Romanticism is in the blood of Bangali !! Romantic Bangalis love rain and there is hardly any Bangali who doesn’t crave for khichuri in a pouring rainy day !! Yes , Khichuri and rain is almost synonymous to the romantic Bangali adding a unique dimension to the romanticism they possess !!!
There are so many preparations of khichuri .. Some are spicy , some are mild , some are mushy while some have biriyani like grandeur . Among all of them , the most popular may be the “Bhuna Khichuri” .
Traditionally bhuna khichuri is made with aromatic rice and moong daal ( yellow peas ) . But here in this recipe I used 5 types of different daals to make it more flavorful .
Ingredients :
1 and 1/2 th cup of aromatic rice like kalojeera
1/4 th cup Moong daal ( yellow lentil)
1/4 th cup Musoor daal ( red lentils)
1/4 th cup Arhar/ toor daal ( pigeon peas)
1/4 th cup chaana and mattar dal mixed ( split chick pea and split yellow pea )
1 large onion
1 tbl spoon ginger paste
1 tea spoon garlic paste
1 tea spoon turmeric powder
2 tea spoon red chili powder
2 bayleaves
1 small stick of cinnamon
4 green cardamom
Salt to taste
Ghee+ oil
Whole green chilies
Procedure :
Before we proceed , we have to keep in mind there are some preparations before you make mind blowing bhuna khichuri .
* Wash and soak Chaana daal , mattar daal and toor daal . Don’t add moong or mussor in it . Now after minimum 2 hours of soaking half boil it with little water .
* Soak moong daal for 30 minutes . Don’t soak musoor daal . Just add the musoor daal in the moong daal when you are ready to wash the moong daal after at least 30 minutes of soaking . Musoor daal boils sooner than moong so you don’t need to pre soak it .
It’s better to fry the moong daal without oil for few minutes before soaking in water . If you have time do this , it gives the best flavor from the moong daal .
Drain the water from daal.
* Wash the rice and drain out the water .
Now Let’s come to the procedure :
1. Heat oil and ghee together . Add the bayleves , cardamom and cinnamon . Add the sliced onion and fry for a while . Add the daal and rice . Fry . The little tips is , the more you fry and stir, the more flavorful khichuri is . Add the ginger-garlic paste , red chili , turmeric powder and salt . Stir and fry . Add 5 cups of warm water . For per 1 cup of mixed chaal-daal , you should take 2 cups of water . I love little soft khichuri so I added extra little water .
2. Cover the lid and cook on medium heat until the water dries out , around 10-12 minutes . Don’t stir at that point , or else you may end up having “Letka Khichuri” ( mushy khichuri) other than bhuna !!! đ
3. When the water dries out , add whole green chilies and stir carefully only once from bottom to top and side by side without breaking the rice . Don’t stir vigorously !! Now put the khichuri on “Dum” . For that I always use double boiler or bain marie method.It works great for me. Put your khichuri vessel over another same size vessel, filled with water. Place it on the stove..Your khichuri will get the steam and you will be surprised at the beautiful, moisture free texture of Khichuri .
Serve hot with ilish mach , begun bhaja , beef bhuna or even only dim bhaji ( egg omlette). Don’t forget the pickles and onion , lemon . Bon a petit !!!
Notes :
1: For the color of Khichuri , many complains that they don’t get that bright yellow color . If they put small amount of turmeric , color won’t come and if they put little extra , the khichuri tastes bitter .
The secret is the turmeric gets it color brighter while frying the rice and daal . Don’t put the turmeric in the oil, it may get burnt and make the khichuri tastes bitter and look darker.Always add turmeric after you added the rice and daal . Now the more you fry , the more flavorful is the khichuri and more beautiful yellow color it gets .
Khadiza's Kitchen 