I have been pretty busy with work lately, so trips to the grocery store have become less frequent the past several weeks. Instead of eating out more, which has typically been my default, I have tried to use this busy time to actually use up those items sitting in my pantry, fridge, and freezer for some time. I have surprised myself by actually being largely successful, so much so that I found myself needing to go to the grocery store to again stock up on some of those necessary staples!
My first attempt at using up what I have without buying additional ingredients focused on two new Indian dishes. The first was a January 2009 Vegetarian Times recipe for Kitchari with Cauliflower and Peas, an Indian rice and lentil dish. The second was a Palak Makai recipe on Sudhir Seth's blog (the chef/owner of Passage to India, a popular Indian restaurant in Bethesda, MD) that relied on frozen spinach and corn, two items I knew were in my freezer.
Both recipes were relatively painless to construct -- the kitchari in particular requires almost no active preparation time (most of the cooking is just done over a simmer in the pot). The palak makai mostly just relies on sauteing the spinach and one only needs to chop garlic for the dish (minimal chopping recipes are such a nice change of pace!).
I may have over-sauteed the palak makai as the spinach was a bit dry upon completion and unfortunately was also fairly bland. I don't think I'll make the dish again given that it was both not particularly tasty and not that healthy (the recipe calls for a generous amount of butter and cream). Somehow though through the week, I ended up eating all six servings by myself given the lack of other easy-to-consume food in my apartment.
The kitchari/kichdi turned out WONDERFULLY, such that I actually made it another 3 - 4 times over the next few weeks. I halved the recipe the first two times I made it, though kept the ginger and cumin levels as the recipe originally stated. The dish cooked up in about 15 minutes or so, making it the perfect quick meal. The most recent times I made it, I made the full recipe which definitely increased the cooking time to approximately 30 - 35 minutes, and I did not adjust the spice blend upwards which made the dish less mouthwatering. When the ginger and cumin were enhanced in the first two half-servings, the dish tasted almost like pongal, a South Indian rice/lentil dish that I grew up eating. I think that variations of kichdi/pongal will become a frequent meal in my apartment in the months and years to come given how easy and delicious this Vegetarian Times recipe was! I would definitely recommend this recipe as the must-try Indian recipe of the year.
Hi madhu, the kichidi looks yummy, but wondering if you cleaned up the stove before you took this picture, my stove never looks like this when I am cooking :)
Posted by: anu | March 14, 2011 at 22:05