Gujarati Khichdi

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Weekend Brunch Recipes

Dish: Gujarati Khichdi

My theme for the first week of this month's marathon is 'Brunch Recipes'. Brunch should be hearty and filling, but not too filling that it is going to make you take an early afternoon nap. Also since we are skipping breakfast to eat brunch, it should be nutritious enough to keep you going and charged for at least 3~4 hours. 

With all those in mind, here's a one pot dish that is sure to keep you full and energized until the next meal. Being a south Indian, I grew up eating rice for just about all the meals. Breakfast could be anything like lemon rice, tamarind rice, curd rice or pongal and that used to keep us full till lunch. But nowadays eating rice for breakfast or even brunch has become quite a rarity in my household.

As I was thinking of Indian dishes to make for brunch, khichdi came to my mind right away. It has dal (lentils) for protein and rice for carbs, which in my mind is perfect dish for any time of day. I found this Gujarati Khichdi recipe in Sanjeev Kapoor's Vegetarian Rice, Biryani & pulao cookbook.

This khichdi uses toor dal instead of moong dal (which is widely used in the south Indian version of this dish) and has veggies, potato and eggplant, too. I skipped eggplant because I didn't have any (strange, I know) and cooked this in the pressure cooker instead of in an open pot. My favorite part of this dish has to be the fried onions added on top of the khichdi, it adds a lot of flavor to the dish, so don't skip that step.

Ingredients: Serves 2~3

Rice - 1cup
Toor dal - ½cup 

Onion - 1 large, thinly sliced
Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated
Garlic - 2 cloves, finely minced
Green Chilies - 2~3, slit
Potatoes - 2 medium, peeled and chopped
Eggplant - 3 medium, quartered (optional)
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Cinnamon stick - 2 1" sticks
Cloves - 4
Black Peppercorns - 5~6
Turmeric - ½tsp
Salt - to taste

For the Seasoning:
Cumin seeds - ½tsp
Onion - 1 large, thinly sliced
Garlic cloves - 2~3, finely chopped

Method:

• Soak rice and dal separately for at least ½hour. Drain and set aside until ready to use.
• Heat 2tbsp ghee in a heavy bottomed pan or a pressure cooker; add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns; saute till fragrant, about 30~60 seconds.
• Add the onions and cook for 2~3 minutes. Add the ginger paste, garlic paste and green chilies; cook for another 1~2 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and salt.
• Add the rice, dal, turmeric and 3~3½cups of water and bring to a boil. 
• Cover and cook over medium heat till half done.
• Stir in the eggplant and continue to cook over low heat till done. I cooked in my pressure cooker and I skipped the addition of eggplant and let the rice & dal cook for 2~3 whistles.
• For the Seasoning: Heat 1tbsp ghee in a saute pan, add the cumin seeds and once they start to splutter, add onions and garlic. Cook till the onions turn golden, about 6~8 minutes.
• Pour the fried onions over the cooked khichdi and cover immediately. Cook on dum for 5~7 minutes. Serve hot with a pickle and/ or yogurt.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 49.