We received this Gujarati khichdi recipe from Sonya Devi-Clarke, owner of The Vegetable Diva in Bristol.
“This is the ultimate comfort food, the Indian version of cottage pie, loved by everyone young and old, easily digestible highly nutritious, easy and economical to prepare, who could ask for more. My late father used to prepare this for me and I found this recipe in his handwritten cookbook, I hope you feel the love when you prepare it too.”
Ingredients
- 1 Cup split moong beans
- 1 cup of white basmati rice
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp of cumin seeds/ toasted in a dry frying pan for 3-4 mins
- 5 black peppercorns
- Sea salt to taste
- 2 tbs ghee (clarified butter)
Kadhi (sauce)
- 1.5 cups low fat yoghurt
- 3 tbs gram flour
- 15g jaggery
- 2 tsp ghee
- 1 de seeded finely chopped green pepper
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 5 curry leaves
Method
- Cover the moong beans and the rice with water and soak for 45 mins.
- Rinse the beans and the rice and add the spices and salt cover with water so that there is 2cm of water above the grains.
- Bring to boil then turn the heat down to a simmer and cover. Cook on a low heat for approximately 10 mins, when holes appear in the rice and water is evaporated the rice is cooked.
- Add the ghee stir through and serve.
To prepare the Kadhi
- Combine the yoghurt and the gram flour with 3.5 cups of water and blend in the blender or use a hand whisk until completely smooth, add the crushed ginger and de- seeded chilli pepper, sugar and 1tsp sea salt, mix well.
- Place in a saucepan and heat stirring continuously until the mixture boils. Remove from the heat and keep aside.
- Heat the ghee in a pan add the crushed ginger and seeds when they start to crackle add the curry leaves and green chilli and mix well, remove from the heat and immediately pour over the pre-made kadhi.
Portion out the khichdi and and pour over the kadhi and enjoy super yum yum yum! Serve with papad.