Traditional ethnic dish Mundi getting popular among everyone

Mundi – a favourite traditional dish of the ethnic communities – is becoming more and more popular with Bengalis and tourists in Bandarban.

The dish is a type of rice noodles with a sour flavour and just a hint of chilli. The amount of sourness and chilli differs according to individual taste.  Mundi is served in three ways, fried, as a noodle soup, or mixed with chutney and hot chilli.

The name Mundi came from the Marma language and the dish is available at any restaurant of Bandarban.

Describing the recipe of this special type of rice noodles, Maung Manu Marma said, "The noodles should be made with good quality rice such as Paijam or Minicate. First, the rice is soaked in water for one to two weeks, then it is ground.

"After that, the dough is made by adding hot water to the ground rice. The noodles are then prepared using a special type of machine from small balls made with the dough.

Iqbal Mahmud and his wife were enjoying the food at Kongrong Mundi House.

The couple, who came to visit Bandarban from Dhaka, said that they heard about this food several times and now they have enjoyed the dish to their hearts' content.

A group of students from Sylhet University of Science and Technology, who came to Bongdaw Mundi shop at Ujani para, said they have enjoyed the dish a lot.

Shimu, Tamanna and Hasan, members of the group, said most of the time during their visit to Bandarban they ate Mundi.

Domeno Marma, a female student of Chittagong University, said, "When I stay on the campus, I miss Mundi.  When I come here on vacation, I eat this dish every day."

A youth named Hlamaching Marma said, "I have loved this dish since my childhood. This is very popular food among us."

Lampiam Bom comes to the town very often on different occasions from Laimi Bom Para, on the outskirts of the town.  He said, "Whenever I visit the town, I eat Mundi at restaurants."

Some of the Mundi shops' owners said a lot of people liked eating Mundi. This dish was most popular in neighbouring Myanmar, they added.

The fame of Mundi has spread beyond the Bandarban district.  The item has become popular among the tourists of the area and some of them described Mundi as very delicious.