Southeast Asian food, it’s safe to say, is known for its spices. The first problem an international student used to spiced food faces in America is the relatively bland food (minus the cheese; cheese makes up for everything), and the second, well, if you’re going to cook your own food you need spices, and Southeast Asian spices aren’t the easiest to find.
So you have two options: find the nearest store where you can buy spices, or substitute.
I’m going to help you out with both. Google Maps will lead you to a Patel Brothers and an India Market, both in Shrewsbury, about 19 minutes from the main campus by car and $9-12 by Uber. (Take a couple friends and split the fare!) Dried spices last for years and both these stores are cheap enough that you can get an entire year’s supply of spices for $10-20. The Sujan Grocery Market, a Nepali store, is on Chandler Street right here in Worcester. Santiago’s, further up on Main Street walking distance from campus, is not Southeast Asian, but sells a huge array of the spices you can also find at Big Y at much cheaper prices. Santiago’s sells pretty much everything cheap and is an excellent place to shop on a budget; just keep an eye on the expiration dates! And on that note, yes, you’ll find most of what you’re looking for or can substitute in Big Y too, if it doesn’t bother you to pay $5-8 for a pretty small packet/container of spices.
There are a few basics when it comes to spices that you can pick up at a Patel Brothers or the India Market. I’ll specify substitutes where I can, and we’ll modify the recipes as we go. We’re not pro chefs here; it’s okay if your biriyani doesn’t taste exactly like your mother’s (after four whole years I still can’t cook biriyani well and it’s my greatest failing in life).
So before we get into the actual recipe, here’s the list of spices that any beginner or expert cook should have in their kitchen (or dorm room, whatever, I’m not picky):
Garam masala (powder) — an acceptable substitute for this is plain old curry powder
Turmeric (powder)
Red chili (powder)
Black pepper (whole or ground)
Bay Leaves
Cloves (whole or powder)
Cinnamon (sticks or powder)
Green cardamom (whole or powder)
Indian/Bangali five spice, also known as paanch foron (whole or powder)
Cumin (powder)
Fennel (seeds)
Anything else you want, really
1 through 5 can help you prepare any Indian/Bangali dish with the most basic flavors, with the addition of the following:
Onions (whole or paste)
Garlic (whole, minced, or paste)
Ginger (minced or paste)
Substitute for garlic and ginger separately is ginger-garlic (paste)
The rest of the spices are optional, where optional means get as many as you can find but I guess it’ll do if you can’t find them.
The final five things most of us tend to keep in our pantry (or dorm room) are:
Salt
Vegetable oil
Rice (long-grained preferable)
Lentils (various)
Potatoes
Eggs
If you have these few things (that’s a total of 15 ingredients), you can make at least 7 dishes that I can think of, just off the top of my head. Add some frozen vegetables or spinach to the mix and the number jumps to 14. That’s pretty decent, considering the spices are basically one-time purchases, a good-sized bag of rice and lentils will last you a full semester if not longer, and potatoes and eggs and frozen vegetables (from Big Y or Price Chopper or Santiago’s) aren’t very expensive. There you have it, then, Bangali (and a lot of Indian) cooking on a budget in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Now on to the recipe!
So, khichudi (or khichuri if you’re getting really nitpicky) is Bangali comfort food, possibly the quickest and easiest thing to prepare. Super delicious and super nutritious, and it’s pretty hard to mess up. It’s a one-pot dish so all you need is that one pot (not pan; pot) and something to stir with. There are a number of ways to make it. Remember that Bangali cooking is 80% instinct and 20% preference, so the measurements are more suggestions than hard numbers. Taste, taste, taste your food to adjust the spices to your preference.
The best thing about khichudi is that you can basically put anything in there (except maybe fish). It can be vegetarian, like this recipe, but it absolutely doesn’t have to be. If you want to add chicken, add chicken! If you want to dump a couple whisked eggs in there, go for it. I know people who put a bit of milk in their khichudi and that works too. It’s the best and most basic leftover dish, because as long as you have the rice and lentils you can throw pretty much any kind of leftovers in there. Just put in anything you want after adding onions and garlic, and before adding rice and lentils, and cook for a few extra minutes. It’s quick, easy, and doesn’t require you standing over the stove the whole time.
The ratio of rice:lentils should be approximately 2:1, depending on how much lentils you like in your khichudi. If you want a 1:1 ratio, go right ahead. The ratio of rice:water should be approximately 1:1.5, but this varies depending on the type of rice.
Ingredients:
Salt — to taste
Vegetable oil — 1 tbsp
Rice — 2/3 cup
Masoor dal (a type of red lentils; available at Indian/Bangali/sometimes Nepali stores) — 1/3 cup
Onion — 1 whole yellow onion
Garlic — 1 clove whole/2 tbsp minced or paste
Ginger (optional; ginger-garlic paste is ideal)
Potatoes (optional) — 1 whole red potato
Vegetables (optional) — 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
Tomatoes (optional) — 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
Spices:
Garam masala or curry powder — 1/2 tbsp
Bay leaves — 1 whole/2 tbsp
Turmeric — 1/2 tbsp
Red chili powder — 1/2 tbsp or to taste
(all the above spices are available in Big Y and Santiago’s)
Cloves (optional) — 3 whole or 1/2 tsp powder
Cinnamon (optional) — 1 whole stick broken in half or 1/2 tsp powder
Green cardamom (optional) — 3 whole pods or 1/4 tsp powder (by ‘optional’ for spices I mean: it’s fantastic if you have them, but not the worst thing in the world if you don’t)
The following recipe serves one, but khichudi can last over a week in the fridge if you want to make more.
Prep:
Wash 1/3 cup of lentils and 2/3 cup of rice.
Soak the lentils for 30 minutes in cold water, then drain and set aside.
Chop onions into small cubes.
Mince garlic (if using garlic paste or ginger-garlic paste skip this step).
Chop vegetables and tomatoes if necessary.
Cooking:
Heat oil in the pot. When oil is heated, lower heat to medium and add bay leaves.
Optional: If you’re using the optional spices, add cloves, cinnamon, and green cardamom. Stir frequently until spices start popping and the raw fragrance of the spices fades.
If not using optional spices, add onions with bay leaf. Stir frequently until onions are translucent.
Add garlic, or ginger-garlic paste. Stir frequently until raw fragrance fades.
Optional: If using potatoes, add them first and fry for 5 minutes. Potatoes always take the longest to cook.
Optional: If using vegetables and tomatoes, add and stir for 2 minutes.
Add rice, drained lentils, turmeric, garam masala/curry powder, red chili powder, and salt. Mix well for 2 minutes (stir frequently so the spices don’t burn).
Taste to check salt and spices; adjust if necessary.
Add 2 cups of water (or enough water to just barely cover the rice and lentils), mix gently, then cover the pot.
Cook, covered, for 20-25 minutes, or until the rice and lentils have soaked up the water, then turn down the heat and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
Serve hot.
Khichudi goes really well with a bit of lemon juice and/or eggs, served any way.
It’s okay if the khichudi gets burned at the bottom; adjusting the water content of khichudi takes time, and until you get it down to pat you can let the burned bottom layer protect the khichudi on top instead of stirring to mix it all up. Once the water is gone, any whole spices will have risen to the top of the khichudi and you can pick them off before you eat.
Enjoy!
