Khichdi

Khichdi is a meal that is simmered in a single pot. It is the ideal food for campfires and soup kitchens. Khichdi is the food of the poor, a meal that is accessible even with the food budget stretched to its limits. Khichdi is the food of the rich, a showcase for the choicest vegetables simmered with a plethora of lentils and studded with nuts. 

 

A little history behind this dish via India Currents :

"Mughal cooks certainly knew how to take a simple country food from the streets and enrich it in the palace kitchens for royals. They are the ones who gave this humble meal, a rich gourmet appeal. During the Mughal dynasty (1400—1700s), the traditional khichdi went through various adaptations. They made it rich by adding strong spices, dry fruits and nuts. In Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th century document about King Akbar, Abu’l Fazl mentions nearly seven variations of khichdi preparations A Russian adventurer, Afanasiy Nikitin, who traveled to India during the 16th century, declared that the Mughal Emperor Jahangir popularized this dish and it is believed that Emperor Aurangzeb was particularly fond of khichdi. During the British colonial rule (1858— 1947), the khichdi recipe was modified to suit the  Anglo Indian palate, by adding fish and eggs to the ingredients. Kedgeree, as it was called, became popular during the British era as a staple breakfast food. It soon spread outside India to the UK during the reign of Queen Victoria. According to one hypothesis, however, the dish originated in Scotland; it was taken to India by Scottish troops during the colonial period, where it was said to have become part of Indian cuisine. Later the dish found its way back to UK. This hypothesis is documented in The Scottish Kitchen, by Christopher Trotter, a National Trust for Scotland book. Trotter traced the origins of kedgeree to books dating back to the year 1790. Despite that, general opinion still considers khichdi a quintessential wholesome, mildly spiced Indian dish."

Rather than a recipe, I'll provide you with a method on making Khichdi!

• To make khichdi, heat oil/ butter/ghee in a pot, fry 1 tsp. of cumin seeds and some minced onion for a couple of minutes. 
• Season with salt and turmeric and a dash of garam masala. 
• Add a few cups of mixed diced vegetables (any combination of potatoes, eggplant, peas, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, tomatoes is generally used). 
• Add a cup of rice and half a cup of lentils (I generally use a combination of red and yellow split lentils). 
• Add 3-4 cups of water and simmer the whole thing till done. It should be mushy and comforting. 
• Garnish with minced cilantro and generous dollops of ghee.

VibRecipes by Vibhuti Raja is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.vibrecipes.blogspot.com.

Healthy Choices in Indian cuisine

Traditional Indian food can be a healthy choice with a balanced diet of starch (steamed rice, Roti), tons of vegetables, dal (lentils), yogurt, saag etc. Unfortunately, you will also find many fat-laden Indian dishes in restaurants. Those dishes are great for festive, once in a while, occasions. However, for a regular healthy eating, here are suggestions for some lighter alternatives. Healthy Indian Starch   When you are ordering curry or vegetable, order steamed basmati rice, which is healthier than fried variety such as Pulauo or Biryani. Make sure that your steamed rice does not come with generous serving of Ghee. Indian flatbreads, Roti or Chapatti are healthy than other fried flat bread Poori or stuffed Paratha. Naan, the leavened oven baked flat bread is healthy as well in moderate portions. The key is to avoid extra butter or Ghee coating on your bread or rice. Healthy Indian Appetizers  Anything fried such as Samosas or Pakoras are delicious but full of fat, starch, and salt. Instead, get thin lentil wafers, papadum or papad. Make sure to get roasted papads instead of deep fried ones. Many modern Indian restaurants now serve healthy baked alternate appetizer to fried ones too.   Healthy Indian Main Dishes  Curries are one of delicious ways to eat healthy vegetables - as long as it is not cooked in creamy sauce. Dal, which is lentil soup/curry, can be eaten by itself or usually eaten with rice or bread. Avoid eating too much dal because like any soup it is high on sodium. Any meat dish or vegetarian dish with name such as Korma, Makhani, Malai, butter are creamy artery-clogging sauce. Most restaurants serve big portions of these curry, you can enjoy them in small portion by using it to flavor rice and flatbread, as it meant to do. Healthy meat alternates include tikka (not creamy tikka masala) and tandoori meats, which are oven-roasted.  Healthy Indian Desserts Like any desserts, Indian desserts are sinful, high in sugar and fat. However, all Indian desserts come in comparatively small portions. Stick to the small portions. *When in doubt, ask your server about content of the dish and decide yourself rather than simply asking for subjective judgment if it is healthy. Like any food, in right portions, even unhealthy seeming Indian food can be consumed healthily. In restaurant best way to do is share dishes. Usually two dishes are enough for three people with big appetite. Another extreme way of portion control in Indian restaurants may be get hottest side of spicy food.

Bhel Puri

Bhel Puri is a savoury Indian snack, and is also a type of chaat. It is made out of puffed rice, vegetables and a tangy tamarind sauce. Bhelpuri is often identified with the beaches of Mumbai (Bombay), such as Chowpatty. But with my recipe, you won't have to go to the beach to get this yummy dish, instead bring the beach to you!

Just a heads up, there's all sorts of different ways to make Bhel Puri but I will give you my version that I like the best!

Ingredients:

• Puffed rice (available at stores) 3 cups
• Two boiled potatoes, peeled and chopped (optional, I hate potatoes so I skip them).
• One large onion finely chopped
• Half a bunch of coriander finely chopped
• Tamarind chutney to taste
• Mint-coriander chutney to taste
• Sev (vermicelli-like snack made from gram flour and available at stores) 1 cup
• Puri (available at Indian stores)
• Raw Mango chipped fine.

Now the method itself is quite easy! All you do is mix the puffed rice, onions, and chopped mango into a large bowl. Then add tamarind chutney and mint-coriander chutney as much as you want, depends on taste, and mix again! Finally after all of that is mixed together nicely, sprinkle the sev all over...I like lots of it so I add accordingly! Also add the coriander as needed and serve with Puri! Its my favorite dish and I love that I don't need to go all the way to Mumbai if I am craving this!