Food item or cuisine is called Chawhmeh in Mizo language. Mizo people usually cooked their vegetarian foods without oil, that means most of their foods are eaten in boiling. The ingredients can be vary according to the items. They have the vegetarian dish that are merely boiled with vegetables and water. This is might be regarded as healthy for consumption as it did not have any spices or oils. Some vegetables are also cooked with fermented pig fat called saum, this is not considered as vegetarian dish as it contains animal fats. But some vegetables dishes are also cooked without saum. A mixture of different vegetables cooked together in same pot is simply called bai. To cook a bai, the most important ingredients are saum, chingal (lye made from ashes) or soda (Sodium bicarbonate), bekangro (dried fermented soyabeans), chi (salt), lengser, bahkhawr, hmarcha (chilies), sawhthing (ginger) and so on. The Mizo vegetables dishes are having its own special taste, once you taste it you will surely like to have more. Some vegetables are also cooked with oil, its preparation can be vary and is depended upon individual choice.
These images are some vegetables dishes (Chawhmeh) of Mizo:
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Antam chhum/Antam tlak (Mizo cuisine/Mizo chawhmeh) - Boiled mustard leaves. Mustard leaves are boiled with water, no other ingredients needed to add. |
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Thingthupui chhum ((Mizo cuisine/Mizo chawhmeh) - These are the leaves collected from Thingthuphui trees, and boiled with water. It have special taste. |
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Mizo bai ((Mizo cuisine/Mizo chawhmeh) - This is a mixture of vegetables cooked together. This is one the Mizo favourite dishes. |
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Behlawi bai (Mizo cuisine/Mizo chawhmeh) - It is cooked with beans leaves (behlawi hnah), rice, chingal and saum |
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Behlawi bai (Mizo cuisine/Mizo chawhmeh) - It is cooked with beans leaves (behlawi hnah) , rice, chingal and saum |
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Antam kan (Mizo cuisine/Mizo chawhmeh) - It is mustard leaves cooked with oil. |