Raksi
Banana Pancake is a sweet, fluffy breakfast or snack item that has become quite popular in Nepal, especially in tourist areas and urban cafés. While not a traditional Nepali dish, it has been widely embraced in places like Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Lumbini, where it’s often featured on “traveler’s menus” or in mountain teahouses along trekking routes.
30min
Easy
Not spicy
Ingredients
For how many kilos of grains?
Ingredient 1
Ingredient 2
Ingredient 3
Preparation
Wash the grains (rice, millet or barley) thoroughly and soak them in water for a few hours. This will soften them and prepare them for fermentation.
Drain the water and cook the grains until tender but not mushy.
Grind the murcha (fermentation starter) into a fine powder using a mortar.
Allow to cool by spreading the cooled grains on a clean tray or mat to allow them to dry slightly.
While the grains are still slightly warm, mix them with the murcha powder, ensuring an even distribution. A slightly warm temperature is essential for fermentation. Too high a temperature could inhibit the fermenting agent (murcha).
Transfer the mixture to a clean fermentation container (pot or jar). Cover it with a clean cloth and place it in a warm spot. Let it ferment for two weeks, or until fermentation is complete. Make sure the container is not airtight, as fermentation requires air. During fermentation, the yeast will convert the sugar in the grains into alcohol.
Once fermentation is complete, the must is poured into a traditional still. The still is heated to transform the fermented mixture into steam; this steam circulates through a pipe and a coil, where the distilled liquid is collected.
The distilled liquid, the Raksi, is collected at the other end; this process can be repeated several times to obtain higher alcohol levels.
Filter the distilled liquid before storing it in a glass container for later use.
Other similar meals