Amsu is a traditional Ao Naga dish. This is a signature dish of the Ao tribe of Nagaland. It is a very simple, easy and super healthy dish. Amsu is a less spicy and is somewhat like a savory porridge made from chicken, bamboo shoot, pounded rice and spiced up with green chillies, ginger, garlic and flavored with mongmong chang which is a variety of sichuan peppercorns. It is a soul satisfying and comfort food. The overall procedure of making chicken with rice flour is very basic and simple.
Our cuisine doesn’t not use masalas and spices. The dishes are mostly steamed or boiled which are zero oil dishes. Also the intake of herbs and green leafy vegetables are more and that is why it is considered as one of the healthy food.
It is always recommended to use local produce to make the Amsu. Few ingredients are like local chicken, local rice or sticky rice ( glutinous rice), naga ginger and ginger leaves. Using these types of rice, the naga ginger and ginger leaves etc makes the porridge very flavorful and aromatic.
Chicken porridge is best cooked with local chicken/country chicken. Here the chicken is cooked with chillies, crushed ginger garlic, bamboo shoots and ground rice is added towards the end of the dish and cooked till a thick gravy is obtained. It is flavored with mongmong chang, a variety of sichuan peppercorns and crushed ginger leaves for the authentic taste and flavor.
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We make a similar dish with pork innards and blood of the pig It is also one of the most favourite and popular delicacy of the nagas which is loved by all. We serve it with piping hot black tea or can have it along with rice as part of your meal. It is also a perfect accompaniment with your favourite drink.
Amso is a healthy and scrumptious dish. It is a meal on it’s own. You can either skip rice for lunch or dinner and have this porridge or you can serve it with piping hot steam rice. This porridge is a nutritious, filling and absolutely delicious dish.
MORE NAGA RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE, Click to view the recipes 👉Naga Cuisine
Well, if you make this amsu, please do leave a feedback in the comments box below or snap a photo and tag Akum Raj Jamiron Facebook and akumrajjamir on Instagram with hashtag #atmykitchen. I would love to see your creations. Now let’s jump to the recipe.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients to make Amsu:
500 gms Chicken
4-5 Green Chillies or as per taste coarsely grounded
2 inches Ginger
6-7 Garlic Cloves
2 tbsp Bamboo Shoots
¼ cup local Rice or sticky rice (Glutinous rice)
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns dry roasted and crushed
Few ginger leaves ( use if available )
Salt to taste
Water as required
How to make Amsu:
Wash the rice and soak in water for few hours. Drain the water and let it dry for few minutes. It is not necessary to dry the rice completely.
Grind the rice into a coarse powder. Remove and set aside. (Traditionally we pound the rice with hand using a large wooden equipments for pounding like mortar pestal).
Coarsely ground the green chillies and set aside.
Take the ginger and garlic and coarsely ground them and set aside.
In a pan add the chicken. Add water, coarsely grounded green chillies, salt and bring to boil and cook for about 10 mins.
Add coarsely grounded ginger garlic, bamboo shoots and cook for another 10 minutes. The cooking time will differ according to the variety of chicken used.
Add water and adjust the gravy consistency as per your gravy requirement
Mix the rice flour in little water and add it to the chicken.
Stir continously so it doesn’t form any lumps and cook for about 5-10 minutes
The gravy will thicken, add crushed sichuan peppercorns, crushed ginger leaves if using, check salt and take off the heat.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you liked the recipe. Your valuable feedbacks are always, I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you.
Happy cooking!
❤ Akum
