Khichri – Indian Rice and Pea “Risotto”
I’ve been thinking a lot about balance lately and, as life likes to do, was given nearly 3 ½ hours worth of instruction on this topic at an Ayurvedic cooking class last week at the Natural Gourmet Institute for which I signed up months ago.
For the record, Ayurveda is an ancient form of Indian alternative medicine that, as far as this Midwestern American can tell, is about achieving a balance in all things – taste, temperature, emotion, physicality and spirituality.
The class, taught by the sunny Nalini Mehta, was a crash course for me in this Indian/ Ayurvedic idea of balance. Apologies to Nalini if I don’t get this quite right, but the gist of Ayurvedic cooking is to use a balance of the following six tastes in a meal: sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, astringent and salty. These, and again I was quite distracted by the yummy food being cooked to get this exactly right, correspond to the different natural elements of air, water, earth, fire, space. And depending on you and your loved ones’ natural body chemistry, your current emotional and physical states, the weather, time of day, etc., more or less of each of those tastes is desirable in order to achieve an overall balance.
This is, quite obviously, a little different than the sort of “food balance” I grew up with in Chicago: a slab protein, 2 sides of veggies and a big ole scoopful of carbs.
What I took home from this class, besides a rather un-Ayurvedic full belly, was a fuller sense of life and the comfort that a meal cooked with love and intention can provide.
Try this Khichri. Make it for the people you love. It’s a 4000 year old Indian comfort dish extraordinaire… it’s a protein-filled risotto with a kick, and is sure to balance out holiday stress.
Serves: 6
Time: 1 hour
Khichri – Indian Rice and Pea “Risotto”, adapted from Nalini Mehta
Olive oil or ghee (clarified butter)
2 dried red chilies, crumbled
1 tsp cumin seeds
8 cloves
8 black peppercorns
1 large yellow onion, cut into rings
1 large zucchini, cut into cubes *
½ bag of spinach, roughly chopped*
1 inch ginger, minced
1 tsp turmeric
¼ tsp asafetida, optional
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 ½ cup yellow or red split peas, toor dal, or moog dal
1 ¼ cups basmati rice
7 cups water
salt
Ghee, melted butter, or oil to garnish
Heat a little oil or ghee in a pot and toss in the dried spices: red chilies, cumin seeds, cloves, and peppercorns. Heat them for few minutes until they turn a few shades darker.
Add the onions and sauté for 5 – 10 minuets or until the onions and wilted and translucent. Add the zucchini and sauté 5 more minutes.
Add the ground spices: ginger, turmeric, asafetida, coriander, cumin, and garam masala and stir once before adding the peas and rice. Coat the peas and rice with spices and then add the water.
Bring the rice mixture to a low boil, set a lid on and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir well, check to see if more water is needed (like a risotto, this mix “eats” water) and stir occasionally for another 15 – 20 minutes until very well done and mushy.
Serve into bowls and top with another splash of ghee, melted butter or oil for fun and comfort.
*this is a very relaxed dish and any veggie would mingle well – green peppers, peas, green beans, and/or okra are other ideas.
December 8th, 2006 11:56
yum, looks good!
December 8th, 2006 15:03
How lovely - I will be adding a link to this post to next weeks’ Gluten-Free Recipe Roundup
December 8th, 2006 16:57
This looks really good. I haven’t had a lot of Indian food but always excited to try new things. Especially with Risotto. Thanks for the recipe.
December 8th, 2006 16:58
Khichri is one of my favourite dishes - we have it at least once a fortnight, if not more. I’m a fan of the one pot meal, it’s a beautifully balanced mix of protein, carbohydrate and vegetables. Plus it tastes so darned good.
It’s also a flexible recipe, you can vary the spices, vegies and beans according to what’s in the cupboard.
I first started cooking it from a Hari Krishna recipe book, but then I’ve seen the recipe in almost every Indian cookery book I’ve looked in. Madhur Jaffrey says it was the starting point for the Anglo-Indian dish kedgeree.
Sorry I always get excited when someone else makes khichri.
December 9th, 2006 21:41
Thank you Johanna. I promise - it WAS good!
Bythebay - It’s wonderful to be included and thanks for making me aware of you site. Great concept!
Kat - I think this is a good Indian dish to start with and you don’t have to add as much or all the different spices. It’s very comforting and easy to love!
No worries Kathryn - I can see why you’d be excited. I can’t believe I’ve never had this dish before - it’s so simple looking I would have never belived it could be so yummy! I’m pretty sure it’s going to be staple in vanesscipeland.
April 27th, 2007 11:10
since today is all rainy and cold it made me crave this delicious dish. lets make it soon!
July 24th, 2007 10:53
Hi Guys!
Thanks for making the Khichdi into a star — in the western world that is. I am from India, and yes, Khichdi is my ALL time favorite, Rightly said, it is a comfort food, with endless possibilities to make it versatile and interesting and different even if you want to eat it for every meal!
In fact, we start feeding our babies, once they are about 5 to 6 months old, extremely well cooked and mashy consistency khichdi — WITHOUT any spices/veggies to begin with. Start with equal amounts of rice and yellow moong dal (very light to digest) and five times water. Cook on low heat with a teeny pinch of turmeric and salt, stirring frequently. Cover the pot and let it simmer till it resembles a thick soup. Go ahead and add some water if required. Let it cool slightly, and it will thicken like a soup. Adjust the salt, and go ahead let your baby enjoy, starting one spoonful per meal to begin with.
As the baby grows older, throw in easy veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, and then later peas, beans, cauliflower etc.
My son is now 3, and I like to use a handful of the green split moong dal to the above as it is extremely nutritious (lots of Vitamin E apart from the fiber). I also like to add a few drops of lime juice and ghee and OMG, it is a perfect path to NIRVANA.
Enjoy!
October 31st, 2007 20:42
[…] Similarly, this recipe has gone through a series telephone-like translations and I think you’ll find the results equally (or more, quoth the Li’l Sis) delicious than the original recipe. I learned to make Khichri (a classic Indian comfort dish - sometimes the first solid food a baby eats) from Nalini Mehta and I posted this recipe of a traditional Khichri combination last year. A friend, who I will refer to as Mr. Appleseed, surprised me on a dark rainy October night with a big pot of complex-scented rice, peas, and veggies very similar to the below recipe. I was extremely pleased to be treated to a hot home-cooked meal (the downside of having a food blog is that I’m always the one sweating it out in the kitchen) and even more flattered so to find that dish I was eating was in fact based on one of my very own recipes. How endearing! Admittedly, I am highly susceptible to flattery when eating delicious food prepared by hands other than my own. […]