Ganampui ~ Flavors of Tamenglong

May is my birthday month.  Considering that we're in lockdown, I thought I'll try to drop one new post every week this month💪  For today, going back to my roots, I'm sharing with you how to make Ganampui, the fermented and rendered pork fat.  Ganampui is used in preparing veggies, greens and rice gruel dishes to lift the flavor of the dish instead of using dried meat or smoked fish.  

The Nagas, as you might be aware, are spread out in the states of Manipur and Assam, apart from Nagaland.  My tribe, the Rongmei Nagas, reside predominently in the state of Manipur.  This dish, as I would have mentioned in the past posts, is typical to the Rongmei's from Tamenglong District of Manipur.  Ganampui is one of those flavors that grows on you.  If you'd like to try something exotic, apart from bamboo shoots and fermented soyabeans that Nagas are known for, why not give this a try???😎 

Ingredients

Pork fat - 100 gms, cut up into cubes

Clean air tight Jar

Method

Take the pork cubes and place it in the clean jar.  Close it tightly and place in that space in your house which gets the maximum sunlight for about 4-6 days.

Around the 2nd or 3rd day, you'll notice that the fats are beginning to sweat, meaning the fermentation process has started.

By end of the 3rd or 4th day, you'll notice bubbles forming around the pork cubes. It's ready to go through the purifying by fire😁 Please note that the longer you keep outside to ferment, the stronger the flavor and the smell develops. 

If your pork fat has been bubbling away furiously, like the above picture, let me warn you that the smell can be overwhelming once you open the lid. No, it has not gone bad; infact, it's ripe for the pan😂. Close you kitchen door, open your kitchen windows wide (just do it, you'll thank me later😉), empty out the content into a pan and cook it at high heat till the skin reduce to crisps and all the fat is a lovely melted goo. (please don't laugh at my frying pan, it's my favorite, my life saver😄)

  

Once cooled, transfer it to a clean steel container (if you have) or any other container, but not plastic ones.  Then keep this jar near your stove or tuck it away in the fridge for later use.

Veggies and greens that goes great with some flavoring of Ganampui ~ Mustard greens, Cabbage and Cauliflower, Ladies finger/Okra, All varietiesof Beans and rice gruel dishes known as Napniang or Naphoi gan.  Enjoy!!