held every year in the month of November, is considered privileged. Being a seasonable product, the availability in the market just starts trickling in around this time and hence the scarcity galore. A couple of pods cost much more than what is in normal time.

 An evergreen rain-forest tree, it is grown mostly in Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland. The height of the plant is about twenty five to thirty metres and leaves are evenly bipinnate, thirty to eighty cm long. Known as Manipur-urohi in Assamese, Manipuri-seem in Bengali, zawngtah in Mizo, with wide spreading crown having yellow-white flowers, the pods are about thirty cm long, pendulous and greenish before ripe, black and shining afterwards. A plant of the genus Parkia in the family Fabaceae, both its flowers and pods are fondly eaten either raw or cooked by the Manipuris.

The demand for Yongchak is so much that the farmers of Manipur cannot meet it and therefore have to purchase from outside the state. Namphalong, near Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh, and Silchar in southern Assam via Jiribam, are the known routes of this vegetable for Imphal market. Due to soil and climatic variation of different topographical areas, the flavour reportedly varies from place to place. This could perhaps be one of the reasons why it values in taste in some areas. Known as kampai, among the Rongmei tribe of Tamenglong district in Manipur, the pods of the plant at Dailong village generally mature ahead of others, Imphal bound passengers rush for it in their morning market.

For preparing the famed yongchak iromba, a host of local spices as ingredients are needed to enrich the aromatic and tangy flavour. Loklei (galangal), lomba (esholtzia blanda), maroi nakupi (Chinese chives), tokningkok (chameleon leaves), phakpai (Vietnamese coriander), koukha (arrowhead), along with ngari (fermented dry fish) and fresh indigenous fish like ngakra (clarias magur), and Meitei ngamu (channa orientalis) are just some of them besides coriander, spring onion, Manipuri red potato, chilli etc. In fact a fish or chicken preparation is less expensive in terms of money and time than a yongchak iromba dish. For vegetarians who do not eat fish, yongchak can be cooked in many ways. Cooking with fermented soya bean, locally known as hawaichar, is one good combination, while frying the bean with koukha (arrowhead) and prawn is another tasty option.

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