Adhkhoria for Kharkhowas !

An essential ingredient in Assamese cuisine is khar. The literal meaning of khar is 'of alkaline nature' but this bit of information is for non Assamese readers only. I wouldn’t dream of referring to Chicken Adhkhoria as Chicken Alkali!!

Basically, khar is an indigenous preparation and gives a different dimension to foods flavoured with it.

It is prepared from a particular variety of the banana tree called Athiya. There is an innumerable variety of preparations using this special ingredient, identifiable if the recipe has a suffix of khar to it. Indigenous khar, however, may be substituted with baking soda.

The recipe below may be substituted with fish, lamb or any game bird available. A popular recipe is Paror Adhkhoria or Pigeon Adhkhoria.

The word Adhkhoria can be broken up into two parts. Adh or Adha (half) and Khoria or pertaining to khar. It just means that one uses half the quantity of khar that is normally used in any other khar preparation.

Adhkhoria is always made along with vegetables like raw papaya, squash, gourd or greens, which don’t retain their shape but form part of the gravy. The heat in the dish comes from black pepper.

I have chosen to make my Chicken Adhkhoria with locally available greens.

 Chicken Adhkhoria

Chicken (bone in)                            600 gms

Ginger paste                                     1 Tbls

Garlic paste                                       1 Tbls

Turmeric powder                              ¾ tsp

Salt                                                     1 tsp

Cumin powder                                 ¾ Tbls

Black pepper powder                      1 to 1 ½ Tbls (I like mine spicy)

Water to prepare spice paste

Greens 2 bunches, picked and washed until completely free from grit. Blanch until just wilted. Drain.

Mustard oil                                        2 ½ Tbls

Onions, chopped                             ½ cup

Baking soda (khar)                          ¼ tsp

If you had to use the indigenous khar which is liquid, you might have to use a couple of Tbls depending on the strength of the decoction.

Green chillies                                   2 to 3 (whole for flavour)

Hot water

Coriander leaves                             ¼ cup, chopped

Method

Clean, wash and dry the chicken. Cut into bite sized pieces. Blend together the next four ingredients and marinate the chicken in this paste for 3-4 hours or overnight in the fridge. Make a paste out of the cumin and pepper powders using a little water and set aside.

Chop the blanched greens. You can puree the greens in a blender if you wish. It is a personal choice.

Heat the mustard oil to smoking point. Cool a bit and throw in the chopped onions. Sauté until translucent.

 Add the cumin paste and keep stirring on medium heat until the spice paste is wonderfully aromatic and releases some of its oil. Now add the marinating chicken and blend well to coat each succulent morsel with the spice paste.

A sprinkling of hot water may be required at anytime during the cooking process in order to release the toasted spice paste that sticks to the bottom of the pan during the frying process ( bhunao)

Blend in the chopped greens, the green chillies and the khar and cook covered stirring occasionally until the chicken is cooked and the greens form part of the gravy. This might take about 45 mins.

Add the chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with plain white rice. You can even have it with rotis (Indian bread).

Vegetable cakes with a difference!

The banana flower is a large deep purple-red blossom which grows from the end of the banana bunch.

It is treated as a vegetable in several Asian and tropical cuisines and is considered to be rich in vitamins A and C. In some cultures it is believed to be beneficial to lactating mothers. It is also believed to alleviate menstrual cramps.

India being in the tropical belt has an abundance of banana trees. Like the coconut tree, every part of the ubiquitous banana tree has a specific use.

The edible portions are the flower, trunk and fruit. The leaves are used in lieu of aluminium foil for cooking and for storage of food. The banana leaf can also double up as the most economical disposable, biodegradable plate during occasions that require feeding a large number of people.

In addition, banana fibre is used to make beautiful mats and doilies in the state of Kerala.

Every Indian market stocks the banana flower. It is inexpensive besides being available all year round. The dark coloured outer bracts are tough and need to be pulled away and discarded. What you are left with are the pale tender inner leaves overlapping each other tightly to form a cone.

If you are familiar working with the banana flower you will know that once it is cut it releases a sap that will stain skin and any surface it comes into contact with. Therefore, it will be prudent to wear gloves or coat your hands with cooking oil prior to handling it. This precaution makes cleanup easier.

The sap will also discolour the cut vegetable once it comes into contact with air. You need to soak it in a bowlful of water as soon as you cut it.

The recipe I am posting today has been given to me by my friend Maya. It is delicious. In fact, it took me a couple of seconds to identify the ingredients. If you are unfamiliar with the taste you might easily be fooled into thinking fish cakes or minced meat!!

Banana flower cakes (cutlets)

  

Banana flower               1 large, yields about 3 cupfuls after being chopped

Mashed potato               1 cup

Coconut oil                  1 Tbls (Any other oil will do but this one is special)!

Shallots                          10, chopped fine

Curry leaf                      10 – 12

Green chilly                 2 – 3 or more, chopped fine

Ginger paste                  1½ Tbls

Coriander powder          2 tsps

Fennel powder               1 tsp

Pepper powder              ½ tsp or to taste

Salt to taste

Flour and water paste for coating the cakes

Breadcrumbs for coating

Oil for frying

Method

Wear gloves or apply cooking oil on you hands liberally before you handle the banana flower.

 Remove the tough outer leaves and discard. Chop the pale tender leaves soaking them in a bowl of water as you go along to prevent discolouration. Squeeze all the water out and steam the chopped vegetable for about 20 mins in a pressure cooker until tender. Set aside.

Heat 1 Tbls of oil gently in a wok and sauté the next three ingredients until limp but not discoloured.

Make a paste of the next four ingredients and add to the pan along with the chopped banana flower.

Cook this mixture on medium low heat stirring all the time until aromatic and dry. Remove from fire and set aside to cool completely.

Blend in the mashed potato. Add salt, check seasoning and form into cakes (cutlets).

Coat each cake with the flour paste before coating completely in breadcrumbs. If you want a thick coating of crumbs you can repeat the flour paste and breadcrumb coating,  letting the cakes rest in the fridge in between each coating.

Deep-fry in hot oil. Serve with onion rings soaked in lime juice, chilli powder and salt and chutney of your choice.

Seafood from Kerala

Very often, I find myself drawing parallels between Assam (the state I come from) and Kerala. Set apart geographically, on opposite sides of the subcontinent, Assam being in the Northeast and Kerala in the Southwest, it is amazing to see the similarity in food, customs and dress. Maybe there was an intermingling of cultures at some point in time.

Was there a migration of sorts I wonder? Can somebody out there throw some light on this or should one put this down to pure coincidence?

Both states are predominantly rice and fish eaters. The difference here is that the Assamese are used to eating fresh water fish only and find the strong flavour and smell of sea fish a bit unpleasant in some of their preparations. I suppose one can put it down to the absence of spices, which mask strong flavours, in Assamese cooking.

However, since I live in Chennai which is on the coast, I don’t have easy access to fresh water fish of my choice. So I have worked my way around this problem.

I get the fishmonger to fillet the fish that I am buying. Once the skin and bones are removed there is almost no fishy smell. (This is where most of the 'fishiness' lies).

One can also smear a paste made from besan (gram flour) and water onto the filleted fish and leave it on for about half an hour. Wash in several changes of water. Dry thoroughly before using.

I also fry the fish lightly before adding it to any curry, even if the recipe doesn’t call for it.  I follow these steps not only for Assamese cooking but for Kerala cooking as well, many recipes of which instruct you to add raw fish to the boiling curry.

This fish curry from Kerala is a family favourite. It is light, flavourful and very fresh tasting. This is how I make it.

Fish Molee

The ingredients

Seer fish or any fleshy fish of your choice     600 Gms, filleted

Salt                                                              1 tsp

Turmeric powder                                         1 tsp

Oil                                                              2 tsp

 Oil for shallow frying

Wash and dry the fish fillets. Cut into slices. Blend together the next three ingredients and rub well into the fish. Set aside for about 10-15 mins.

 Heat a heavy bottomed skillet until a drop of water sizzles, and then pour in the oil for frying. This will prevent the fish slices from sticking to the pan.

Fry a few slices of fish at a time until lightly browned on either side. Lift carefully with a fish slice and drain on kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Set aside.

The gravy

Coconut oil                              1½ Tbls

Onions, sliced                          ¾ cup

Ginger, juliennes                      ⅓ cup

Green chillies                           4-5, sliced

Curry leaf                                3-4 sprigs

Turmeric powder                     ½ tsp

Coconut milk                           2 cups

Hot water as required

Fried fish

Vinegar                                    1 ½ Tbls

Salt to taste         

Corn flour                               2 tsps

Heat the coconut oil gently in a heavy bottomed pan. Sauté the onions, ginger, green chillies, turmeric powder and a few curry leaves until the onions become limp.

Add 1 cup of coconut milk along with ½ a cup of hot water and bring to a gentle boil.

Lower the fried fish into the simmering gravy along with the vinegar, more crushed curry leaves and salt to taste. This needs to simmer gently for about 7–8 mins for all the fresh flavours to come together. Blend in the corn flour with the remaining coconut milk and add it to the simmering curry. Continue the gentle simmer until the gravy thickens; about 2–3 mins.

Serve with rice or crusty bread.