Assamese Pigeon Curry: How a staple dish is now becoming almost a rarity

The year was 2003. We are visiting our grandmother’s place in Pathshala (almost 110 kilometres from Guwahati) during Bhogali Bihu (one of the three Bihus celebrated in Assam) in January. And as usual, there was paaro mangxor jhol – pigeon curry, aaita’s (the Assamese term for grandmother) speciality in the lunch menu along with a variety of other dishes. Our every visit to Pathshala is marked by eating the pigeon curry that aaita makes. It is a traditional Assamese dish – pigeon meat cooked with potatoes, onion, and spices like garlic, ginger, pepper and chillies. The gravy is neither so thick nor runny. 

The challenging part of making this dish is in the preparation phase – it is very tedious and time consuming to clean and cut the pigeons. Since most of the pigeons are reared at home, one has to kill the pigeons that they are rearing and then do the cleaning and cutting themselves. The younger ones are preferred since their meat is softer. Hence, pigeon meat curry is seen as a delicacy that is prepared on special occasions, like when children and grandchildren visit. It is also cooked when someone in the house is sick with a cold or fever. 

It is not that we did not have pigeon meat curry in Guwahati, in our own home. I vividly remember deuta (the Assamese term for father) buying pigeons from the market and then both mother and him doing the cleaning and cutting process at home. But we, too, would have it only on special and festive occasions because of the tediousness. It was not easy to make the pigeon curry.