Author Topic: Kitchari  (Read 4872 times)

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Offline tempest63

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Kitchari
« on: August 14, 2011, 09:24 AM »
I went to a friends 50th birthday BBQ last night. Earlier in the week they asked if I could bring over some side dishes to help feed the masses. I presumed that they wanted something "curryish" as that is "what I do".

I new some veggies were attending so I knocked up a few vegetarian side dishes; this recipe went down very well. Personally if I were to cook it for guests at home I would drastically up the spices but it suited the occasion and the different palates. Here is the original version that I cooked up yesterday.

One thing I found was that 20 minutes cooking time left the rice and lentils with no bite so I think 15 minutes may suffice. I also pre-soaked the lentils for a couple of hours.

I use a 250ml cup and this resulted in a huge amount of Kitchari but it all went.

"Kitchari is a seasoned mixture of rice and mung dal. It is a meal which is capable of nourishing all tissues of the body. Kitchari is rich in protein yet easy to digest giving tremendous vitality to any individual. Ayurvedically, it is a tridoshic meal which means that it is suitable for all 3 constitutions or doshas- vata, pitta, and kapha.   It is also excellent for detoxification and de-aging of cells as well as any time an individual wants to give their system a rest.
Serves 6
Ingredients
1cup Mung Dal (split yellow) 2 cups Basmati Rice, white 8 cups Water
1 inch Ginger root, fresh, chopped or grated
2 teaspoons Ghee
! tsp.Turmeric
! tsp.Coriander Powder
! tsp.Cumin Powder
! tsp.Whole Cumin Seeds
! tsp.Mustard Seeds
quarter of a teaspoon of Mineral Salt
1 pinch Asafoetida (Hing)
Handful Fresh Coriander Leaves
1.5 cups Assorted Vegetables ? zucchini, asparagus, or sweet potato, corn, peas, or edamame can be used as well. (I added half a cup each of sweet corn, peas and baby broad beans)
If using you can saut? them along with the ghee in the beginning or add later.

Preparation
Carefully pick over rice and dal to remove any stones. Wash in at least 2 changes of water. If time allows let the mung dal soak for a few hours before cooking, as it helps with digestibility. If you have a particularly difficult time digesting beans, you may want to precook the beans for 20-30 minutes using 4 cups of water.   In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the ghee and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and hing. Stir a moment until the seeds pop. Add the rice, mung dal, turmeric, fresh ginger root, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt and stir.
Add water and vegetables. Enough water to cover all contents in saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.Turn down the heat to low and cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Cook until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Add fresh Coriander as a garnish and serve. Can also eat with fresh yogurt on the side."

Offline 976bar

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Re: Kitchari
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2011, 11:35 AM »
Hi Tempest,

I like the idea of some traditional Indian dishes and have many recipes for this. I haven't made many, because like you I have found them to be rather bland.

But I will certainly give some of these a go and ramp up the spices as you say to suit my palate.

Nice post :)


Offline Robert

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Re: Kitchari
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2011, 10:39 PM »
Hi Tempest,
                   The spice quantities, turmeric etc. all appear as ! tsp in your recipe because the website can't cope with special characters such as fractions. Would I be right in saying that they should all read as half a tsp? 

If this is the case I  suspect that increasing them all to 1 tsp would give the desired "lift" to the spicing.

Rob

Offline tempest63

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Re: Kitchari
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2011, 11:54 AM »


 

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