Khichdi

Rice and lentils boiled soft together until they lose their shape.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 200 g rice
• 150 g mung dal
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
• a 3 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 2 green chillies, slit
• 200 g mixed vegetables -- cauliflower, potato, peas
• 4 tablespoons ghee
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1.2 litres water

Method

1. RICE AND LENTILS BOILED SOFT TOGETHER UNTIL THEY LOSE THEIR SHAPE. Its article defines the dish as rice and lentils with NUMEROUS VARIATIONS, and then gives the fact that tells you the texture: in several regions it is ONE OF THE FIRST SOLID FOODS THAT BABIES EAT. That settles how far to cook it. Every other rice dish on these pages wants separate grains or a careful consistency; this one wants both the rice and the dal collapsed into each other, soft enough to need no chewing.
2. MORE WATER THAN ANY OTHER RICE HERE. A litre and a fifth to three hundred and fifty grams of grain, and it should still be loose at the end. Khichdi tightens as it stands, so make it wetter than it should be.
3. MUNG DAL IS THE ONE THAT COLLAPSES, WHICH IS WHY IT IS THE USUAL. Its article records Ibn Battuta describing the dish in the 1350s as rice and MUNG BEANS. Toor or chana would hold their shape and give a different, firmer dish.
4. THEY GO IN THE SAME POT AT THE SAME TIME. Rinsed together, cooked together. Separately cooked grains dressed afterwards is not this.
5. THE VEGETABLES ARE ITS ARTICLE'S OWN AND THEY ARE COMMON RATHER THAN REQUIRED. Cauliflower, potato and green peas. In for the last fifteen minutes.
6. THE GHEE IS THE SEASONING AND HALF OF IT GOES IN AT THE END. Two spoons to start the cumin and asafoetida, two stirred in off the heat. In a dish this plain it is most of the flavour.
7. ITS ARTICLE COUNTS SEVEN VERSIONS IN A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY DOCUMENT. The Ain-i-Akbari gives a recipe with seven variations, which is a fair measure of how loosely the name is used.
8. FOUR REAL DEPARTURES, EACH NAMED BY ITS ARTICLE. A Haryanvi one of PEARL MILLET and mung dal POUNDED IN A MORTAR and eaten with warm ghee or lassi; a bajra one; a sago version for fasting days, which is a separate row here; and a Hyderabadi breakfast that is a THREE-PART MEAL -- khichri, kheema and khatta, a sour tamarind-and-sesame sauce.
9. IT IS A FASTING FOOD AND A SICKROOM FOOD BOTH. Which is the same reason: there is nothing in it to work against.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes