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It’s pouring in Mumbai today so I thought I’ll share the recipe of the khichuri I made yesterday as it was rather easy and turned out well. Khichuri is how we Bengalis pronounce khichdi and is made during the rains as the ingredients to make it are usually at home even if you can’t shop. Plus it’s hot and nourishing in the cold. Helps fight waterborne diseases. Tastes yum even to the fussiest of eaters. You will find pressure cooker recipe on my blog and YouTube. This is a non PC one and is written for people who know how to cook. Still in bed thanks to jetlag so excuse me for not elaborating:

– Take moong dal and dry roast it in a pan till it turns brown from yellow. Take it out and rinse it in water. I burnt a bit yesterday as you can see from the blackened bits 🙈

– Soak twice the amount of rice for at least half an hour. Ideally short grained rice. In Mumbai ambe mohar is good. Gobindo bhog in Bengal. If you want to use basmati, go ahead. Whatever’s at home!

– Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil or ghee. Add whole cumin, dry red chilli, tez patta. Also broken bits of whole cardamom, cinnamon & cardamom.

– then finely chopped fresh ginger followed by tomato (small amounts). I don’t like garlic in it.

– add the roasted dal and soaked and drained rice

– add spices. Turmeric a must. Red chilli powder, cumin and coriander powders are what I add too. You can add sugar if you want. I don’t. Salt

– add vegetables. Peeled and halved potato is traditional. I add vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, peas at times and yesterday added chopped karela (bitter gourd) as I am currently diabetic. Didn’t taste bad.

– add thrice the amount of water as the solids in the pan. Bring to boil, reduce flame and slow cook. 

– check occasionally to see if the water is drying up and if so, add a bit more water (I did so thrice yesterday 🙈)

– when done, top it with some ghee

– you can have it as a one dish meal but traditional accompaniments included fish fry, aubergine fry, fried potatoes, fried egg or omelette. I had mine with pickle yesterday. As far I know, we Bengalis do not have khichuri with dahi.

#khichuri #khichdi #mumbairains #bengalifood #recipe 

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