Bhuna/Bhuni Khichdi – Must-try Rice dish #BengaliClassic

Hello all!
Today I have come up with a dish which I love so very much. It actually has Bangladeshi origin but over the period of time Bengalis have loved it so much..it’s got very many versions of India* (or Bengal, to be specific). Its a very popular kind of Khichdi, which challenges the very thought that khichdis are quick alternative dishes for those days in hurry!

Bhuna/Bhuni Khichdi served with whole fried egg plants!

This has flavours from cult combinations of onions,garlic-ginger, garam masala and long grain rice..! Oh! I can go on and on..But I will cut it short here and get straight to the recipe.

Try this at least once, I assure you you won’t stop getting back to making it again & again!

Ingredients :
1 cup Moong lentils.( AKA Mung dal or split green gram)
2 cup Basmati rice ( you could any long grain rice)
½ cup onion, chopped
2 green chilies, finelt chopped
2 teaspoons garlic, paste
1 teaspoon ginger, paste
1 teaspoon, turmeric powder( dont go over board..turmeric can leave a pungent flavour)
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder ( Scroll down to find a TIP on this)**
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves
2-3 cinnamon, small broken ones
5 cups boiled water
1 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon chilli powder
2 big tablespoon ghee (you can either use enough ghee for the entire dish or use the oil along with little ghee)
oil 1 tablespoon oil (any mild variety)

Method :
Wash rice and moong lentils (dal). Strain all the water well.
In a pan add oil/ghee (suit yourself) on medium heat. Add onion and sautee until slightly golden brown.
Add bay leaf, chopped Chillies, garlic-ginger paste, roasted cumin powder, turmeric powder, cloves and the cinnamon.
Fry for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant.
Add salt and chilli powder.Mix well.
Add water and wait to see bubbless, put a lid on the pan then and cook for 20-22 minutes or until rice and lentils are done.

Serve with fried brinjal(egg plant), dried sliced potatoes, papad and mango chutney.
Fried hilsa ( or  any carp) works great too.

It was an almost vegetarian day for me. so i served it with fried whole small bringals split into halves and some cabbage dish.
The best part about this is, even if you have nothing in your store to compliment this rice dish with..you will be able to pull it off with an assortment of fried veggies or papad. Its a star all by itself!!

TIP*
Bhuna khichdi unlike other khichdis should be done using Basmati rice because Bhuna means dry cooking. So the amount of water used should be well measured( using even a little more may spoil your toil!) and thr ricr grains should be whole and seperate from one another.

TIP**
There are two ways of making roasted cumin.
Original way :Dry roast cumin seeds on a hot pan and grind it. Its tiresome and messy.
Easy way : Get a packet of ground cumin powder from any Indian store, dry roast it on a hot pan. Put in off fire, when you see the colour changing to dark brown. 😉

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Love & Luck,
Roy ❤ ❤