Northeast Indian

Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar)

Name: Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar)
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Northeast Indian
Ingredients: 2 cups raw papaya; 1/4 cup split red lentils; 1 tbsp mustard oil; 1/4 tsp baking soda; 1 green chili; 1.5 cups water; 1/2 tsp salt

Bandana Gogoi @bandana_ghy

Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar) is Northeast Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the cooked vegetable. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

30 min Medium Heart healthy Diabetic friendly Low sodium Low carb Vegetarian Vegan Halal Gluten free Dairy free Pescatarian

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

2 cups raw papaya
1/4 cup split red lentils
1 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 green chili
1.5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt

How to cook it

Peel the raw papaya and cut it into small cubes.
Heat the mustard oil in a pot and drop in the papaya, lentils, and slit green chili, stirring for a couple of minutes.
Dissolve the baking soda in the water, the traditional home substitute for hard-to-find kolakhar alkali, and pour it in along with the salt.
Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook until the papaya turns soft and the lentils break down, about 18 minutes.
Mash a little with the back of the spoon to thicken and serve warm, traditionally as the first dish of the meal.

Watch how to cook Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar)

Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.

Serve it with

A Northeast Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

The protein alongside
- Lauki Chana Dal (Bottle Gourd and Lentils)
  
  45 min
What it is eaten with
- Galho (One Pot Rice, Greens and Chicken Porridge)
  
  40 min

A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.

Every tracked allergen in Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar)
Allergen	In this dish
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	No
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	No
Sesame	No
Coconut	No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Estimated, per serving

Calories: 120 kcal
Protein: 4 g
Carbs: 16 g
Fat: 4 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sugar: 4 g
Sodium: 220 mg
Saturated fat: 0 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

When to cook it

Khar (Raw Papaya & Lentil Khar) takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.