Amitar Khar

The Assamese first course: raw papaya simmered with khar, the alkaline filtrate of burnt banana peel, and finished with mustard oil

Origin: Guwahati & the Brahmaputra Valley

From the journey of Papaya.

An Assamese meal opens with khar and closes with something sour, and the whole structure of the plate is built between those two poles. Khar is both the dish and its defining ingredient: an alkaline liquid made by burning the peel or the dried stem of the bhim kol banana, steeping the ash in water, and straining the filtrate through a cloth. Neighbouring peoples call the Assamese kharkhuwa, khar-eaters, and the name is worn without embarrassment. Amita is papaya, and amitar khar is the version most often made. The raw fruit is cut up and cooked in water with the khar, sometimes with pulses, sometimes with a fried head of rohu, and finished with raw mustard oil and green chilli. The alkali does something particular to the papaya: it softens it faster than water alone, turns the flesh a deeper yellow, and leaves a clean, faintly bitter, soapy note that is not like anything else in Indian cooking. It is eaten first, with rice, and treated as a preparation for the meal rather than part of it. The papaya, an American plant, reached the valley by way of the Portuguese ports on the Bay of Bengal, probably in the seventeenth or eighteenth century; the date is not recorded. It arrived in a kitchen that already had the alkali and had been using it with the pulses and vegetables to hand, and it took over. That is a common pattern in the atlas and rarely as neat: a technique older than the ingredient, and an ingredient that turns out to suit it better than what came before.

Ingredients

Khar

  • 500 g green (unripe) papaya, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2 cm pieces
  • 3 tbsp khar (banana ash filtrate), or 0.75 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 tbsp mustard oil
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 3 green chillies, slit
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 600 ml water
  • 1 tsp salt

To Finish

  • 1 tsp raw mustard oil
  • 1 handful coriander leaves, chopped

Method

  1. Heat the mustard oil until it smokes lightly, then take it off the heat for a moment before adding the onion and green chillies. Cook for three minutes.
  2. Add the papaya and turmeric and turn them in the oil for two minutes.
  3. Pour in the water, add the salt, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 12 minutes.
  4. Stir in the khar and continue to simmer for a further 8 to 10 minutes, until the papaya is soft and the liquid has reduced to a thin gravy.
  5. Take off the heat, stir in the raw mustard oil and the coriander, and serve hot with plain rice, at the beginning of the meal.

Notes

Khar is sold bottled in Assam and in shops serving the north-east. Bicarbonate of soda is the accepted stand-in elsewhere and gives a cruder version of the same effect. For the fuller household version, add 100 g of soaked and cooked black gram or a fried fish head with the khar.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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