The Chittagong Hill Tracts offer a captivating fusion of distinct cultures and scenic splendour. They are home to many Indigenous groups, including the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Mro, Tanchangya, Bawm, Pangkhoa, Chak, Kheyang, Khumi, and Lushai.
Their unique cooking methods and use of local ingredients give their food a distinct flavour. Ingredients like bamboo shoots, dried fish, fermented shrimp paste called Nappi, jhum-produced crops and vegetables.
Mundi
Mundi is a traditional Marma hand-made rice noodle soup. Good quality rice is soaked in water for days before grinding. Once the rice is ground, a dough is made with the rice flour and hot water. The mundi is then placed in a bowl with chilli powder, salt and tamarind chutney. Chicken stock or vegetable stock is added to the mundi. Chopped coriander leaves are added for extra flavour and furnishing. There is also a stir-fried version of mundi. But the soupy mundi is more popular.
Pajon
Pajon is a traditional mixed vegetable curry cooked with dried fish. This dish is cooked during the New Year celebration known as Bizu on the hill tracks. At least twenty to thirty types of vegetables are used to cook this curry like bamboo shoots, raw jackfruit, eggplant, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, etc.
Chicken laksa
Chicken laksa is another dish from the Marma tribe. Skinless chicken is boiled with ginger slices, green chillis, salt, cloves of garlic, black pepper and cumin. Once the chicken is cooked, it is shredded. The boiled ginger slices, cloves of garlic and the green chillies are mashed into a paste. Then the shredded chicken is mixed with ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, sliced onion, chopped green chillis, coriander leaves and a little bit of mustard oil.
Bachchuri malah
Bachchuri malah means stuffed bamboo shoots. The filling is typically made with sauteed dry fish paste, although it can also be made with any type of minced meat, prawns, etc. The stuffed bamboo shoots are then stir-fried until they are cooked and served with steamed rice.
Bini hoga pitha
Bini hoga pitha is a traditional Chakma dish. Overnight-soaked bini rice is mixed with coconut, banana, and a pinch of salt. A special kind of leaf is used to make a cone. The cone is then filled with the rice mixture and then steamed long enough for the rice to cook.
