Khichdi at Sindhi Homes

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.