This recipe is from Lizzie Colligham's excellent Curry: A Biography that I mentioned in a post the other day. Khichari is a very simple peasant dish served in numerous variations throughout India and formed the staple diet for a great many during the 16th and 17 century. The basic principle was rice and a grain cooked together and this informs more sophisticated dishes that we know today like Biriyani and Pilaus. This is rice and lentils flavoured with tumeric with onions cooked in butter. I added a clove of oak smoked garlic which added an interesting twang to the dish. The sweetness of the onions and the nuttiness of the lentils go together very well and it's quick and easy comfort food.
I imagine it'll go well with something really fiery so I'll keep digging about and see what I can muster.
9 comments:
This reminds me very much of something that is one of my favorite middle eastern dishes, mujadara (sic?). Mujadara has carmelized onions added to lentils and rice and is usually served with a ring of chopped cucumber and tomato around the plate. So yummy.
Kalyn
I adore kichari- I often make it with peas and potatos, which is a nice variation. In my family, its traditionally eaten with yogurt that is thinned with water (so that its more watery than yogurt-like in consistency), seasoned with salt and ground cumin. Try it and see if you like it that way!
Kalyn: I think it is one of those food combinations that pops up all over the place.
Tanvi: Thanks for the tip, sounds good.
I can't live without rice (and noodles) - this looks great, I love the colour too.
i love khichari and am forever looking for newer ways to make it. my version is to mix the rice and lentils and some mix veg and sometimes i use orange juice instead of water to cook it. essentially throw in whatever i feel like , or whatever i have on hand. turns out good.
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Interesting, never seen it made with green lentils before. Usually I use moong dal, or less often toor or channa dal. I have some pictures on my blog if you are interested: http://mangosoup.blogspot.com/2009/08/cauliflower-and-pea-khichari.html
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