Saturday, February 20, 2010

Kichdi(Bengali style) and aloo bhaja

Khichdi was the only food I used to eat in the hostel mess during my engineering days in West Bengal, Durgapur precisely..Unfortunately they served it only once in a year on Saraswathi puja's day. The combination of kichdi and aloo fry used to be so tasty that I would go and stand near the mess door much before they started serving.

I got the recipe for Kichdi sometime back from one of my Bengali friends at office and prepared it for breakfast. It came out really good and we had it with aloo bhaja. This can be had for both breakfast and lunch. The best part is my son had the kichdi with aloo bhaja without any complaints. Do checkout Venpongal recipe for the South Indian version of this delicious kichdi made of rice and moong dal.
Here is the recipe

Ingredients for the kichdi to serve 4 to 5 adults

Raw Rice: 1 cup Yellow Moong dal: 1/2 cup Masoor dal: 1/2 cup Water: 5 cups Onion: 2 to 3 medium(cut into small pieces) Mustard Seeds: 1/2 tsp Ginger: an inch(skin removed) and grated Green chily: 1 medium sized Red chili powder: 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder: 1 tsp Jeera/cumin seeds powder: 1 tsp Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp Mustard oil/Refined Oil: 1 tbsp(I used 1/2 tbsp of each) Dry roasted jeera/cumin seeds: 1/2 tbsp Salt to taste
Procedure

1. Dry roast moong dal for a minute or 2 and keep aside. Wash rice and keep aside. 2. In a large pan, add oil and fry onion and ginger.( I used the same vessel that I keep inside the cooker) 3. Once it becomes soft, add rice and both the dals and mix well. 4. Add all the four powders and salt and mix well. 5. Keep the flame in medium and stir frequently so that rice does not get stuck at the bottom.(around 5 minutes) 6. Add 5 cups of water and pressure cook till 3 whistles. I like the kichdi to be well cooked, so I generally keep in sim after 3 whistles for 5 minutes and then switch off the stove. 7. Before serving, powder dry roasted jeera(I powdered coarsely with a pestle and mortar) and mix with kichdi. 8. Serve warm with aloo bhaja.
Ingredients to make aloo bhaja/potato wedges

Potato: 4 medium sized(peeled and cut into wedges) Chilli powder: 1/2 tsp or less Salt to taste Vegetable Oil for frying: around 4 tbsp or more if needed
Procedure
1. Heat oil in a wide mouthed pan. Add potato wedges, as much the pan can hold.
2. Fry well on both sides and drain oil in a paper.
3. Follow the same for the rest of the wedges.
4. Add chilli powder and salt and mix well.
Serve with kichdi

19 comments:

  1. Khichdi sure is one healthy, tasty one pot meal. I am sure this will taste even more good with the shallow fried potato wedges. Must try this Bengali version.

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  2. Priya,

    Look like Kichdi similar to our venpongal with more spices. Looks really good nice combination of protein and carbs.

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  3. wow never thought khichdi can be such interesting looking..loved the way you presented these comfort food.

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  4. Wow such a tempting and fantastic kichdi, looks really very delicious...coming to the aloo bhaja, feel like having few rite now..yummmm!!

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  5. i am going to post khichdi too...looks delicious...

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  6. love bengali khichdis my hubby's fav. aloo bhajas look yummy

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  8. I love Aloo Bhaja and my mouth is watering as I see this recipe here. Try the Bhaja with mustard oil. That's how I do. It tastes a little different. But that's traditional to Bengalis.

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  9. Khichdi looks good, sure tastes good and healthy too.

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  10. I have heard about the kichdi and wanted to try for so long I would love to try this with green moog dal:)

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  11. My god, Priya, how amazing does that look!! And those potato wedges had my mouth actually watering!

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  12. both looks mouth watering .. Potato wedges r one of my favs. Nice clicks priya ..

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  13. I want to try this north indian kichidi for long time,one night I am sure going to make for dinner..sounds yumm!

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  14. I guess I have selected a mind blowing and interesting blog.
    cookingrecipetips

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  15. God, your recipes are mouth watering thanks again for sharing this. This one reminded me of a recipe I tried once called Bull Fillet and Farmhouse Rice.

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