Doh-neiiong

Doh-neiiong in Cherrapunji

On the lunch plate in Cherrapunji, Doh-neiiong holds its place - nutty, savoury, non-vegetarian, and exactly the kind of thing worth crossing town for.

What you are eating: Pork cooked with black sesame (neiiong), ginger and onion into a dark, nutty, deeply flavoured Khasi curry

🍛 What it is

Pork cooked with black sesame (neiiong), ginger and onion into a dark, nutty, deeply flavoured Khasi curry - that is the whole idea of it, and everything else on this page follows from there.

It sits in the city's food life as a midday meal - eaten at lunch, served the way the locality serves it, and priced the way the locality prices it.

Locally it is filed under: khasi, pork - which is the vocabulary to use when asking for it.

📜 Where it comes from

In Cherrapunji, a beloved Khasi pork curry, distinctive for its roasted black-sesame gravy.

Dishes like this travel badly and reproduce badly - the version in Cherrapunji is the reference version, made for the local palate at local prices.

👅 The taste, honestly

Ask what it tastes like and the answer is nutty, savoury; anything more specific you should taste rather than read.

The heat is a proper medium - present, honest, manageable.

As a midday meal dish it is made to be the centrepiece - which tells you what to order around it: keep the sides simple and let it lead.

🕐 When to eat it

Locals eat it lunch - and matching the local clock is half the pleasure of the dish.

For a proper meal dish, the meal-time rhythm applies: the kitchen is at its sharpest in the run-up to the peak, and the plate you get at the height of service is the plate to judge.

🥣 Ordering it well

In India, order at the busiest counter you can find - queue length is the review system, and the place with the line is the place with the turnover.

Ask for the heat you want, not the heat on the menu - most kitchens will moderate a dish for a visitor who asks, and none will mind being asked.

💰 What it costs

The local range is ₹120–300 in Cherrapunji - within it you are paying the local price; far above it, you are paying for something else.

It sits in the comfortable middle of a food budget - not the cheapest thing on the street, and nowhere near the top.

Carry small notes - the smallest transactions run smoothest with the smallest denominations.

🤝 Eating it like a local

Eat it the local way: with the hand if you are comfortable, with the table if you are not, and in the company the dish was designed for - more is the normal number.

And the pairing instinct: keep the rest of the order simple and let one dish carry the meal.