Khichdi! That panacea for all tummy trouble, that pan-indian comfort food, that one-pot wonder that mommy/daddy can cook up in 20 minutes. Who doesn't love Khichdi?
The trouble as usual is the high-ish glycemic index of this food. It's anywhere between 45-55 and the glycemic load for about 200 grams is 30. That's high. We'd want to bring it down by quite a bit so it is at least medium GI, if not low. Unfortunately, I'm a little handicapped by the lack of proper GI measurements for Indian foods. So whatever I put here is just an estimate.
Here's what I suggest. Replace the white rice in khichdi/pongal with brown basmati rice or even regular basmati rice as these are considerably lower GI. The glycemic load for 100 gms of short grained white rice is between 20 and 30 and for basmatic rice, it is between 10 and 15, so you have a good reduction right there.Then, replace the mung dal (green gram) with whole mung dal. The GI of whole mung dal is ridiculously low at 5.
So for 200 gms of khichdi, your value should come down to between 15 and 20 at the very most. The value will probably be even lower, because of the added fat and high water content.
So here's the recipe. This recipe is for the South Indian variant, that is, for pongal. Using the same proportions and different spices, you can make khichdi too.
Pongal (Serves 5 at 200 gms per serving)
Ingredients
1 cup - Brown basmati rice (regular basmati rice is
fine too)
1 cup - Whole mung dal
2 tbsp - Ghee (can reduce this if you like)
1 tsp - Jeera
A fistful of curry leaves (optional)
3-5 shredded red chilis
Freshly ground pepper to taste. The powder should be coarse and granular. (I use a lot because I love the taste)
Salt to taste
Instructions
Wash the rice and dal and and cook them in a pressure cooker with 8 cups of water, if you are using brown rice. If you are using white rice, 6 cups of water is sufficient. Leave the cooker on a high flame until you get one whistle and then reduce the flame. If you're using brown rice, leave it on low flame for 15-20 minutes and then turn it off. For white rice, 10 minutes on a low flame is sufficient.
Once the dal-rice mixture is cooked, open the cooker and add the salt and the freshly crushed pepper. Store bought pepper powder will just not work in this recipe. The pepper has to be freshly and coarsely ground. Then, prepare your seasoning as follows. Heat the ghee in a small pan, throw in the zeera and wait for it to splutter. Then, add the curry leaves and shredded red chilis and wait until the red chilis change color. Don't allow them to burn, however. Pour this ghee mixture over the cooked dal-rice mixture.
That's it. Easy peasy and tastes awesome.
Note: If it's Khichdi you want, pour the ghee in the cooker before you put the dal-rice mixture in. Then, fry some chopped onions and mixed veggies and some whole spices (2-3 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon, 2-3 cardamom, 1 big bay leaf) in the ghee. The spices are optional; some people like them and some don't. Then add the dal-rice mixture, water and salt and cook it for the same amount of time as before. Tastes very different from pongal, but equally awesome.
The trouble as usual is the high-ish glycemic index of this food. It's anywhere between 45-55 and the glycemic load for about 200 grams is 30. That's high. We'd want to bring it down by quite a bit so it is at least medium GI, if not low. Unfortunately, I'm a little handicapped by the lack of proper GI measurements for Indian foods. So whatever I put here is just an estimate.
Here's what I suggest. Replace the white rice in khichdi/pongal with brown basmati rice or even regular basmati rice as these are considerably lower GI. The glycemic load for 100 gms of short grained white rice is between 20 and 30 and for basmatic rice, it is between 10 and 15, so you have a good reduction right there.Then, replace the mung dal (green gram) with whole mung dal. The GI of whole mung dal is ridiculously low at 5.
So for 200 gms of khichdi, your value should come down to between 15 and 20 at the very most. The value will probably be even lower, because of the added fat and high water content.
So here's the recipe. This recipe is for the South Indian variant, that is, for pongal. Using the same proportions and different spices, you can make khichdi too.
Pongal (Serves 5 at 200 gms per serving)
Ingredients
1 cup - Brown basmati rice (regular basmati rice is
fine too)1 cup - Whole mung dal
2 tbsp - Ghee (can reduce this if you like)
1 tsp - Jeera
A fistful of curry leaves (optional)
3-5 shredded red chilis
Freshly ground pepper to taste. The powder should be coarse and granular. (I use a lot because I love the taste)
Salt to taste
Instructions
Wash the rice and dal and and cook them in a pressure cooker with 8 cups of water, if you are using brown rice. If you are using white rice, 6 cups of water is sufficient. Leave the cooker on a high flame until you get one whistle and then reduce the flame. If you're using brown rice, leave it on low flame for 15-20 minutes and then turn it off. For white rice, 10 minutes on a low flame is sufficient.
Once the dal-rice mixture is cooked, open the cooker and add the salt and the freshly crushed pepper. Store bought pepper powder will just not work in this recipe. The pepper has to be freshly and coarsely ground. Then, prepare your seasoning as follows. Heat the ghee in a small pan, throw in the zeera and wait for it to splutter. Then, add the curry leaves and shredded red chilis and wait until the red chilis change color. Don't allow them to burn, however. Pour this ghee mixture over the cooked dal-rice mixture.
That's it. Easy peasy and tastes awesome.
Note: If it's Khichdi you want, pour the ghee in the cooker before you put the dal-rice mixture in. Then, fry some chopped onions and mixed veggies and some whole spices (2-3 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon, 2-3 cardamom, 1 big bay leaf) in the ghee. The spices are optional; some people like them and some don't. Then add the dal-rice mixture, water and salt and cook it for the same amount of time as before. Tastes very different from pongal, but equally awesome.
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