MUSHURIR DAL ER KHICHURI / MASOOR DAL KHICHDI / RICE & RED LENTIL HOTCH POTCH

Mushurir Dal er Khichuri / Masoor Dal Khichdi is a rice and lentil hotchpotch made of skinless red lentils with or without vegetables. It's a nutritious meal our son mostly grew up on. You get the right amount of carbohydrate, if adding vegetables then vitamins too. On a lazy Friday night, you are not really in the mood to indulge yourself in cooking any complicated dish. Friday evening is to plan for some exotic dishes to try out on the two most beautiful days of the week; Saturday and Sunday. You cannot leave yourself starving too. You are just  not in the mood to order anything from outside and upset your stomach, denying yourself  the exotic platter you are planning for the next two days. Then what to do? No thinking twice, treat yourself with a humble and simple plate of MUSHURIR DAL ER KHICHURI and relax sitting and watching a movie with your family.

In our childhood, our mothers cooked a rice & lentil hotchpotch only when it rained or when mom was sick. Well, to that I would say, we do not have that level of energy what they had.  They stayed at home and planned elaborate meals for the family, specially if that family had a foodie kid like me. An honest confession; I live to eat. Modern women have to multitask; life is faster, complicated and khichuri / rice & lentil hotchpotch is handy. Live alone rain, we can have it every now and then. 

We usually cook khichuri / rice & lentil hotchpotch with Moong Dal. But just as we need variation in life, we definitely need variation in our food too. Otherwise, life gets boring and our taste buds; dull. I quite like to try out new recipes. I remember our mother cooking a red lentil & parboiled rice hotchpotch with or without potatoes! A hotchpotch with red lentils was not regularly made, she cooked using onion & green chilli as per the instructions from the maternal grandfather who loved it! He would now & then bring instances from his past days in Bangladesh; then East Pakistan, what he ate & when, he could instruct about various recipes! He lived with us for the few years he was posted in Kolkata until his retirement in 1984-85! 

Our mother served it with  potato fry and an omelette. Mommy dear never divulge the secret spices she uses for her recipes, not even to her daughter. So the poor daughter came up with her own version of MASOOR DAL KHICHDI / MUSHURIR DAL ER KHICHURI. I however believe she did not use any spice powder except for the turmeric powder in this recipe! In our case, we need to add some ghee whilst having this meal!

INGREDIENTS :

Rice(par-boiled) : 1/2 coffee mug
Masoor Dal (skinless red lentils) : 1/2 coffee mug

Sliced Onion : 1 coffee mug
Dry Red Chilli : 2 Halved
Slitted Green Chilli : 3-4
Bay leaf : 1
Cumin Seeds : 1/4 tsp
Salt : As per taste
Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp
Sugar : 1 tsp [optional]

Oil (preferably Mustard) : 3 tbsp

PROCEDURE :

Take the rice and dal in a big bowl. Wash a few times! Take the washed rice, dal in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add enough water, salt and turmeric and put for boil, keep the heat at low. We are to give a stir every few minutes! 

After some 9-10 minutes, add the washed & slitted green chillies, keep cooking until done! Switch off the gas stove & add the sugar, if using! Give a stir!

Arrange all the spices at your cooking table. Tear the dry red chillies into 2 halves. Heat the oil in a clean wok & temper with the cumin seeds, dry red chillies and a bay leaf. Add the sliced onions and fry until brown. 

At this stage, add the cooked rice and dal mix. Stir and mix well for about 3 minutes. Adjust the sugar if required, stir and switch off. the final product shall be of running consistency but should not taste like dal & rice!  

We should not cook it with basmati rice but I had to! Towards the end, I used a masher lightly to get a sticky consistency! Try to cook it with ronni, soda maser or other parboiled rice grain varieties! You can serve it with any kind of fries, we usually have with potato fry & scrambled eggs.