Ash Gourd and Chickpeas with Alkali ( কোমোৰাৰ আগ আৰু বুটৰ সৈতে খাৰ)

Life has been hectic past few months! I had a very busy trip to India; before and after that I lived in different cities for different projects. Among all that, I have not been able to find time as well as inspiration to cook much at the comfort of my own kitchen!

Anyway, you guys know that I love authentic Assamese cuisine. One of the major reasons for that is my mother’s awesome cooking! Her style of cooking is simple and very fast and her dishes are never boring no matter how many times she prepares them! When I went to India in 2013 for vacation, I did not really have much chance to gorge on mom-made awesome food, but for this trip I made sure that I don’t miss any lunch and dinners at home among my cozy little family :-) There have been pigeon meat, duck curries, pork fries, different type of freshwater fish and lot of pitha-laru (delicious sweet snacks loved by every Assamese)! I have every intention of sharing all these recipes but let's first start with something green and healthy :-) This sabji (curry) is one of the many tricks my mom uses to jazz up an otherwise boring vegetarian meal! It's definitely different than the vegetarian recipes that I can prepare here in USA.

Ingredients: Young/budding leaves and vines of Ash Gourd tree (not the best description so please refer to the picture below :-)), Chickpeas (white ones known as Kabuli Boot or Brown ones known as Desi Boot in Assam), Ginger Paste, Pasfuron, Dry Red Chilies, Khar (alkali solution. you can also substitute it for Baking Powder), Salt, fresh Green Chilies. Turmeric powder is NOT needed.

1. Soak the chickpeas in water for at least 2-3 hrs.

2. We need to clean up the leaves and the stems. First peel away the outer layer (which is also covered with short coarse hair) of the stems and chop them into medium or to your preferred size.

3. Heat oil in a pan (I use mustard oil). Add the pasfuron and dry chilies.

4. Add the vegetables and chickpeas. Keep stirring.

5. Add ginger paste, you may add a clove of garlic if you want.

6. Add the khar/baking powder and salt.

7. When you can start seeing the vegetables have started to melt add the green chilies. This gives a fresh aroma to the sabji. Keep stirring.

8. This sabji does not really need a lot of time to cook. Add a little bit of water and bring to heavy-thick gravy like consistency.

9. Serve with rice, roti, bread or with whatever you wish for.

10. The other side-dish you see in the plate (at the bottom) consists of the vegetables seen on the picture at the side :-) (Very easy to prepare; add the vegetables in a heated oil and keep frying untill it melts with little ginger-garlic paste, that's it.)

In a proper Assamese meal this khar sabji serves as a side dish. :-) I am yet to figure out a grocery store here in USA where I can find these type of green stems so I don't really know when next I am going to taste this sabji again :-) I can only hope :-( 

Love,

~Arrru

:::অমিতাৰ খাৰ (Papaya with Alkali):::

This is another staple from my kitchen. If you are an Assamese or if you have lived in Assam for a long long time, you must have experienced this culinary delight.

Well, as a matter of fact, we, Assamese people are commonly referred to as "খাৰ খোৱা অসমীয়া" (khar eating Assamese), which often has an underlying indication that we are a bit lazy in nature. That is definitely changing now. Nevertheless, we love our khars! :)

In an ideal Assamese meal, we generally start off with khar. You can make a khar dish with different primary ingredient like papaya (Assamese synonym: Amita), spinach, black gram, night jasmine flower etc. In my home, papaya was most frequently used.

Amitar Khar (papaya with alkali) in an Assamese household will usually include fish head from larger fishes (typically Rohu). The succulent fatty and pulpy taste of the fried fish head amalgamates with the alkali and slightly sweeter flavour of the unripe papaya to create this mouth-watering taste that every Assamese loves :) And the crunchiness of that fried fish head!! Yummmmmmy!!! It is not always easy to find Rohu here, so I have had substituted fish head with regular fish pieces or smaller fishes like Mua fish or younger Catfish. You can even skip the fish altogether. It is still going to taste awesome. 

Traditionally, khar is made from burning or sun-drying a typical banana tree stem or banana peel. The ash produced thereafter is mixed with water! The water is what we call khar. Generally for one meal serving 4 people, you don't need more than 3-4 teaspoons. But, this is definitely not the easiest way to prepare khar, specially if you are living outside Assam. "Baking Soda" is the most easiest and widely used alternative. Taste wise, it performs exactly the same. 

So here it goes...
Ingredients: Mustard oil (highly recommended), Red Chili, Bay Leaves, Pas Furon (five spices mix) or Mustard Seeds, Salt, Unripe Papaya, Khar or Baking Soda, Fish-head or other fish pieces, Turmeric Powder (for fish pieces), Green Chili (optional), Potato (optional)

Important Note:

• Make sure to get an unripe papaya. Even a slight ripe papaya may make the taste undesirably sweet.
• Keep in mind that there is no need of onion, garlic, ginger or any kind of spices. I have seen khar recipes with these ingredients, but I really prefer making mine with the minimal spices and ingredients.
• Be extremely careful about the amount of soda you are putting. More amount is going to leave a bitter aftertaste.

1. Peel off the papaya, scoop the seeds, slice it and chop into small thin pieces. This may take a generous amount of time, specially for a larger size papaya. But the thinner the pieces, the lesser is the cooking time.
2. I like to marinate the fish head with salt and turmeric for few minutes. Fry in your choice of oil. Make sure it is well fried.
3. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add the mustard seed/pas furon, bay leaves and red chillies when the oil is properly heated. The seeds will start to splatter (So be careful ;))
4. Add papaya and potato pieces. Stir occasionally.
5. After few minutes add salt and the soda. For a rather big-size papaya, 1/2 spoon soda should be enough.
6. You will see the papaya pieces dissolve almost immediately. Keep stirring occasionally.
7. Once you feel that the papaya is almost cooked, add the fried fish head. I try to break it into smaller fragments. This helps in allowing the flavour of the fish melt into the papaya.
8. Cook for some more time.
9. Serve with rice.

This is one of my "all-time favourite food". I am pretty sure, if you are from the land of Assam, you already have attempted or will attempt this recipe at least once in your life. :) And if the whole concept of alkali as food is totally new to you and you decide to experiment; I would love to know more. Comment below :)

Love,
~Aru

::: তিল দিয়া কুকুৰাৰ মাংস (Sesame Chicken) :::

If you happen to browse through my first food related post, you already know that I am always after easy-to-cook recipes. Plus, I am not a very versatile cook. Because of my work and lifestyle, I am kind of compelled to eat outside for most of the time. And so, whenever I cook, I tend to favor recipes of Assamese cuisines that reminds me of my childhood. It is kind of my way to deal with the fact that I miss home and my mom's awesome cooking.

Sesame seeds are very popular in Assam and are widely used in our cooking. I remember my mother spicing up a monotonous everyday meal with a simple sesame chutney made with garlic, chilies and tiny drops of mustard oil. As I have heard from my elder generation, sesame seed helps in maintaining jet black color of hair, if you prefer black as your hair color :),  as well as nourishing them. The same sesame paste can also be used to flavor up a simple chicken curry. 

I don't remember having this specific delicacy very often back home in India. Recently one of my very adorable friend prepared this recipe one day for a dinner invitation. It was just too good to taste this flavor after so many years. I was immediately intrigued , because, like me, she also prefers recipes that require less time and effort. A big thanks to her for sharing the recipe.

So here it goes

Ingredients: Chicken, Sesame Seed, Red Chili, Bay Leaves, Pas Furon (five spices mix), Garlic, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder (Optional), Turmeric Powder, Salt, Chili, Ginger, Garlic, Onion, Big Pieces of Potato (optional)

1. Make a paste of ginger and garlic. Chop some onions.

2. Heat mustard oil in a wok (you can replace mustard with any other oil of your preference, but I like the authentic flavour of mustard oil). Add dry red chilies, bay leaves, pas furon and chopped onions.

3. After 2-3 minutes, add the garlic-ginger paste, chillies, turmeric powder, cumin powder, and coriander powder if you like. I am not much fan of coriander powder, so I always skip it :). One key aspect of this recipe is the absence of Garam Masala which is almost a must have in any chicken curries. I believe the flavour of both sesame seed and Garam Masala will be clashing.

4. Add chicken pieces, potatoes and salt.

5. After the chicken is almost cooked, add the sesame paste. Stir till you feel the paste is cooked.

6. Add water per your required consistency. I like it to be a little thick.

7. Serve with rice or naan.

I am not very rigid about ingredient measurement while cooking. For me, cooking is an experiment with trial and error method. This is the first time I cooked Sesame Chicken. When finished, I realized that I put a little too many spoons of the paste and hence the sesame flavour came out a little bit overpowering. But that happens with experiments :) The bottom line is, you should be a little bit careful about the ratio of chicken to sesame paste. I think 3 teaspoons for 1/2 KG (i.e. 1.1 lb) of chicken should be good.

Hope you all enjoyed an easy-to-cook yet flavourful dish from my home state of Assam, a very beautiful place in north-east India.

Love

~Arrru