Name: Stir-Fried Rice and Dal
Yield: Serves 2 to 3 as a Main Dish, 4 to 5 with a Number of Dishes
Cuisine: Asia
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon Bengali Five-Spice Mixture or ¼ teaspoon each fenugreek, cumin, black mustard, fennel, and nigella seeds; ¼ cup ghee or vegetable oil (plus 1 tablespoon if making the optional onion garnish); About ¼ cup coriander leaves; 1 teaspoon minced garlic or garlic mashed to a paste, or to taste; 1 cup minced onion; ¼ teaspoon garam masala (or store-bought; optional); 1½ to 2 cups cooked dal (see Note); 4 cups cooled cooked rice; ¼ teaspoon turmeric; 1 to 2 green or red cayenne chiles, chopped (optional); 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste; 2 cups thinly sliced onions (optional), for garnish

Preparation info

Serves
2 to 3
as a Main Dish

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Mangoes & Curry Leaves

By Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Published 2005

About

Rice and dal combined together make an easy comfortable dish that can be served on its own, perhaps with a salad, or used in place of plain rice, with a substantial curry of some kind alongside. The rice and dal combo is known as khichadi in many parts of the Subcontinent. In Bangladesh the name is kichuri. (The British, or those who cooked for them, added other flavors to make the hearty breakfast dish known as kedgeree: rice and dal with smoked fish and an egg.)