The table setting for the dinner served by Chef Tanisha Phanbuh is a slice of Meghalaya. Each diner’s name card is placed inside a tiny replica of the knup, a bamboo rain shield, a cultural marker of a state where Mawsynram and Cherrapunji are located—regions where the air is thick with the smell of rain, and showers come down like a wall of water. Meals, curated and cooked by Phanbuh, are served under her food pop-up venture, Tribal Gourmet, that was started in 2017.
This is food from Meghalaya, but plated in European style to make it accessible to a wider set of patrons. Salsa, aioli and other international condiments are created using northeastern produce. The first course at her pop-up, named ‘Homecoming’, is the Na u maw jingshoh. It features boiled potatoes placed on the pdung, a circular bamboo tray. The potatoes are the central axis for a merry-go-round of chutneys—radish, aubergine, tungrymbai or fermented beans, coriander and tungtap or fermented fish. Phanbuh mixes the fermented beans with aioli to create a milder, creamier chutney that appeals to a sophisticated, cosmopolitan audience.
Ingredients have the power to contain the history of a culture. The three major tribes of Meghalaya—Khasi, Garo and Jaintia—have always expressed their deep ties with the elements through their folk dances and festivals, costumes and food. Phanbuh places the relationship of the people with the produce of the land at the heart of her meals.
Behind the bold flavours are stories that the 30-year-old grew up with. The Gurugram-based independent chef recalls an idyllic childhood spent in the sprawling garden of her Shillong house, her grandfather helping her identify local, seasonal fruits as they ripened. “My fondest memory is of taking the harvest of golden peaches from our garden to the government canning factory. They could be preserved for an entire year,” says Phanbuh.
Doh jem shana kulaiThe food of Shillong is the primary theme of her six-course pop-up dinners. A dish called ‘Trace of heritage’ has chicken liver presented as a French-style liver pâté for non-vegetarians and black horsegram served as hummus for vegetarians. Both options are served on toast. The dish has roots in a Khasi chicken offal dish available as part of the menu of tea stalls across Meghalaya. “Chicken liver, gizzard, stomach and lungs are all chopped up and used in that particular tea stall dish. In my interpretation, I use only chicken liver,” says Phanbuh.
Locals and their intimacy with regional produce needs to be revered as a sustainable food practice, says Phanbuh. It is this belief that shapes the way she looks at ingredients and condiments from her home. One of her food pop-up dishes called ‘East and West Khasi Hills’ can be described as a flavour orchestra, where each tiny element—perilla seeds, tomato, cured fish, coriander oil—contributes towards an explosive gastronomic coda. It is a dish of fish ceviche and Shillong plums, served in a tomato-based sauce.
As a hospitality professional, Phanbuh understands deeply how ingredients from her homeland can spark conversations. She aims to leverage her expertise in the kitchen and her exhaustive knowledge of Meghalaya’s diverse cuisines to nudge urban diners to a new culinary direction.
