (breakfast) reimagined as dessert. It includes all the classics: doi (curd), muri (puffed rice), along with elements from Bihu pithas like narikolor laru (coconut laddoo) and til pitha (a rice flour roll filled with sesame and jaggery).
No Assamese menu is complete without a nod to tea. The second dessert is a tribute to the state’s most common cereal pairing — xandoh guri and saah (roasted rice powder with tea). Reimagined in a modern avatar, the dish invites diners to engage with Assam’s everyday ingredients in new ways.
The fest is on till May 3 at Raen, The Chef’s Studio, The Leela Hyderabad. (The Hindu)
