Khichidi

This used to be my favorite comfort food. It still is but so many things got added along the way that I find it hard to keep track of things I like. I think I've begun to appreciate food more as I got older. I usually make the very basic version without the vegetables or any other add-ons. I try to add veggies to everything else, so I try to keep this rather plain. I also don't make it as mushy. I usually put everything in the electric rice cooker which sort of doesn't make the lentils that soft. Pressure cooker is probably better for the really soft and mushy version.

This used to be served as breakfast one day of the week in our dorm menu. I was probably the only one who looked forward to it. People hated it with a vengeance and most missed breakfast that day. I used to get teased quite a bit for this. Even now, I make it exclusively for myself. It was served with chutney and raw tamarind juice, also called pacchi pulusu, roughly translated to raw soup/gravy.


Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Moong dal/ masoor dal -1/4 cup
Cumin seeds -1/8 tsp
Black Peppercorns - 8-10
Dried Bay leaves - 2
Salt -1 tsp ( adjust to taste)
Green chillies, finely chopped - 2
Oil - 1 tbsp
Water - 2 and 1/2 cups. Need to adjust depending on the type of rice.

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan. Add cumin seeds, peppercorns, Bay leaves.
   
2. Add green chillies and sautee for a couple of minutes.
3. Add rice and moong dal.
4. Add salt. Stir and let cook for about 5 minutes.
5. Add water. Cover and cook until rice and lentils are cooked. Alternately, transfer everything to a pressure cooker or a rice cooker and cook until done. Serve with chutney, pickle, yogurt, raw tamarind rasam (recipe to follow, here, if one can call it a recipe) or really any curry or just by itself.

I am sending this to monthly mingle for ravishing rice recipes that I chanced upon while checking out some food blogs.