How to make Kalchi/Khar from Banana trees

Kalchi in Garo and Kola Khar as its know in neighboring Assam is an alkaline solution used in everyday cooking that is extracted mainly from burning the banana stem to ashes. It's also commonly called liquid alkali. Liquid alkali has been traditionally used in Northeastern cooking but off-late they have been losing charm not just with the urban populations but even with the rural folks. The reason being ready availability of cooking soda in packaged form. Lot of people don't take the trouble to dry and burn their own Kalchi anymore. However cooking soda can never replace the subtle taste that the naturally obtained liquid alkali. Athiya kol or Rebok as its know in Garo which is Bhim banana (Musa balbisiana) seeded bananas is the choicest variety to make Kola Khar. The barks of the stem and even the covers of the fruit are dried in the sun, burnt down to ashes and stored in jar. Before being used, the ashes are infused in water and the water is used for cooking. It's believed that Khar produced during late September-mid October is the best in quality. The main purpose of alkaline Khar is to balance out the acidic components of food and is considered very healthy for maintaining a healthy alkaline body. Lets Connect! Twitter:   / eat_your_kappa   Facebook:   / eatyourkappa   Instagram:   / eatyourkappa   Blogger: http://eatyourkappa.blogspot.in/ email: [email protected]