Bengali Kichadi

Bengali cuisine traces its root to the region of Bengal, which is now divided between into Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. Food is important part of Bengali culture, which can be seen in the bold flavors of delicious and delicate Bengali dishes. Bengali cuisine also uses pungent flavored mustard oil, which is not commonly used in other Indian cooking. Other common five spice mixture used in Bengali cuisine is Panch Phoron.

Usually this mixture of five spices is fried in ghee or oil, which is known as Panch Phoron in Bengali. After drying, the mixture is added to vegetables or dal. 

Panch Phoron

These are the spices:

Fenugreek

Nigella seed (Nigella seeds are also known as Kalonji in India. They are also often referred to as onion seeds even though it is not related to onion plant. Nigella seed gives flavor nutty bitter flavor similar to oregano.)

Black Mustard seed

Fennel seed

Celery Seed (Radhuni) or Cumin Seed

Bangla Khichdi Recipe

Rice -                                 1 cup (washed and soaked for 30minutes)

Masoor dal -                      3/4 cup (washed and soaked for 30 minutes

Chenna dal -                     1tbsp (washed and soaked for 30 minutes)

Turmeric powder                1/2 tsp

Salt                                to taste

Water                             5 Cups

Ghee –                           6 tbsp

Chopped coriander leaves, for garnish

Spices:

Bay leaf                           2 no

Green cardamoms-            3 no

Stick cinnamon                  1 ‘’

Cloves                             4 no

Garam masala powder       1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds                    1/4 tsp

Panch Poran –                   1 tbsp

Vegetables:

 Frozen Baby potatoes, washed clean           - 6 no

 Carrot and Peas                                     1 cup (diced)

Cauliflower-                                            1 cup

Grated Ginger                                        - 1 tbsp

Green chilies,                                         3-4 (finely chopped)

Method:

• Drain dals and rice in a colander and keep aside. 
• Cook the baby potatoes in microwave for 5 minutes.
• Semi crush spices (cardamom, cinnamon and cloves). 
• Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a large heavy skillet and add cumin seeds, bay leaf and crushed spices and Panch Phoron. 
• Add ginger, and chilies, potatoes and Stir-fry for 4 minutes.
• Add  all vegetables, turmeric, garam masala and salt. 
• Add dals and rice. Gently stir-fry for 1 minute.   Add water.
• Shift to a rice cooker and cook till done.
• When done, pour remaining ghee and sprinkle coriander leaves. 
• Serve piping hot, with curd and chutney. 




Vegetables and Spices



Bengali Kichadi