I happen to love kitchari because it is made of lentils and rice. Also kitchari is made for people that doesn’t feel very good. In India and Pakistan this is eaten if you are not feeling so well. In this case It was Mr. Riaz that suggested I make kitchari.
The lentils can be either split or whole. The types are black urad ki dal, mash ki dal which is white urad ki dal without the black skin, Yellow and green moong ki dal, masoor ki dal, toor dal and horsegram,chana ki dal are used. Any type of rice can be used too, both white and brown, long, medium and short grain, etc.
I added to mortar and pestle to grind in to a coarse powder which are 3 each of cloves and kabab chini, 1 pinch of fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, black peppercorns, kaloonji, cumin seeds, black cumin seeds, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, 2 green cardomoms, 1 each of black cardomom, 1 whole round red chili and a broken piece of cinnamon stick if you are not using 1 pinch of cinnamon powder.
I have a coldero as you already well know, I turned the heat on to high. I added 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 onion or shallot and cooked it until it was brown. I added 1 pinch each of hing, red chili powder, curry powder, turmeric, this time I used cinnamon powder, garam masala , baking soda to soften the dal and the contents from the mortar and pestle. I stirred and added 1 cup of dal to a bowl. My dal of choice tonight was black urad ki dal. I added 1 small piece of ginger, 3 cloves of garlic that I chopped, 1 bullion cube or 3 pinches of vegtea seasoning, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma and stirred.
I made sure the garlic was also cooked and slightly brown before I added the rest of the ingredients in the pot.
I washed it until the water was clear and put them in the pot. I stirred so that the dal can catch all of the masala. I added 2 liters or 1/2 gallon of water. I lowered the heat and let it cook for 20 minutes.
I had some long grain brown rice on hand and I washed it until the water turned clear. I placed it in the pot with the dal mixture, added 4 more cups of water and turned the heat back up to high and waited for rice and dal to boil. I took some aluminum foil and placed it under the pot lid. I put it back on the pot and then turned the heat back down to low and cooked for 20 minutes.
I checked again and cooked for another 20 because brown rice takes longer to cook. Then I seen there was some more moisture in the rice and dal so I cooked for another 5 minutes then turned off the heat and let it sit covered and undisturbed for 20 minutes on the dum.
Now the finished kitchari can be enjoyed with yogurt and achar, or you can make chutney also this would be a great accompaniment to this dish also as well as lassi. This depends on what time of year this is or what the weather is like.
For vegans: if you want you can use vegetable bullion or vegtea seasoning. The bullion I used this time was shrimp but bear in mind that the choices that you use to make this kitchari is totally depending on you and what your taste is going to be. This is why there are so many options in my recipes at times.
The bullion cubes I use comes from zabhiha halal sources. Also I don’t like eating the same old thing all of the time either.
Anyway, Duces!!!!!!!!!!!!
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