Stirring
the Pot
This
is the season for khichdi, a surprisingly versatile comfort dish
If pakoras
and bhajjiyas along with overbrewed sweet chai are synonymous with the rains,
so is khichdi. After all, what can be more comforting on a grey, wet day than a
basic one-pot meal of rice and lentils cooked together with a fistful of spices
tempered in ghee, “pure and desi”, solid and homely, sans any pretence or
gourmet snobbery?
Not that khichdi really was my favourite food while growing up — however much the skies opened up on sombre days and however much my mother urged me to scoop it off with bits of roasted papad that I still have a weakness for. It was an acquired taste, appreciated only much later as I began to see the dish for what it really is: deceptively simple and open to diverse interpretation as you go from region to region and community to community in the subcontinent.
Buttering the Dish
But despite the variety of khichdis you can cook, using the same basic ingredients, one thing remains constant: ghee. Indeed the flavour of khichdi seems directly proportional to the amount of clarified butter used. In fact, if you go by the medieval recipe favoured by Akbar and to be found in the Ain-i-Akbari, equal amounts of rice, dal and ghee are to go into the dish. Today, of course, we would top our meal with just a fraction of that amount (and still feel guilty of overindulging), but if you truly want to savour any khichdi, don’t count the calories!
The history of the khichdi seems to date back to ancient India but the basic recipe involving equal parts of rice and moong dal (usually; other dals can be used too) has undergone so many variations that each time you taste the dish in a different part of the country (or the world), it tastes totally different — whether it is the pongal of Tamil Nadu, the lazizan of Gujarat with spices and nuts or the many different khichdis made for different patron saints on each day of Muharram.
The Variations
In my UP Kayastha family, a monsoon recipe is the arhar dal ki khichdi; where the moong has been replaced by eastern UP and Bihar’s favourite yellow pigeon-pea. Temper this simply with asafoetida, cumin, some ajwain (said to be good for the stomach, especially during the monsoons) and enough warming ginger and you have some heart-warming lunch.
One of the most interesting spin-offs of the khichdi is, of course, the kedgeree, a colonial, Rajera dish that transformed into a breakfast/ brunch British recipe using fish, boiled eggs and chopped parsley along with the lentils and rice. British chef of Indian origin Manju Malhi, who has several cookbooks and TV shows to her credit exploring Indian food, tells me how to do a simple “but spicy” kedgeree. Cook the basmati rice first. In another pan poach some white fish fillets in hot water, adding some bay leaves and peppercorn to the water and letting the fish cook for about 10 minutes. Take the fish out when it is cool and break into large flakes (discarding any skin). In a pan, sauté some onions and green chillies in butter. Add the ubiquitous “curry powder” (this after all is a Brit dish) and salt and tip in the rice. Mix well, add the fish and cook on flame till it is heated through. Put some hard boiled eggs on top and garnish with chopped parsley.
The Taste
In Hyderabad, a popular brunch recipe replaces the lentils with keema (mince). Researcher Salma Husain suggests you cook the keema thoroughly first and parboil the rice. Then mix together both and cook on dum, in a sealed pot, till the rice is fully done. Serve with khatta — a liquidy mint chutney soured with tamarind juice.
In Bengal, the khichuri is even more special to the season than anywhere else in the country. Sandhya Banerjee, a home cook, who has worked with me for my festivals, makes the most delicious khichuri with veggies like cauliflower, beans, carrots et al. Fry the vegetables and keep aside. Then sauté dhuli moong dal (green gram without husk) and keep aside. Now prepare a tempering (in mustard oil) with cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, red chilli, bay leaf and cumin. Tip in rice and dal and add turmeric powder and salt. Fry till aromatic. Add hot water till rice and lentils are fully cooked. Serve hot with fish curry and batter-fried brinjal rounds.
Gourmet Special
But the khichdi is changing with our changing food culture and indeed with contemporary Indian food coming of age, it has become a gourmet special with chefs like Vineet Bhatia and Manish Mehrotra transforming the dish completely — substituting amaranth (ramdana) for the rice or making a butter chicken khichdi, if you so like.
Chef Nishant Choubey of Dusit Bird hotel recommends using red rice (soak for 12 hours) as a healthier substitute, or the short-grained Arborio (risotto) rice, to give it a touch of fusion. Chop up some frankfurters and cook them on a dry pan till the fat oozes out and these become crispy. Now make a tempering with onion, garlic, green chillies and haldi. Bung in the dal and rice and sauté, then add some stock and cook till done. Now mix in the sausage and finish with some grated cheese and a dollop of butter: because, after all, without that fat, a khichdi, even a contemporarised one, is no khichdi.
Accompaniments & Toppings
Yoghurt, chutney, pickles and papad along with ghee have been the traditional accompaniments to the wholesome khichdi meal. But there are different ways of adding other textures, flavours and crunch. If in Bengal you can have the fried bhaja alongside the squishy lentil-rice mix, several Muslim recipes from UP and Gujarat not only add nuts but also top the khichdi with onions (raw or browned; the latter go deliciously well as a garnish over whole green moong-rice khichdi cooked so that each grain is separate and not mashy). The masala khichdi of Maharashtra uses curry leaves, green chillies, cumin and asafoetida as a spicy tempering to the vegetable khichdi, which is then topped with fresh coriander and fresh grated coconut garnish. Finally, a Mughal take on the Gujarati lazeezan involves placing lamb kofte on top of the khichdi cooked in stock and with mashed meat incorporated into the dish.
Not that khichdi really was my favourite food while growing up — however much the skies opened up on sombre days and however much my mother urged me to scoop it off with bits of roasted papad that I still have a weakness for. It was an acquired taste, appreciated only much later as I began to see the dish for what it really is: deceptively simple and open to diverse interpretation as you go from region to region and community to community in the subcontinent.
Buttering the Dish
But despite the variety of khichdis you can cook, using the same basic ingredients, one thing remains constant: ghee. Indeed the flavour of khichdi seems directly proportional to the amount of clarified butter used. In fact, if you go by the medieval recipe favoured by Akbar and to be found in the Ain-i-Akbari, equal amounts of rice, dal and ghee are to go into the dish. Today, of course, we would top our meal with just a fraction of that amount (and still feel guilty of overindulging), but if you truly want to savour any khichdi, don’t count the calories!
The history of the khichdi seems to date back to ancient India but the basic recipe involving equal parts of rice and moong dal (usually; other dals can be used too) has undergone so many variations that each time you taste the dish in a different part of the country (or the world), it tastes totally different — whether it is the pongal of Tamil Nadu, the lazizan of Gujarat with spices and nuts or the many different khichdis made for different patron saints on each day of Muharram.
The Variations
In my UP Kayastha family, a monsoon recipe is the arhar dal ki khichdi; where the moong has been replaced by eastern UP and Bihar’s favourite yellow pigeon-pea. Temper this simply with asafoetida, cumin, some ajwain (said to be good for the stomach, especially during the monsoons) and enough warming ginger and you have some heart-warming lunch.
One of the most interesting spin-offs of the khichdi is, of course, the kedgeree, a colonial, Rajera dish that transformed into a breakfast/ brunch British recipe using fish, boiled eggs and chopped parsley along with the lentils and rice. British chef of Indian origin Manju Malhi, who has several cookbooks and TV shows to her credit exploring Indian food, tells me how to do a simple “but spicy” kedgeree. Cook the basmati rice first. In another pan poach some white fish fillets in hot water, adding some bay leaves and peppercorn to the water and letting the fish cook for about 10 minutes. Take the fish out when it is cool and break into large flakes (discarding any skin). In a pan, sauté some onions and green chillies in butter. Add the ubiquitous “curry powder” (this after all is a Brit dish) and salt and tip in the rice. Mix well, add the fish and cook on flame till it is heated through. Put some hard boiled eggs on top and garnish with chopped parsley.
The Taste
In Hyderabad, a popular brunch recipe replaces the lentils with keema (mince). Researcher Salma Husain suggests you cook the keema thoroughly first and parboil the rice. Then mix together both and cook on dum, in a sealed pot, till the rice is fully done. Serve with khatta — a liquidy mint chutney soured with tamarind juice.
In Bengal, the khichuri is even more special to the season than anywhere else in the country. Sandhya Banerjee, a home cook, who has worked with me for my festivals, makes the most delicious khichuri with veggies like cauliflower, beans, carrots et al. Fry the vegetables and keep aside. Then sauté dhuli moong dal (green gram without husk) and keep aside. Now prepare a tempering (in mustard oil) with cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, red chilli, bay leaf and cumin. Tip in rice and dal and add turmeric powder and salt. Fry till aromatic. Add hot water till rice and lentils are fully cooked. Serve hot with fish curry and batter-fried brinjal rounds.
Gourmet Special
But the khichdi is changing with our changing food culture and indeed with contemporary Indian food coming of age, it has become a gourmet special with chefs like Vineet Bhatia and Manish Mehrotra transforming the dish completely — substituting amaranth (ramdana) for the rice or making a butter chicken khichdi, if you so like.
Chef Nishant Choubey of Dusit Bird hotel recommends using red rice (soak for 12 hours) as a healthier substitute, or the short-grained Arborio (risotto) rice, to give it a touch of fusion. Chop up some frankfurters and cook them on a dry pan till the fat oozes out and these become crispy. Now make a tempering with onion, garlic, green chillies and haldi. Bung in the dal and rice and sauté, then add some stock and cook till done. Now mix in the sausage and finish with some grated cheese and a dollop of butter: because, after all, without that fat, a khichdi, even a contemporarised one, is no khichdi.
Accompaniments & Toppings
Yoghurt, chutney, pickles and papad along with ghee have been the traditional accompaniments to the wholesome khichdi meal. But there are different ways of adding other textures, flavours and crunch. If in Bengal you can have the fried bhaja alongside the squishy lentil-rice mix, several Muslim recipes from UP and Gujarat not only add nuts but also top the khichdi with onions (raw or browned; the latter go deliciously well as a garnish over whole green moong-rice khichdi cooked so that each grain is separate and not mashy). The masala khichdi of Maharashtra uses curry leaves, green chillies, cumin and asafoetida as a spicy tempering to the vegetable khichdi, which is then topped with fresh coriander and fresh grated coconut garnish. Finally, a Mughal take on the Gujarati lazeezan involves placing lamb kofte on top of the khichdi cooked in stock and with mashed meat incorporated into the dish.
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Anoothi Vishal SET120805
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