Ultimate Kichadi Recipes

KHICHDI

Steps:

• Soak the lentils and rice together in water in a medium bowl for 30 minutes; drain and rinse well.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and stir until they just start to fizzle, about 1 minute. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the turmeric, tomato, jalapeno and ginger. Cook, stirring, until the tomato softens, about 1 minute. Add the lentils, rice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice is tender and the lentils have broken down completely, about 15 minutes. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter and season with salt. Stir in the cilantro.

KITCHARI

Steps:

• Make the coconut-cilantro chutney: Place everything in a food processor or blender with 3 tablespoons cold water. Process to a paste. Chutney will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, though it will lose its vibrant color.
• Make the kitchari: Rinse dal and rice in several changes of water until water runs clear. Drain and set aside.
• In a large pot, heat ghee over medium-high. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fennel seeds and cook, stirring, until mustard seeds pop, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining spices and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add dal and rice mixture, 10 cups water, salt, and vegetables. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer partially covered, stirring occasionally, until most of the water is absorbed and the rice and vegetables are tender, about 1 hour. Serve with chutney.

ULTIMATE KICHADI

Steps:

• Soak rice and lentils together in hot water for about a half hour.
• Drain the water as much as possible.
• Put rice and lentils into a pressure cooker, add 7 1/2 cups of clean water, turmeric, garam masala, and salt to make the water nice and briny. However salty you want your Kichadi to be, your water should taste a little brinier than that.
• Let the pressure cooker whistle 2 or 3 times, then open up to see the consistency of the Kichadi. It should be soft and a little loose. I find pressure cookers to be very inconsistent in how they cook from one model to the next, so yours may require more or less whistles.
• In a sauteé pan, put oil and bring up to heat.
• Add your serrano chillies that have been deseeded. If you do not deseed them, the dish will be overwhelmingly hot.
• Add the asofetida. Sauteé the chillies until they get quite brown, but not burned.
• Add your chopped Cilantro, and sauteé until the leaves are wilted.
• Add in Coriander powder and chilli powder. At this point you may need to add a little more oil to the pan due to all the powder. Cook for no more than 30 seconds so that the powder doesn't burn.
• Empty the contents of your sauteé pan into your Kichadi and stir it inches There will be plenty of powder stuck to the sauteé pan. So as not to lose these spices, take a little Ghee and melt it in the pan. Swish it around to get all the spices, and pour into your Kichadi.
• Serve Kichadi with a dollop of ghee and a generous squirt of lime to finish it off.
• Cry because it's so damn good. The end.