Maghe Sakranti Edition: Khichadi Recipe!!

Happy Maghe Sankranti Everyone! I just realized that writing blog post has helped me to recover from being home sick. Anything festive comes up, I end up in the kitchen trying to resemble foods back home :) Cooking really helps! Anyways, as we all know and for those who are not familiar with what in the world Maghe Sankranti is, here is a brief history of this festival. Maghe Sankranti is the first Holy day of Nepali Calendar and on this day, people in Nepal as well as Hindu around the world worship Sun and welcome Holy Seasons. Its like celebrating New Year to greet upcoming festivals throughout the year.
Now on to Food, there is no festival in Nepal that is not associated with food. Similarly, for Maghe Sankranti people in Nepal eat different kinds of roots vegetables (Yam, Sweet Potato, Ginger, Cassava), Khichadi (made with black lentil and rice) and Chaku (made from Jaggery). Root vegetables are simply boiled and served whereas Chaku and Kichadi are made in different ways. In this post, I am going to show a step by step process to prepare Khichadi and in the other post I will show you how to make Chaku. Have Fun :x

Yumm! :D

Prep time: 5min(s) Cook time: 25min(s) Total time: 30min(s)   

Things you will need:

1. Black Lentil (1 and half cup, washed)
2. Rice (1 cup, washed)
3. Ghee (4 table spoons)
4. Turmeric Powder (1 tea spoon)
5. Salt (according to taste)
6. Ginger Paste (1 table spoon)
7. Oil (1 tea spoon)

Directions:

• On a pressure cooker, add 4 cups of water, salt, turmeric, lentil and oil. Cook lentil on a medium heat until it whistles thrice.
• Once lentil is cooked, add 2-3 cups of water and 1 cup rice. Add ginger and ghee (2 table spoons). Cover (Do not use the pressure cooker lid, simply cover with plate and cook on a small to medium heat) and cook until rice is cooked (refer to the picture above). 
• Transfer Kichadi on a bowl and top it with remaining ghee.
• Serve hot enjoy with any kind of gravy/pickle or Click here for the Scallion-Baby Potato Achar/Salad recipe for the best taste :)