ULTIMATE KICHADI

Ultimate Kichadi image

This is a recipe from my ultimate cooking guru Rupali. I LOVE THIS RECIPE!!! It is SO Quick and easy to make and has amazing flavor. I have been cooking Indian food for 10 years now, and it usually takes a while for me to master a recipe, but I had this one down on my second try. The first try wasn't too bad, just a little too thick because I thought I knew better and made it in a rice cooker rather than a pressure cooker. Otherwise I would have had it down on my first try. Please enjoy this delicious, healthy, family friendly (my 17-month old scarfs it down) easy to make recipe.

Provided by alice Dave

Time 25m

Yield 12 cups, 4-6 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 13

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups basmati rice (must be a long-grain fragrant rice. Basmati is the best, but Jasmine rice may work)
1 1/2 cups yellow lentils (Toor Dal)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 serrano chilies, deseeded and julienned (cut into long, thin strips)
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
salt
ghee (butter will not do. It has to be Ghee or you won't get the flavor)
lime

Steps:

Soak rice and lentils together in hot water for about a half hour.
Drain the water as much as possible.
Put rice and lentils into a pressure cooker, add 7 1/2 cups of clean water, turmeric, garam masala, and salt to make the water nice and briny. However salty you want your Kichadi to be, your water should taste a little brinier than that.
Let the pressure cooker whistle 2 or 3 times, then open up to see the consistency of the Kichadi. It should be soft and a little loose. I find pressure cookers to be very inconsistent in how they cook from one model to the next, so yours may require more or less whistles.
In a sauteé pan, put oil and bring up to heat.
Add your serrano chillies that have been deseeded. If you do not deseed them, the dish will be overwhelmingly hot.
Add the asofetida. Sauteé the chillies until they get quite brown, but not burned.
Add your chopped Cilantro, and sauteé until the leaves are wilted.
Add in Coriander powder and chilli powder. At this point you may need to add a little more oil to the pan due to all the powder. Cook for no more than 30 seconds so that the powder doesn't burn.
Empty the contents of your sauteé pan into your Kichadi and stir it inches There will be plenty of powder stuck to the sauteé pan. So as not to lose these spices, take a little Ghee and melt it in the pan. Swish it around to get all the spices, and pour into your Kichadi.
Serve Kichadi with a dollop of ghee and a generous squirt of lime to finish it off.
Cry because it's so damn good. The end.