Recipe for Gujarati Khichdi (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
Rice – 1 cup
Moong dal – ½ cup
Oil
Cinnamon sticks – 1 to 2
Mustard – ½ tsp
Jeera – ½ tsp
Onions chopped – 1
Asafoetida – a pinch
Vegetables – potato, peas, carrots, eggplant (optional), black eyed peas (frozen or boiled), frozen tuvar dana
5 Green chilies – crushed
Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Ginger paste – 1 tsp
Raw peanuts – ¼ cup (optional)
Cilantro chopped
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Soak the rice and dal for about ½ hour. Add about 1 tsp oil in a kadhai or a heavy bottom vessel. Add the cinnamon, mustard seeds and jeera. After the mustard seeds pop, add the onions and sauté for a few minutes. Add the asafoetida. Now add all the vegetables and sauté for a few more minutes. Add the crushed green chilies, the garlic paste and the ginger paste and sauté for 3 more minutes. Now add the soaked rice and dal. You can also add the peanuts at this time. Add about 3-4 cups water. (depending on how you like the khichdi consistency to be). Add some chopped cilantro and some garam masala. Add salt.Close the vessel with a tight lid and leave to cook for about half hour till the rice and dal are done to a nice mashed mix. You could also make this in a pressure cooker or a rice cooker. I don’t think there is a huge difference in the taste, and it’s a lot more convenient. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee, some kadhi, papad and pickle. As they say, these are Khichdi ke chaar yaars (4 friends) – dahi (yoghurt), papad, ghee and achar (pickle). We just substituted the dahi with the kadhi here!
*Updated 2/28 – Submitting this entry for Meeta’s Monthly Mingle – Comfort Food Round-up at http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2008/02/comfort-food-roundup-mm-18.html#MMFeb2008
Recipe for Kadhi
Ingredients for Kadhi masala:
1-2 tsp chopped Amba haldi (also known as curcuma amada or mango ginger) – Maanga Inji in Tamil
1-2 tsp Tuvar Dana (frozen pigeon peas)
Green chilies – 2 or 3
Curry leaves – a sprig
Whole jeera (Cumin seeds) – 1 tsp
Cilantro chopped
For Kadhi:
Yoghurt – 1 cup
Besan (gram flour) – 2 tsp
Jeera powder (cumin powder) – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
For tadka
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) – 1 tsp
Red chilies (optional)
Curry leaves – a few
Add all the ingredients for kadhi masala to a fine paste and add some salt to taste. (Since amba haldi is not always available year round, you can also make this masala in bulk and freeze it)
Take a cup of yoghurt in a vessel and add about 2 cups of water. Add the besan to this yoghurt-water mix. Add the jeera powder and the kadhi masala. Bring this mixture to a light boil. Turn off the heat. Now take some oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds, jeera, red chillies (optional). After the mustard seeds crackle, add the tadka to the kadhi. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with the khichdi.
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