Roz Ka Khana

The second in our choice of comfort foods, there are many versions to the khichdi. Maharashtrian, Rajasthani, South Indian cuisines have their own twists to this comfort food. I have always enjoyed the Khichdi – Kadhi combo meal made by our Gujarati friends and so one wintry evening, I called my dear friend, Jayshree, to get the recipe. Much to my delight, she suggested we get together at her place for a Khichdi cooking lesson/dinner. I realized later that she knew me really well…this was the third time I had asked her for the recipe and had not made it yet, so she figured this was the best way to get me inspired…watch her cook it hands on! I could say, it worked… at least I wrote down the recipe to share it with everyone here and made it, well, with her as the chef! Before dinner, we also helped make some masala baked potatoes for appetizers, the recipe of which I will share too, as this meal was not only a breeze to make, but very, very tasty, and aren’t those the buzz words here – easy and tasty?

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 

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. 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 

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.