Gujarathi Kadhi-Khichadi

Story: Sometimes you meet a couple and you think - They are simply made for each other! It's "Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love" (SATC) - the kind of love that shouts - हम बने तुम बने एक दूजे के लिए!

what? "You don't know what I say?" - I am talking about the eternal love between Vada-Paav, Daal-baati or in this case - Kadhi-Khichadi!! - "दे s s आ s र मेड फॉर ईच आदर - समझे?"



Source: Rupangi, thanks for introducing me to this wonderful duo! :-)

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients: for 4 people - (for a meal with Kadhi-Khichadi alone)

Khichadi

• 1.5 cup rice
  
• 1.5 cup masoor daal or skinned orange lentil
• 1.5 tsp crushed gud/jaggery
• 1 tbsp oil for tadka
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1 dry red chilli
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  
• optional but recommended - peanuts and mixed veggies for added flavor
• salt to taste
• 4 cups of water

Tip: Use panch poran combo for tadka - taste of Kalaunji and Saunf in the tadka make the khichadi very tasty - the combo includes - 1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds, onion seeds, fennel, and coriander seeds along with a pinch of fenugreek seeds

Kadhi

• 3 cups of yogurt
• 2 tbsp besan/gram flour
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• Salt
  
• Sugar is a must - in fact many people add gud/jaggery for Gujju taste
• 1 green chilli
• 3 cups of water
• For tadka - 2 tsp ghee
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 6 cloves
• couple of pepper corns
• 2-3 tsp of cumin seeds
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 tsp kasoori methi
  

Recipe:

For khichadi - soak rice and daal in water for about 15 mins or so. Drain all the water when you are ready to make khichadi. Heat oil in a pan and make tadka with mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric powder and dry red chilli.

When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add peanuts and ginger-garlic paste. Saute for half a minute. Start heating 4 cups of water in another pot. Then add soaked rice and daal and saute for about two minutes on medium heat. Add the veggies at this point and mix well.

Water must be hot by now, transfer it to the rice-daal mixture. Now add salt, gud and cover the pan. Let the khichadi cook for 20+ minutes on low-medium heat. The key is that masoor daal should be completely cooked.

For kadhi, I put yogurt, small pieces of green chilli, ginger paste, salt, sugar and besan in a counter top blender - such as magic bullet. Everything gets mixed perfectly in less than half a minute (I know I sound like the infomercial).

Then I add water to the yogurt and mix really well. Transfer in a pot and start heating this mixture on low-medium heat. Key here is to not let the yogurt separate from the mixture. So you need to keep stirring from time to time. As the mixture heats up, cover the pot for half a minute so that besan gets cooked. Once the mixture gets close to its boiling point, lower the heat and make tadka in a small pan.

For tadka, heat ghee and then add cumin seeds, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, and curry leaves. Once the cumin seeds turn brown, transfer the tadka to the Kadhi pot and mix well. Garnish with kasoori methi - adds a very nice flavor. Cover the pot and let the Kadhi simmer for half a minute.

Serve hot with your favorite papad and achar...