Manipuri cuisine includes a variety of fresh water snails Snails are usually cooked withloklei (galangal) and heavily seasoned with fermented fish and various strong herbs. Snails don’t carry a strong taste but have a faint fishy algae-ish smell. Tharoi (Fresh Water snails) Thongba is one of the delicacy Meitei's love to have.
Tharoi thongba is a manipuri delicacy that the meitei community enjoy since time immemorial.There are 3 types of tharoi usually eaten in Manipur - lai tharoi,labuk tharoi and tharoi ningkhabi.Though the accompanying ingredients besides tharoi differ from region to region,the main procedure is basically the same.Tharoi is cooked with potatoes and loklei by some,with soibum(fermented bamboo shoot) by some and mairen(pumpkin) by still some others.Though it is not scientifically proven yet,it is said that consuming tharoi cures one of anaemia.
Cooking tharoi needs previous planning.It has to be bought at least 2 days ahead and kept soaked with some grains of rice,which will help in extracting the mud or debris from the snail as well as the baby snails.The face and back has to be cut the previous
day and soaked in salted water.Then,it needs to be washed atleast 8 to 10 times or till the water runs clear. However, there are season to make this dish, it cannot be consume during rainy season and it is a dish which is available in all food stalls or hotels.
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