Khichuri

I have quite a few comfort foods but all of them have some things in common: they need to be piping hot, simple to make and have to be eaten straight out of a deep ceramic bowl, also preferably they need to be rice or noodle based one pot meals.

One of my favorite comfort foods then (satisfying all the ablove conditions) is simple khichuri. This dish is eaten all over Bengal, particularly during the monsoons and is a basic rice-and-dhal mixture (khichuri literally meaning mixture). Accompaniments to khichuri vary from family to family, my all time favorite is simple aloo bhaja or fried potatoes.

Though I don't usually mention the number of people a dish serves, most of my recipes will easily feed four people.


The Recipe

1/2 kg rice (basmati or even fragrant Thai rice works well)
1/2 kg muug dhal (moong)
the khichuri rule is that you need to use the exact same quantity of rice and dhal for the dish to be prepared perfectly
cinnamon 2-3 sticks
small green cardamoms 2, pinched open
3-4 cloves
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 small bay leaves
2-3 whole green chillies slit down the middle
1 teaspoon tumeric powder
1 teaspoon grated ginger
vegetable oil for frying (though traditionally mustard oil is used)
sugar and salt to taste
1-2 teaspoons of pure ghee
a pinch of garam masala powder (optional)


Wash the rice and leave it to drain in a colander.
Wash the dhal and then dry-fry it in a large pan till it turns reddish brown and releases a nutty fragrance.
Heat some oil in the pan and when smoking add the bay leaves, cumin seeds, cardamoms, cloves. Then add the ginger and fry a few seconds. Add the drained rice to this and fry well about 2-3 minutes. Add the dry-fried dhal and tumeric and fry again a couple of seconds. Add some warm water (about a cup and a half) to cover the rice and dhal about 2-3 inches -- too much water will overcook the khichuri.
Cover and allow the rice to simmer about 12-15 minutes checking occasionally to see if the water is enough. When the khichuri is nearly done add the chillies, salt and sugar to taste. Just before serving pour the melted ghee on the khichuri and a pinch of garam masala powder if desired.

Sometimes quartered vegetables like skinned potols, potatoes and cauliflower florets are added to the khichuri. If you would like to do this, just quarter/ cube the vegetable and fry in mustard oil with some tumeric and salt and add these vegetables to the rice just before adding the dhal and warm water.

Serve khichuri hot with crisply fried potato cubes, fried fish or even deem boras (egg fritters)