Eromba

Ingredients

• 400 g potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 150 g French beans, cut into 3 cm lengths
• 150 g pumpkin, cubed
• 30 g ngari (Manipuri fermented fish), or 2 tsp fermented shrimp paste
• 2 dried king chillies (u-morok), or 4 dried red chillies
• 40 g maroi napakpi (Chinese chives), finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• a handful of coriander leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 600 ml water

Before you cook

• Peel and quarter the potatoes, trim the beans and cube the pumpkin.
• Chop the chives, onion and coriander finely and keep them separate.

Steps

1. Boil the potatoes, beans and pumpkin in the salted water for fifteen minutes, until everything is completely soft.
2. Drain the vegetables and keep a cup of the cooking water.
3. Roast the ngari directly over a gas flame or in a dry pan for two minutes, until it smells strong and toasted.
4. Roast the dried chillies in the same pan for thirty seconds until they darken and blister.
5. Pound the roasted ngari and chillies together in a mortar to a rough paste.
6. Add the hot vegetables to the mortar a handful at a time and mash them by hand, keeping the texture lumpy rather than smooth.
7. Loosen the mash with a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water so it is soft but not runny.
8. Fold the chopped chives, onion and coriander into the warm mash so they soften slightly.
9. Taste for salt, then serve at room temperature with steamed rice.