Book Excerpt: Khichdi, the Subcontinent’s very own comfort stew

The famous Arab traveller al-Biruni had recorded in his travelogue that common Indians sustain themselves on a porridge-like dish made with rice and lentils which they call khichdi. Al-Biruni came to India more than a thousand years ago. However, the earliest mention of khichdi can be traced back a thousand years before the birth of Christ. The Sanskrit word for this staple food is kshirika.

Across millennia, the khichdi has evolved to take many forms—from a simple concoction of boiled rice and lentils to a rich delicacy cooked in ghee with assorted vegetables, dried fruits and nuts. This is one of the traditional delicacies cooked during festivals like Durga Puja, Makar Sankranti and Pongal. The khichdi was so prevalent across India that the anglicized version of its name—kedgeree—refers to a popular British breakfast food consisting of a mixture of leftover fish from the previous night along with a good measure of curry powder, hard-boiled eggs and other condiments.

Perhaps the most elaborate and refined form of khichdi is the one that was cooked and served to celebrate Prince Salim’s victory over the Sultan of Gujarat. Bajra khichdi was the ‘state dish’ of Gujarat and, in a manner of speaking, its choice for the royal banquet was to announce the digestion of the troublesome state by the imperial centre. Legend has it that Birbal, one of the navratna (nine gems) of Akbar’s court, was put in charge of this banquet. The special khichdi took a long time to prepare and, since then, the phrase ‘Birbal ki Khichdi’ has become synonymous with a task that seems never-ending. Food historian Salma Hussain has included a modified recipe for this extraordinary khichdi—appropriately named Laziza—‘the delectable’—in her book The Emperor’s Table.

Aurangzeb, the last of the great Mughals, was an ultra-orthodox puritanical Muslim who led a spartan life. If he had one weakness, it was a well-prepared khichdi. There is an interesting letter that he wrote during the evening of his life—while camping in the Deccan—in which he requested his son to lend him his bawarchi (chef) who had once prepared a delicious khichdi for him. There is no record if the son complied with the request.

The chappan bhog—the feast of 56 items that is prepared as an offering to Lord Jagannath in Puri—includes a khichdi. This khichdi is merely boiled and seasoned with salt and pepper, eschewing onions and garlic, and is untempered. Khichdi is also routinely cooked in all Krishna shrines that belong to the Pustimarg sect. Furthermore, the Sai Baba temples across the land cook and distribute khichdi as a prasad.

The ubiquitousness of khichdi manifests in dialects and colloquialisms—on witnessing a secret or a whispered conversation between two people, one is tempted to say, ‘Kya khichdi paka rahe ho (What khichdi are you cooking up)?’ A popular colloquialism goes, ‘Khichdi ke chaar yaar, dahi-papad, ghee-achar (Khichdi has four companions—curd, papad, ghee and pickles)’.

Excerpted with permission from Lazzatnama: Recipes of India by Pushpesh Pant @202RupaPublications