Easy Kitchari Recipe
This Kitchari is a dish made with rice and yellow split pea dal or mung dal. It is a comforting soup like dish. I use the yellow split pea because it’s what’s easily accessible to me, however if you have mung dal it can be used. It is an Ayurveda dish that helps detox the body and balance our doshas (according to Ayurveda it’s the three energies that define our makeup). Apparently when yogis need to cleanse their bodies and soul they eat this dish because it provides them will all the nutrients. My family loves this simple, yet delicious dish. Even my fussy kids could eat this without a complaint. I asked my hubby what he would like to eat today and he requested this dish. But he says “please call my mum and ask her how to cook it”. Well he nearly didn’t have dinner tonight. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against my mum-in-law giving me her recipe. We share recipes all the time. Did he forget that I can cook this and I have cooked it hundreds of times, well not hundreds but close enough. Men!!!
Anyway after I cooked it and he ate it, he said “that was delicious, even better than my mums”. I think he knows what’s good for him…Lol! Yes I can cook a delicious Kitchari. This Kitchari tastes so good when loaded with butter but my age doesn’t allow it.I used my instant pot to cook my dal and rice. You can cook it totally on the stovetop. The dal at high altitude takes about an hour to cook, if soaked overnight. If you are living at sea level you may require less water and cooking time may differ. Please use your discretion here. I then tempered my spices and added it to the dal/rice mixture. Tempering is a process where the spices are cooked in oil, in this case butter to release its flavors. You can cook yours totally on the stove top but here in Johannesburg we would probably wait until tomorrow if I tried cooking it that way. Kitchari with Yellow Split Peas is not a difficult dish to cook, you just need a bit of extra time. This dish is typically served with a tomato chutney here in South Africa. I will post my chutney recipe shortly.
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