Bhuni Khichuri
A one pot rice dish made with roasted moong dal, roasted chana dal, gobindobhog rice, vegetables and whole spices. This is usually made during an offering to a god or goddess.
Ingredients
- 1 cup gobindobhog rice or any fragrant smal grain rice
- 1/2 cup shona moong dal or any moong dal (see notes)
- 1/4 cup chana dal split Bengal gram
- 2 nos large potatoes
- 2 nos carrots
- 1 no medium sized cauliflower
- 1 cup green peas
- 10 nos beans optional
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 3 nos green cardamom
- 4 nos cloves
- 2 nos dried bay leaf
- 1 no dried red chili
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 1/2 tbsp chopped ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp Bengali garam masala powder
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
- 2 tbsp ghee
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash the rice and keep it soaked in water. In the meanwhile, prep the vegetables.
- Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut them into four pieces each. Peel the carrots, first give it a cut length wise and then cut into 1 inch pieces each.
- Cut the beans in one inch length. Cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets. Now wash all the vegetables, including the green peas and keep aside.
- In a kadai, dry roast the moong dal till they are deep red in colour. Keep the flame from medium to low and do not leave it unattended. It takes seconds for the moong dal to burn. Once you have achieved the right colour, take the moong dal out in a bowl and keep aside.
- Repeat the above process with the chana dal. Once done, wash both the dals under running water and then keep aside.
- In a kadai, take 2 tbsp of mustard oil. When the oil becomes hot, add the cauliflower florets. Sprinkle some salt over the florets and slowly fry them till they are soft. You need to keep the flame to a medium to low. Once you have a golden colour and the cauliflower has become soft enough to eat, take the cauliflowers out and keep aside.
- In the same kadai, add the remaining of mustard oil and let it become hot. Add the tempering spices - bay leaf, dried red chili, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cumin and fennel, in the order mentioned here.
- Once they start to give out aroma, add the chopped ginger and lightly stir. Add the rest of the vegetables, except the green peas and cauliflower and lightly sauté. Finally add the washed rice (without the water) and stir fry in the oil along with the vegetables.
- After a couple of minutes, add the roasted dals and turmeric power, red chili powder, salt and sugar.
- Sprinkle some water and continue stir frying. Add the green peas and finally add one cup of warm water.
- Stir everything together very well and check the seasoning. Like any pulao, you need to add extra salt so that when the rice gets cooked, the seasoning is just right.
- It might look like less water but Gobindobhog rice does not need too much water to cook, especially when we want a pulao consistency.
- Cover the bhuni khichuri with a lid and reduce the flame to minimum. Let the khichuri cook on a low flame. Keep one cup of hot water ready with you.
- After 10 - 15 minutes, check the khichuri, if you notice that the bottom is sticking and the rice is not cooked yet (which it will not yet), add 1/4 cup of hot water through the sides of the kadai. Using a spatula, lightly toss the rice so that the bottom does not stick further.
- Cover and again let it cook for 10 minutes. If required, you might need to repeat the above process a couple of more times.
- Normally I require 1 3/4 cups of water in total for the cooking. I cup in the beginning and the rest through the cooking time. Sometimes, I have seen the cooking is done in 1 1/2 cups too.
- Therefore, I never add the full water at one go. This way, I ensure that just the right amount of water is added and the rice grains are cooked yet they are apart.
- When the rice grains have cooked, add two tbsp of ghee to the khichuri and add the cauliflower florets. Lightly toss with a spatula to mix everything without breaking the rice grains.
- Serve bhuni khichuri with labra, panch rokomer bhaja and chutney.