Khichdi..a
comfort food, was a regular breakfast that appeared at our dining tables in my
house during my growing up days. A combination of just rice and lentil cooked
to very soft consistency, it was churned to mix it and then topped with a
simple garnishing of burnt mustard seeds. We would eat with curds and fried
papads or sometimes with pickle as accompaniment or would just sprinkle a
spoonful of sugar and relish it.
Mom was very
creative and made different breakfast everyday. Sometimes there was puri
bhajji, other times masala loli or just salt n pepper loli, sweet sayyu, sweet
wheat porridge. Bread, buns and oats were normally served to our NRI guests, mutton
or kheema pav was for special occasions. Breakfast was always at home, nobody
ever talked about eating out, except on very special occasions, that too never
breakfast or lunch, it used to be only dinner in formal wear.
But did you
know that Khichdi is as old as hills? It’s score: Nearly 2000 years!
Archaeologists have found burnt pieces of rice and green gram, aka moong dal, that were cooked together in Maharashtra in 1st century AD, indicating that the comfort food was equally savoured back then. Source: DNAIndia.com
I still savor
Khichdi but not for breakfast, now it’s for light dinner. It’s humble no more
because I have altered the taste too. Sometimes I add vegetables and sometimes
the left-overs meat too.
On my last
visit to Chicago, my cousin made this breakfast that was spicy and tasty. I had
liked it so much that I asked him for a recipe.
He had shared
with me verbally then, but of course, my memory always plays tricks on me and
it stayed back buried in my grey cells until recently I saw the picture of the
khichidi in the family watsapp group.
And so I asked
him again, making sure to try it out and noting it on my blog. So here it is.
Boiled 1cup
small grain rice with ½ cup green dhal till tender. Mix it well.
In a pan, fry
1tsp mustard seeds till they crackle. Add 1tsp cumin seeds. fry finely chopped
onion, add 1tsp crushed garlic and 1tsp grated ginger. Add curry leaves and
green chilies.
Add this to the
mixture of rice and lentil.
Garnish with
coriander leaves and serve hot.
Cousin says don't put coriander leaves. "arrey why? I like it and its good for my kidney too.... kidney ki safai hoti hai kotmir sey"... I told him.
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