Women prepare pitha at a Sivasagar village. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Jan. 10: It’s all about food, fun, and more food. And the eats come in yummy, at times funny, shapes and names: from ghila pitha — that would be something that looks like the flat pebble in a game of hopscotch — to tekeli mukhot diya pitha, a pitha that is steamed on the mouth of an earthen pot. And then there’s bora saul (sticky rice) and its combinations with curd and cream and jaggery, til (sesame) and til pitha, and narikolor pitha made with coconut, sunga pitha that’s made in a bamboo cylinder. Come mid-January and Bhogali Bihu, Assam’s in a mood to feast.

The culinary king of the season, though, seems to be bora saul, the rice being the base of a host of goodies conjured up in the Assamese kitchen. “This variety of rice is harvested during this season and most of the pithas, be it the til or the narikol pitha, are made with it,” says Archana Talukdar, owner of Gargee Food Products, a city based food production unit.

The sankranti of the months of puh and maagh — Uruka, or Magh Bihu eve — is when the big feast happens. There’s a celestial marking to the celebrations: it’s the day when the sun enters Capricorn. In the hills and valleys of Assam and the Northeast, the granaries this year are full, and farmers have earned their rest. “This season we were blessed with a good harvest. I harvested 50 quintals of rice, while last season it was only 15 quintals. So we are looking forward to celebrating Bhogali Bihu well, thanks to the good harvest,” said Punaram Kalita, a farmer from Majpathari in Nagaon district. Mother Earth has been kind: some farmers have built extra granaries this time to store the surplus, says Kalita. It’s time to make merry.

Gorging on Uruka isn’t complete without liberal helpings of duck curry. In Upper Assam, the meat comes cooked with saal komora, a gourd, while in the districts downstream it’s cooked in mahor dali (black urad).

The old Assamese favourite, khaar, and the now internationally acclaimed masor tenga, are in queue, fresh, hot and ready to be served. “I cannot imagine Uruka without masor tenga with ou tenga (elephant apple) and bilahi (tomato), mahor dali, khaahi aanja (mutton curry) and kaath aalu (yam),” says Alok Nath, a resident of Singra, a village near Kamrup-Goalpara border area.

And while the food gets cooked, snacking includes roasted potatoes, meat and fish, all done right on the slow fire that keeps warm the Assamese courtyard as the chilly, misty winter gets along, punctuated by grandpa and grandma’s tales of the past.

“The cuisine during Bihu is apt for the cold. Duck meat, especially, is fatty and keeps you warm. Masor tenga, too, gets special this season. The tang now comes from ou tenga as it’s a thirst quencher in the dry weather,” says Jyoti Das, who has put together a number of books on Assamese delicacies. “In the summer months, we add a range of other sour fruit and berries. Thekera (kokum) is a favourite, and it’s very good for the stomach.”

Nothing goes waste. “In lower Assam, people often eat the leftovers of the Uruka dinner the next day. It’s called maghi panta and is believed to bring good health to the eater,” says noted theatre personality Ratan Lahkar.

And, of course, there are the accessories. Maah korai, a mixture of roasted bora saul, til and mahor dali, is a favourite. “Maah korai made during Bhogali Bihu is stored till Bohag Bihu in April. It is a source of energy and strength throughout the year,” adds Lahkar.

That’s the essence of Bhogali Bihu: pure fun and food — and loads of both.