One day I was sick, Curry Boy cooked kichiri for me. I remember I’ve eaten a lot. The curried porridge is flavourful, mildly spiced, and easy to digest. When you want something light for the body, kichiri is a good choice.
Kichiri, a Mix of Rice and Lentils
First, don’t get confused by kichiri other names: khichdi, kitchiri, kidgeree, or the name settled in the UK — kedgeree, they are all the same.
According to Wikipedia, kichiri is usually made with rice and lentils, and sometimes millet (in Hindi: Bajra).
Kichiri is more popular in North India, and the first solid food that babies eat is often kichiri. Curry Boy also told me that in his hometown, people cook kichiri for those fall sick. They skip the chilli and use less spices. I can enjoy it happily even I’m not sick.
Replace Rice with Millet
Compare to rice, millet is lower in calories and higher in dietary fibre. I find it’s a great fit for kichiri. I learned the recipe here.
Mixed Vegetables Bajra Kichiri Recipe
Chop up some veg (or use frozen ready chopped), pull everything in a pan, season with spices and let cook. Simple and easy to cook, healthy for the body and wallet too!
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 80 g Golden millet
- 50 g Moong Dal
- 1 small potato, diced
- 1 small carrot, diced
- 3 radishes, diced
- frozen peas
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- 300 ml water
- ¾ tsp salt
- black pepper
- 1 tbsp ghee
- sliced cucumber as a salad
How to Make
- Warm the ghee in a pan over medium-low heat, fry the cumin seeds until fragrant.
- Stir in the onions and ginger to cook for a few minutes, followed by potatoes, carrots, radishes and add the garam masala, turmeric, coriander powder and salt.
- Add the millets and lentils, pour in water and cover with a lid, turn to low heat to cook for 15 minutes.
- Then add the frozen peas, again cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. By this time, the millets and lentils should be softened.
- Switch off the heat but keep covered, leave for a 10 more minutes. Plating with cucumber salad and freshly crack in some black pepper. Serve warm.
