We enjoyed this dish with a side of lightly steamed broccoli and carrots, which were a nice sweet side with the flavorful stew. Before settling with my version I was happy to find Nupur’s lovely and thorough blog post about khichdi, and closely read through quite a few kitchari recipes. Heikki loved this dish and commented that kids would probably enjoy it as well – before he even knew that it’s often the first solid food introduced to children in India!

This is what I used (serves 3-4):

• 2 dl brown basmati rice, soaked for 2 hours (unsoaked cooks longer)
• 1 and 1/2 dl green  mung beans, soaked overnight
• 1 or 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons each: ground coriander and cumin
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• pinch of asafoetida
• 6-8 dl water, and maybe more as needed
• sea salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine
• 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste or lemon juice

I first heated the oil and fried the mustard seeds until they started to pop. Then I added the chopped ginger and fried it for a few seconds, followed with fennel, coriander, cumin and asafoetida, which I fried just until fragrant, being careful not to burn. Now, I added the rice and the beans along with about 6 dl of hot water and the turmeric, brought to boil, then lowered the heat and let the stew simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. I added a little bit of water as needed, but not too much – I didn’t want this to be a soupy stew.

When the rice was soft, I removed the pot from heat, and added in the margarine, tamarind paste, and salt to taste. I stirred the stew briskly with a ladle for a few minutes to mash some of the beans and make it a bit creamier, and then it was ready to be served.

I have been thinking about beets a lot lately. I don’t know why, but they are the one ingredient that has been inspiring me most this fall, and there doesn’t seem to be an ending to this state of affairs. I cannot get enough of the purple color, it simply makes me happy each time I cook with beets, and I think their earthy sweetness reflects the essence of autumn itself.

Here’s what I used:

• 6 beets, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 big carrots, scrubbed and cut into thick sticks
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chili
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

First, I preheated the oven to 200 Celsius, and prepped the beets, carrots, and garlic. Then I just placed all the ingredients in a baking pan and tossed them so that each veggie piece was covered with some spices.

I first roasted the veggies for 15 minutes, tossed them around a bit, roasted for another 15 minutes, tossed, and roasted for yet another 15 minutes. After this I checked the salt, and realized the veggies were done, so I turned off the oven. The rice we were going to have with the beets wasn’t quite ready yet, so I popped the vegetables in the oven that was still hot for another 10 minutes to keep them warm.