Mati Mahor Khar (Black Gram Khar)

A traditional Assamese platter is incomplete without a khar (alkali) dish, normally prepared with soda  or  water distilled from smoked/burnt banana peel. Popular khar dishes include papaya khar, bottle gourd khar, cucumber khar, among others. One more khar dish relished by the kharkhowas is mati mahor khar (black gram lentil khar).

How to get your Khar ingredient: Sun-dry for few days the peels from seeded-bananas (bhim kal in Assamese) until they turn grey/black. Now take a sun-dried banana peel and burn it on your gas oven. Then soak the burnt peel in potable water overnight. Next morning, as the water turns tea-like and the ashes gather at the bottom, filter the water in a separate vessel. One or one-and-a-half cup is enough for your preparation

Ingredients:

• About 1 or 1/12 cup khar water (see above to prepare this water) 
• About 250 gm black lentils
• 1/2 medium sized onion (finely chopped)
• 5-6 green chillis
• 5-6 pods of garlic
• two teaspoon mustard oil
• Coriander leaves
• 5 spices
• Salt to taste

Method: Soak the black grams overnight.Then wash well to remove the skin, although there are a lot of people out there who prepare without removing the skin. Take the green chillis, garlic pods and corinader leaves and crush with a crusher. Heat one or two teaspoon oil in a pressurre cooker, add  five spices, followed by the garlic-chilli-coriander paste. Add onion and fry; the aroma that it gives out is simply difficult to resist.Then add the lentils and fry for some time before adding the khar. Drop one or two green chillis if you prefer it hot! Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles (or as your pressure cooker demands). Before serving, add one teaspoon of mustard oil to it because it accentuates the taste of the khar dish.  

Health quotient: Khar is said to cleanse your stomach.

Bottle Gourd Khar (Pani/Jati Lau Khar)

Traditionally, a Khar (alkali) dish kickstarts an Assamese meal. In fact, people refer to Assamese people as khar khuas not for nothing - we eat khar dishes prepared from raw papaya (previous khar post), cucumber, and just about anything. Recently I tried my hand at this authentic Assamese dish with bottle gourd (pani/jati lau).

Although the process of cooking both the khar dishes – previous post and this one – is more or less the same, the khar ingredient used in both is different – baking soda (in the previous one) and water obtained after soaking smoked/burnt dried banana peel overnight( in this one).

How to get your Khar ingredient: Sun-dry for some days the peels from seeded-bananas ('bhim kal' in Asaamese) until they turn black. Now take a sun-dried banana peel and burn it in your gas oven. Then soak the ashes in potable water overnight. Next morning, as the water turns tea-like and the ashes gather at the bottom, filter the water in a separate vessel. One or one-and-a-half cup is enough for your preparation.

Ingredients:
• One dried peel of seeded-banana
• Half bottle gourd cut into medium-sized chunks
• Five-six garlic pods
• One finely chopped onion (optional)
• One tablespoon oil
• Two dried red chili
• One green chili
• A pinch of mustard seeds
• Salt to taste

Method: Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, dried red chilies followed by the chopped onion and garlic pods. When the onions take a reddish hue, add the bottle gourd; add salt too. Cook for some time. Then add the cup of water (khar); very soon the water gourd will turn pulpy. Cut the green chili on top. Remove from stove. Your water gourd khar is ready!
Note: If you use turmeric powder to the preparation, it’ll take on a reddish color that may not be to your liking – so avoid it!

Papaya Khar (Omita Khar)

Khar (alkali) is synonymous with Assamese cuisine. Essentially, it is an exotic liquid strained from sun-dried banana skin and cooked with a seasonal vegetable like papaya(omita), water gourd (pani lau)or mustard greens (lai haak). However, due to the rare availability of banana skin khar, we may use baking soda as a substitute. Relished as a starter, one of the most popular and easy-to-cook khar dishes is prepared with papaya. The dish has health benefits and is considerably beneficial for digestion. The cooking method may vary from person to person; here’s my recipe for this simple yet delicious Assamese dish.

Ingredients:

• A small raw papaya (cut into medium sized chunks)
• A small potato ( -do-)
• One dried red chili
• A pinch of kala zeera
• 1/4th teaspoon baking soda
• Salt to taste
• Chopped coriander leaves
• One table spoon mustard oil
• Red chilli powder (optional)

Method:

Heat the mustard oil in a frying pan. Add the kala jeera and red chilli. Then add papaya, potato, salt and cook for some time. Now add the baking soda, cook for some more time and then add hot water. Cover with a lid and heat the vegetables further. When they become soft, sprinkle them with coriander leaves. Your papaya khar dish is ready. (Optional: you may also add red chilli (lal mirch) powder if you wish.)

Tip: Turmeric powder shouldn't be used here since it gives a reddish color to the preparation.