Poha Khicheri-Quick Comfort Food
Khicheri-( Khichedi) really means ” mixture- put together”. This is a very popular dish for quick comfort food.Generally eaten with warm Yogurt Soup-Kadhi.
Khicheri has ingredients like-Rice, Mung Daal, Vegetable, Onions, garlic, Spinach and anything else you want to put in. I tried this dish with Poha. Khicheri is considered Cleansing food in Ayurveda.
Poha( plural) are Parboiled and flattened dried Rice. So I used Poha instead of Rice. Poha does not require much cooking as they are parboiled Rice. Many dishes are made with Poha. There are two types of Poha- Thick kind and thin kind. Thick Poha are made from thick variety of Rice and thin are made from thin variety. Poha can be purchased from Indian Market and shelf life is long.
In any case it is good to rinse them in Cold water-the rinsing has to be done without touching Poha as they tend to soften and then become Mushy.
I used the thick kind. I used left over vegetables and Mung Daal. The Recipe calls for uncooked Daal.
Recipe makes about 5 to 6 Cups
- 1 cup Uncooked but washed and Soaked of Mung Daal-soak and boil in 1 Cup of water till soft but not broken
- 1.5 cup Mixed Vegetables- frozen or cut fresh- I used Chopped Spinach, Green Beans, Carrots and Peas-include a small potatoeSpinach
- 1 Samll Chopped of Red Onion
- 0.5 tsp Each Black Mustard seeds and whole cumin seeds and two whole Star anise
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp Each of Crushed garlic and ginger
- 2 Depending on how hot you want- of Choppedd green Chili-or you can use Green Chutney- if left over
- 1.5 cup Poha- See cook's note
- 1.5 cup Water of Some to use to cook Mung Daal
- 0.25 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Plain yogurt (You can add Green Chutney to make it spicy)
- 1 tbsp Each of Chopped Cilantro and chopped nuts-roasted peanuts will be OK
Soak and boil Mung Daal, While Daal is boiling, cut the vegetables.
In a Pan-non stick-better- heat oil and add Mustard seeds, Cumin Seeds and Star anise.
Add chopped Onion, garlic, chili, ginger. Now add vegetables,Add boiled Mung daal and cook for 5 minutes at medium heat.
While Vegetable and daal mixture is cooking, rinse Poha in a Colander and let the water drain out.
Add Poha to the mixture, add remaining water, salt and turmeric powder. Let the mixture simmer till all is soft-do not stir.
Turn off heat-remove from heat and let the mixture sit for a few minutes.
Put in the serving bowl and garnish with Cilantro and nuts
Serve with yogurt. Great if you have any Green Chutney- mix with the Yogurt-sprinkle with Chili powder