Akhuni Chutney

Khatsu, my friend from Nagaland told me about this when we were in college. Fermented soya bean popularly known as Akhuni in Nagaland, kinema in Sikkim and turumbai in Meghalaya, is a significant ingredient, used to create a pungent aroma in various dishes, also used as a pickle.It is prepared year-around from soyabeans by people of all tribes, but most notably the Sema tribe of southern Nagaland. Angami Nagas prepare their pork with akhuni. But, then again its pungent smell might not appeal to some...
There are a whole lot different ways of making Akhuni chutney. This is the simplest, easiest and fastest way.  Its for those times when you are hungry and want to have something hot and tasty! Try it and you won't regret it.

Here's the recipe - step by step.

You'll need a couple of chillis (hotter the better), ginger, salt, garlic(optional), and Akhuni.
Now you are thinking what Akhuni is..

Variously known as akhuni, Dzacie aakhone or axone, it is perhaps the most commonly used fermented product of Nagaland. Soyabeans grow up to an elevation of 1,500 m and in rainy conditions, making it extremely suited to the Naga hills. It is also a protein-rich legume in an otherwise traditionally protein-sparse diet.

Akhuni is prepared by picking and cleaning the soyabeans well in fresh water, and then boiling them until they are soft, but still whole. The excess water is drained and the soybeans are placed into a pot or degchi and put either out in the sun or next to the fire to warm and ferment. This takes three to four days to ferment in summer and around one week in winter.

Preparation:

Roast the chillis in hot ash/kadai for about 3minutes, take them out put in a little salt, according to preference, and pound them with a pestle till its almost a paste, add the ginger or garlic or both and pound them together with the chillis. Roast the akhuni over hot charcoal or kadai and mix it in the chilli with the pestle. And Viola!