Kichadi for One, Enough for One Day

(If you do this in the morning before you head into your day, kichadi will be waiting for you for lunch and dinner.)

Wash well and soak: 1/2 cup split mung, 3/4 cup basmati rice of your choice. Cover with water together and let sit.

Wash and chop whatever vegetables you’ll be using in this kichadi, 1/2 – 1 cup: sweet potato, carrot, turnip, kale, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, lotus root, whatever suits you and your type. (See The Ayurvedic Cookbook or Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners if you want more info on this; there’s lots of food lists in the back of each book.)

Measure out: 1/3 tsp. coriander powder, 1/3 tsp. turmeric, tiny pinch of hing and cardamom. Melt 2 tsps. ghee in a heavy medium sized saucepan over medium high heat and add: 1/3 tsp. mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp. whole cumin seeds, 1/8 tsp. fenugreek seeds. Stir until they pop; hopefully soon. Reduce heat to medium and stir in powdered herbs. Let cook until you begin to smell their aromas, this will take probably less than a minute.

Toss the root vegetables, lotus, and any winter squash or greens that need more cooking (kale, collards, mustard, turnip greens) into the spices and stir. Leave out the fast-cooking vegetables: asparagus, green beans, summer squash, basil, arugula, spinach, beet greens, chard, etc. They will be added in the last ten – fifteen minutes of cooking. Stir the slow cooking vegetables into the ghee and spices, then drain your rice and mung and do the same with them.

Cover with about 3 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook (while you go take a shower or meditate?). When you’re done, in about 30 minutes, check your pot, see if it needs more water or the last of the vegetables. Garnish with ghee, flax oil or olive oil, and Bragg’s Liquid aminos…enjoy!

(For a guided audio version of this, check out the CD: Smooth Mama: Ayurvedic Cooking on the Fly.)