A Kichidi Makeover

Dear Foodies,

I am sure all of you dread the word 'move' when it comes anywhere close to apartments/homes ! I do too but unfortunately for me I have done it 5 times in the last 3 years with another one looming over the near future :(( The last time and even now I am trying to live as much out of the suitcase as possible. But no matter what you do a move is just as painful as ever. The cleaning, sifting the 'need it' from the 'throw it', packing... and just when you think its over, the next cycle begins: Move, unpack, shop and set up home all over again, buying all the stuff that you trashed just a few hours back !!

But the worst thing is when you realize you have packed your kitchen and you are in the middle of this mess that used to be home and covered under piles of dust. And then the hunger pangs kick in ! Its tough to move, but tougher when you are hungry. We learnt our lesson the first two times and from then on, one of us always makes a pot of kichidi to hold us through a day or two. This time too I made some kichadi the day before we were moving and it was also the best way to clean up the odd leftovers in the pantry. I also had some lima beans & cashews that gave the subtle kichidi and huge 'wow' feel. I had just 4 chillies and decided to crush them to get the most flavor out of them.
Ingredients:

• 4 cups - Rice
• 1 1/2 cups - Moong dal
• 1 1/2 cups - Lima beans, frozen
  
• 1/2 cups - broken Cashews
• 3 tsp - Jeera/Cumin (I used a mix of jeera n kala jeera)
• 4 nos - whole Cloves
• 4 nos - Green chillies & 2 nos - big Garlic cloves -> Crushed together in a pestle & mortar
  
• 1 nos - big Onion, sliced ( I din't have any)
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp - Oil
  

Method:

1. In a saucepan/pressure pan dry roast the moong dal till it starts to turn a slight pink color and it leaves a nice aroma. Add it to the raw rice, wash and soak till the rest of the ingredients are ready.
2. In the same pan heat 1tsp of oil and roast the cashews until golden brown. Remove and reserve it for the end.
3. Now heat the rest of the oil in the pan and toss in the jeera when hot. Add the cloves and after a few seconds until the aroma rises add the crushed chillies and garlic paste.
   
4. After a few seconds the onions that I dint have go in. Saute them till translucent and them add the lima beans and cook for a few minutes to thaw it.
5. Now add the drained rice and dal. Saute till the oil coats all the grains and you see them glisten in the pan.
6. If using a pressure pan add the required amount of water (accounting for the lima beans), salt and the reserved cashews and cook. Otherwise move all the contents to an electric cooker and cook till done.
7. Once done fluff up the rice and serve with pickles/raita or just as is :)

This kichadi was one of the best impromptu recipes I have made. I used the lima beans only cos I had half a packet lying around that I did not want to throw. But I might shop for them next time I make kichadi. Lima beans take a little long to cook and presure cooking them with the rice got the perfect texture out of them. The cashews made the mundane sounding kichadi something special to have, and more so when the rest of the apartment was in a mess it made the meal feel rich :) I also liked the crushed up chilli-garlic flavor as it gelled well into the rice and was not something to pick out of the plate. All in all it dint just serve its purpose as a stock of food but was something really enjoyable to have. I am sure to make it again, hopefully not for a move though :P

Have fun !