The Queen of Khichdi

21Oct10

I firmly believe that if I ever get shot, instead of an explosion of red blood, everything around me will be drenched in a gorgeous yellow. That’s because 70% of my body is, no doubt, khichdi.

It would be easy to say that I make and eat khichdi everyday now because it’s the easiest thing to make as a single woman, cooking for one. However, that would be a falsity. I was born a khichdi-lover. I eat it everyday, sometimes twice a day. When kids ask for chicken, rajma, pizza or cake, I asked for khichdi. My favorite color is yellow. My student film company was called Dal Chawal Productions. I contemplated watching Khichdi- The Movie based purely on its title…

Anyway, these days I don’t really have much else to do besides come up with new and innovative ways to prepare this lifeline dish. I have given serious thought to the matter and am in the midst of prepping for my book “101 Khichdi Ideas: The Joys of Simple Living”. This book will be a boon to people of all ages, classes, nationalities and sexual orientations.

The technical definition of Khichdi is an Indian dish made with lentils and rice. Therein lies its infinite possibilities. I mean just think about how many types of lentils we have. Laal dal, Tuar dal, Udat dal, Chana dal, Masoor dal, Moong dal and so on. Then there are different types of rice too- white, brown, red, kaamini, basmati, mote chawal, etc etc. Just within these combinations you have about 50 types of khichdis. Then there are the additives. You can make it in ghee, oil or butter. You can just do a boiled one with salt and turmeric. You can do a tadka with jeera and laal mirch. You can do a masala with onions and tomatoes. You can add vegetables in the mix- spinach, green beans, gourd, cabbage, cauliflower, peas (gross), the list goes on and on. I think I might have to do a series of these books. One will obviously not be enough…

There it is. My plan to take over the cooking industry in India and become the Queen of Khichdi. Once that is done, I can move on to Plan B. To become the Music Video Queen of India. May God be with me.

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