Vegetable Khichdi

They say that one always dreams in the language that one is most comfortable with -- their native language, so to say.  I've also heard it said that the language that one is most conversant is the one a person uses to do math and sums in their head.  I think a similar analogy applies to food.  A long while ago, I wrote a blog post for the American Society for Nutrition, entitled 'The Immigrant's Fridge."  Part of what I was saying in this article is that one of the last things to change in the assimilation process of an immigrant to a new culture is their diet.  For someone like me, who's had the privilege of having traveled widely and lived amidst various cultures, questions about self-identity can be hard to answer.  For instance, I cannot truly answer the question of which language is my native language, though I suspect that it is in fact English.  Certain other aspects -- such as what I consider to be an appropriate amount of personal space when speaking with someone -- are decidedly American.  But when it comes to food, perhaps my Indian identity has proved a bit more indelible.  Ultimately, on a rainy, cold, and grey day, when I start craving comfort food, the recipes that I most often resort to still tend to be Indian ones.  Familiar ingredients, cooked simply and quickly, with just a smattering of spice to satisfy my tastebuds.  As I sit here on such a cold, grey, and rainy day in Portland, I share with you one of my favorite comfort food recipes for you to try out.  I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Vegetable Khichdi 
(loosely translated as a vegetable porridge)

1 C cut vegetables, such as beans, carrots, peas, and corn
1 C short to medium grain rice, such as jasmine, washed
1/2 C moong daal*
Half a red onion, finely sliced
2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)*
1 tsp turmeric powder*
2 tsp cumin seeds *
1.5 T spice mixture
2 tsp salt

To make the spice mixture:

Grind equal amounts of cumin seeds and whole black pepper in a spice mill to a coarse consistency.  This spice mix is great on a variety of foods, including sliced cucumbers, tomato soup, and roasted potatoes.

To make Khichdi:

Pressure-cook vegetables, rice, and daal with 1.5 C water till rice and daal are very well cooked, usually about 6 whistles**
Allow cooker to cool completely
In the meantime, heat ghee, add cumin seeds and turmeric and sautee till seeds crackle
Add onions and sautee until they are translucent
Add rice/daal mixture and spice mixture
Mix well, sprinkling some water on top if needed to help spices mix into rice
Taste and adjust for salt

The final consistency of this dish should be like very thick oatmeal.  It is often served with either yogurt or an Indian style pickle*.  But it's most importantly always served piping hot!

Cook's Notes

* These are all available most easily at Indian grocery stores and sometimes at well-curated specialty markets.

**If you don't have a pressure cooker, a lot of Indian recipes are quite a bit more time-consuming.  In this case, I would suggest soaking the daal in hot water for about an hour, and then mixing it with the rice and veggies and cooking in a rice cooker or an open vessel until the daal is softened completely.  I also recommend investing in a good pressure cooker, as this is a great way to steam and cook foods quickly with minimal loss of nutrients.


To reheat, lightly sprinkle water and heat in microwave.  Alternatively, heat in a skillet, adding enough water to loosen up the rice and lentils.

Pongal o Pongal

India is country of great diversity. Over a billion people speaking hundreds of recognized languages, not to mention several dialects and various versions of “Inglish”; worshipping in temples, churches, mosques, gurdwaras, and synagogues, amongst other places; attired in several dozen unique outfits; and eating their ways through an equally diverse cuisine. In fact, India is the only country that I can think of that boasts a different staple food in different parts of the country. In Northern India, wheat is the predominant grain in the diet, consumed mostly in the form of unleavened flat breads like naan and rotis. In Southern India, rice is the preferred staple, and we South Indians simply love rice. When I was living in Japan, I used to think that the Japanese are unrivalled in their pursuit of this monocot, since even South Indians don’t eat rice for breakfast! But upon closer inspection, I find that I am wrong, yet again. We South Indians do eat rice for breakfast in the form of idlis, dosas, and the subject of today’s post, pongal.

Pongal, a dish made with cooked lentils and rice as the base, gets its name from the harvest festival of the same name, when it is generally prepared. Literally translated, Pongal means boiling over, and the harvest festival is given this name in order to denote an abundance of wealth; it is analogous to the Biblical saying of “(my) cup runneth over”. In a literal demonstration of this, on Pongal day, households gather together in the morning and boil milk with sugar and spices. Traditionally, some of this milk is allowed to boil over and spill out of the pan, symbolizing the profusion and plentifulness of the harvest season. As the milk boils over, children are encouraged to gather around, clanging spoons or other metal objects onto metal plates whilst shouting “Pongal o Pongal”. I’m not sure what the origin of this latter custom is. It was probably invented to get bleary-eyed children out of bed and excited about watching a pot of milk come to boil in the wee hours of the morning. If so, it definitely worked like a charm -- we certainly looked forward to and cherished those moments of unbridled ruckus-making. Needless to say, the noise-making objects would promptly be put away by the adults once the milk-boiling was done with, so that they would not have to suffer through an entire day of excited plate-banging children, shouting “pongal o pongal” – all- day- long.

While Pongal is made in both sweet and savory versions with rice and daal (lentils), I generally use cracked wheat in place of rice to make Pongal at home. Not only is this healthier due to the higher fiber content and lower glycemic index of the cracked wheat, I also prefer its slightly coarser texture over the creaminess of pongal made with rice. However, to make a traditional version, you can simply use a medium grain rice such as Jasmine in place of cracked wheat in the following recipes. If you want to try it with cracked wheat, this is generally available at Indian grocery stores. While you're there, also pick up some jaggery and cardamom pods, as well as a handful of curry leaves. If you should be unlucky enough not to have access to an Indian grocery store, you could substitute with bulgur, which is more commonly available. (Or you could move somewhere that does have an Indian store nearby.)
As for whether or not you shout “pongal o pongal” as you’re making this recipe --- well, I’ll just leave that up to you.

Pongal

Salty Pongal

Heat a pan and add 2 T ghee (clarified butter) to it
As ghee heats up, add 10 coarsely chopped curry leaves and let splutter.
Grind 3 T black peppercorns with 3 T cumin seeds
Add curry leaf mixture and peppercorn/cumin mixture to 3C cooked wheat/daal
Add salt to taste; serve hot with a teaspoon of ghee drizzled on top.

Sweet Pongal

Go shopping for some jaggery , a concentrated cane juice, which doesn’t have the molasses separated from the sugar crystals. It’s easily found in Indian grocery stores and its deep, flavorful sweetness is absolutely required for the following recipe.
Melt ¾ C grated jaggery in ½ C milk in a pan.
Add 3 C cooked wheat/daal
In a separate small pan, heat 2 tsp. Ghee and add 1T golden raisins, 1 T chopped cashews, and ground cardamom from 2 cardamom pods
As raisins start to swell up and cashews start to brown, add ghee mixture to the sweetened wheat/daal mix.
Check the sweetness, adding more jaggery, if required. The consistency of this dish should be on the order of a thick oatmeal. You can thin it out if required with some milk.
Serve hot, drizzled with 1 tsp. of ghee.