Khichdi

KHICHDI

So what is it? Khichdi a popular food dish in Gujarat, India and is made with rice and lentils and has many variations, like adding vegetables to make it a one pot meal.

The word Khichdi is derived from the sanskrit word ‘Khicca’. It is an ancient food. To read more about it’s history, look at this post.

Khichdee brings back memories of coming home from a long school trip eating a cook’s food, tired and hungry and seeing hot, hot khichdi being served for dinner, a quick and filling meal for the tummy.

It was my comfort food when I was sick, eaten with kadhi and or bottle or ridge gourd curry, with a little bit of chundo and always a dollop of ghee. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

It reminds me of a story I heard in my childhood. Of Chaki and Chako [2 sparrows] who decide to cook Khichdi and have to collect 100 grains of rice and 33 grains of moong lentil. I would fall asleep long before dad finished counting the rice grains and never knew the ending. When I was old enough,  I stayed up till the end of count and guess what the ending was : the sparrows prepared the khichdi, ate it and went to sleep.

If you are looking for a good recipe for khichdi, check it out here. There are many variation sand you will find all the recipes on this one site.

Remember to soak the rice and lentil for at least 20 to 30 minutes before cooking it, this neutralizes phytates which prevents absorption of important nutrients, in case of rice, it removes the thin outer layer of starch allowing grains to cook as separate.

Add ghee to the Khichdi, it helps in absorption of the turmeric into your blood, to feel the many beneficial effects of Khichdi, black pepper in addition, will further increase the absorption. In our home, we ate pickled black peppercorns instead. It tasted great with khichdi, but not when you are sick.

It is a great baby weaning food and for introduction of lentils to baby’s meal plan.

Enjoy this movie while eating Khichdi on a sick weekday afternoon, “Khichdi, the movie”, a comedy movie, in Hindi, no subtitles, sorry!