How To Prepare Xaj -The Traditional Rice Beer of Assam. Be A Traditional Brewer At Home.

Xaj-pani is the most important alcoholic beverage used in rituals and religious rites of Ahoms in Assam. It's very aromatic, slightly sweet in taste, and a vital refresher after a hard labor. Ever tried it?  Its one of the popular and delicate rice beers traditionally prepared in North East India. And you must admit that in the case of traditional beverages, indigenous people of the northeast will never disappoint you.
The procedure takes around 7 to 8 days to prepare the best quality xaj. The aroma and uniqueness of xaj pani mainly depend on the preparation of starter cake (Vekur Pitha) and the selection of rice.

 The starter cake (vekur pitha) :

To prepare Bhekur pitha, first of all,  the ahoms collect leaves of plants or wild herbs which are to be used in the cake (source of yeast required for fermentation). And among them, The most common and primary to the secret recipe are:

1. leaves of maidenhair creeper,

2.common leocas or dronapuspi, 3.Velvet leaf

4.goat weed,

5.leaves of camphor tree and

6.Piper betel leaves.

Some native people add some other herbs also, but mentioned above are the most commonly used leaves or herbal plants by Ahoms. But one must be very careful while collecting these leaves if not familiar with the plants. There are many similar looking wild plants which are poisonous too. If you are trying this at home, I suggest getting assisted by any person who has good knowledge of all these herbs and plants.

Now collected leaves are allowed become dry in sunlight for 1-2 days. Then, these dried leaves are grounded and mixed with powdered rice. Take any amount uncooked rice and grind it to powdered state and mix the grounded leaves ( the amount of grounded leaves should be 1/3 amount of rice powder). Now some amount of water is added to the mixture and a dough or disc-shaped cakes are made. The cakes are now wrapped with banana leaves properly and kept in airlock condition above the fire heat for 4-5 days. When dried well, these are called vekur pitha, which are used as the source of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the brewer's yeast in fermenting rice.

Selection of rice and the fermentation :

 Any rice can be fermented to prepare a rice beer. But when we talk about the exceptional Xaj, the selection of rice always matters. The greatness of xaj comes only from the bora sticky rice from sali variety. it is a rare variety of glutinous rice produced in the typical climate and soil of Assam. without bora rice a xaj is just another rice beer even though all recipe and procedures are being followed as likewise.

          Now the well cultivated and good quality bora rice is first cooked to an eatable state, spread on a plain plate and left open for about an hour. the cooled and dried rice is then mixed with the vekur pitha. the mixture is then transferred to an earthen pot called koloh. now, this koloh filled with rice mixture is kept at a dark place or in a corner of house for a period of 4-5 days in the airlocked condition for fermentation.

image of Koloh

After this period the Xaj is almost ready for service just after one step ahead. Now the concentrated juice of alcohol is extracted from the earthen pot (koloh) by the filtration process. This is done by placing a vessel of appropriate size on the mouth of the pot to act as a lid. many people also carry out the filtration by placing paddy straws on the mouth of pot to prevent the exit of semi-solid rice.

            Now the filtrate is all the Xaj. It has a sweet taste, great aroma and gives a calm and moderate booze and Best served with the grilled pork on skewers.