Masala Khichdi

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! On a weekend back in 2011, when I was living in Antrim, Northern Ireland, with Big-Talking-UPite, and Refugee#1, Refugee#1 and I decided we did not want to sit home and do nothing, and tried to coax Big-Talking-UPite out of bed and help us settle on a plan for the day. Refugee#1 and I proposed we rent a car and drive up to Castlerock beach (where you can actually drive on a portion of the beach), and then drive down along the beautiful Northern Irish coast on the way back via Portrush and Ballycastle, which Big-Talking-UPite consented to do, but only if we did it in style.

So, leaving Big-Talking-UPite to get showered and dressed, Refugee#1 and I made our way to the airport to the car rental services, and rented ourselves a shiny black Mercedes for the day. After a quick argument about who got to drive, we decided to do it one way each, with me driving the to and Refugee#1 driving the from (Big-Talking-UPite did not drive then which made things easier). We pulled up outside our house where we picked up our sleep loving roommate and then set off to Castlerock, amidst a lot of 'recalculating' by the GPS lady with the annoying voice. With Refugee#1 riding shotgun, we put on some tunes and soon we were cruising towards our destination when we realized Big-Talking-UPite hadn't complained about anything for several minutes. We turned around and discovered that the sloth was curled up in a ball and was fast asleep on the back seat. The drive was gorgeous, but uneventful, and soon we had arrived at our destination. We drove onto the beach and parked a few hundred meters in on some suspiciously soft sand. Thinking nothing of it, we roused our sleeping roommate and exited the car. After walking up and down the length of the beach and indulging in hijinks, that included backflips and wrestling, we took a few pictures and headed back to the car. I got behind the wheel, started her up, only to discover to my dismay, that we were stuck, and accelerating was only making things worse as the tyres only sank deeper into the sand. Our efforts at pushing the car out yielded no results either and we sat down next to the car quite exhausted as we tried to come up with a way to get the car out and running again. That was when we were approached by a kindly couple who were sitting not far from us and had been watching our efforts with (understandable) amusement. They suggested we clear the sand around the back tyres and use the foot mats from the car for traction to get the car moving. Our car, unfortunately, had no foot mats so they let us borrow theirs and lo and behold, 60 seconds later we were out. We stopped, returned their foot mats, thanked them, got into the car, and realized that we had got stuck again. Sheepishly, we borrowed the mats again, and Refugee#1 drove out of the sand and only stopped once he was on an actual bit of concrete. Once again, we returned the mats, thanked the couple, and headed to the car. All this hard work had made us hot and sticky, so we got ice-creams from an ice-cream truck by the parking lot, and it was quite easily the best ice-cream I have ever tasted. It was called, 'Cow Pat', and it was lush! (Sadly, the truck was not there on future trips to Castlerock beach so I've had to make my peace with only having eaten it once.) Ices done, we started our journey back (with Big-Talking-UPite once again fast asleep in the back seat) and thankfully reached the airport and returned the car with no more drama.

This recipe is for a dish that Big-Talking-UPite, the lovable, rarely showering sloth excelled at, that I have made a few times over the years in an effort to recreate his magic.

For my Masala Khichdi, you will need the following: 

Rice	1 cup
Toor dal	1 cup
Potato	1 large
Capsicum (green pepper)	1 large
Garlic	5-6 cloves
Green chillies	2-3
Jeera (cumin seeds)	2 tsp
Red chilli powder	2 tsp
Haldi (turmeric powder)	1-2 tsp
Salt	to taste
Ghee

Prep:

1. Cube the potato (small cubes).
2. Chop the capsicum.
3. Chop the chillies.
4. Mince the garlic.

Method:

Masala:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some ghee.
4. Count to 20.
5. Pop in the jeera.
6. Roll in the chillies.
7. Plop in the garlic.
8. Shake in the red chilli powder, and the haldi.
9. Mix and cook for a few seconds.
10. Pop in the cubed potato.
11. Add salt to taste.
12. Toss until covered by the masala.
13. Pop a lid on.
14. Cook for 5-8 mins until the potato is nearly done.
15. Take the lid off.
16. Pop in the capsicum.
17. Mix.
18. Cook until the capsicum softens and the potato is done.
19. Turn the gas off.

Khichdi:

1. Grab a pressure cooker.
2. Toss in the rice.
3. Plonk in the dal.
4. Rinse 4 times in cold water until the water runs clear.
5. Add water until the rice and dal mixture is submerged 3 fingers deep.
6. Spoon in some ghee.
7. Sprinkle in salt to taste.
8. Sprinkle on some haldi.
9. Mix.
10. Slap the lid on.
11. Turn on the gas.
12. Bung the cooker on.
13. Cook for 4-5 whistles.
14. Turn the gas off.
15. Wait until the steam leaves the cooker.
16. Pop the lid open.

Putting it all together:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung the khichdi cooker on.
3. Adjust the consistency. (Add water if it is too thick, dry it out if it's too runny.)
4. Add in the masala.
5. Cook together for a few minutes. (Keep adjusting the consistency.)
6. Turn the gas off.
7. Spoon in a dollop of ghee.
8. Serve with dahi (yoghurt) and achaar (pickle).
9. Stuff face.
10. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Keep it the consistency of porridge. It's awesome that way! Also, if you're going to be driving on the beach, make sure you have your foot mats.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!