Aakhol Ghor, the Assamese Cuisines and Foods from Assam

Its all about Food and Food Habits from the land of blue hills and red river, Assam.

Aakhol Ghor means Kitchen in Assamese. Assamese traditional Kitchens normally has two parts. First the dining area plus a small cooking space for tea etc. And the next bigger and more functional room is the actual kitchen with at least two earthen fire places (chowka).If you are a food lover you can hope to see a lot of authentic Assamese Recipes in this place......

DISCLAIMER

Some famous Chef of India once said, " India is so unique, one can find three different recipes for the same chicken curry in the three houses lined in the same row. Every kitchen and every cook in India has it's own cook book, unlike rest of the world."
I personally feel it is so well said. Even in my case, you might find small to big differences in your known method of cooking and the ones posted here. I call them true Assamese for two main reasons, one: because of the spices used, and two: my granny knew nothing beyond her village ( she did not believe that cauliflower can be green, which is Broccoli). So whatever she cooked was passed on over generation. And my Mom finds it hard to believe anything can be cooked beyond her traditional methods( she is best at it, though she makes excellent Indo - Chinese things, invented). So please feel free to put in your comments / correction. One thing I can assure is I have cooked all these ( everything) myself with my own hands at least once. So whatever is here is tried and tested. You are always welcome to do your bit of experiment !!!!!

Khaar

Khaar - Traditional Assamese Cooking Soda

What and How to !!

Well Khaar is an integral part of Assamese cooking.
Ingredient : A small banana Tree and loads of fire.

Remove the outer most flaps of a banana tree. Take the inside flaps and open the tree up as much as you can. Cut then into strips and let them dry for a few days under the hot sun, unless they are almost dry and turns brown.
Now take these dry strips and burn into a heap of ash. Put this ash in a container, preferably a glass or china pot. Be care full not to pick up the dust. To avoid such problems, you can take a little big iron pot or a heavy earthen pot and burn the strips inside.

Take about 4 to 5 spoon of this ash and soak in about 500ml of water over night. Take a fine muslin cloth and separate the water and the residue. Now use this water as Khaar whenever needed. You can do the soaking process periodically. And store the dry ash for future use.

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