Moong Khichidi

There is something about khichidi that makes it so appealing when u are sick , or down with a cold the gluey texture makes u feel a lot better along with all the tender , love and care . I was first introduced to this recipe years back when I was at my friend P's house and as usual we were chatting non stop didn't realise it was almost lunch time and I was suffering from a cold all stuffed up . So she being a good cook decided to whip up some khichidi with the veges that were available . Although at that age ( being teenagers) nothing was really measured just eyeballed ,threw all the ingredients in a cooker after 2 whistles the khichidi was done.
P served this with homemade mango pickle and roasted papad YUMMY!!
Since then this dish is usually served at my place pretty regularly or if some one is sick.
Recently my 5 yr came down with a cold all stuffed up, didn't want to go to school but did play with toys all day . All he wanted was to stay at home , so for lunch I decided to make the moong khichidi which was pretty simple done in 20 mins.
Turned out great so here is the recipe :
Ingredients:

• 1 cup Basmati rice
• 1/2 cup spilt moong dal
• 3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup shallots chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• handfull of green peas
• 2 halopeno peppers chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1 potato cubsize
• 1/2 tsb jeera
  
• 1/2 tsb paprika
• 1/2 turmeric pwd
• 1 tbsp olive oil EVOO
  
• ghee to serve
  
• Salt to taste

wash the rice and moong dal , soak for 5-10 mins .
cut all the veges , heat the cooker add EVOO , add the jeera seeds
after they splutter add the veges and saute for 2-3 mins
add turmeric, paprika , and salt cook some more
add the soaked rice and dal,
mix well add 3 cups of water.
add the chopped cilantro leaves
close the cooker , cook till at least 2 whistles blows,
which makes the rice a lil more gluey.
If u don't like the gluey texture one is enough .
serve hot with a dollop of ghee and pickle.

Coconut Chutney

Coconut chutney has been a staple at our home as and when we have idlis or dosas which is like every other weekend . My mom would make this by adding a little tomato which tasted fine to me as I grew up loving it. But after our wedding every time I made the chutney i.e with the one with tomato in it my hubby dear would eat it , but somewhere down was not very happy with the end product coz he grew up having the orange nadan style chutney like the ones u have at thaatu kada . For all of u who do not know what a thaatu kada is it is a roadside eatery not necessarily in one of the best locations , or decor or hygiene but one thing u can be sure of is it has one of the best tasting foods. Every visit that we make to India we usually love trying food from these joints whether it is mumbai or kerala .

So then I began a quest for the recipe for the orange coconut chutney which I knew was simple but for some odd reason I never got it right. One time while during my trail and error experiments I added the shallots in the grinder along with the coconut and then I had to look no further , my orange chutney was born :) I guess the shallots gave it a raw taste to the chutney which goes very well with idlis .

What u need

• coconut 1/2 cup
• shallots 1-2 chopped
• ginger 1 inch
• curry leaves 4-5
• oil 1 tsp
• salt as needed
• chilli pwd 1/2 tsp
• mustard seeds 1/2tsp

grind coconut, ginger and shallots in to a fine paste , add oil in a pan when hot add the mustard seeds as they start to break add the finely chopped shallots and curry leaves,
keep the heat on low so that nothing gets burnt.
Add the chilli pwd stir well, add the coconut mix soon after the chilli pwd is added .
Keep in stirring for few mins then add salt.
Serve it with idlis or dosas.