Winter Special - BHUNI KHICHURI

1. Chop Vegetables in big chunks. I have used a full cauliflower, the cauliflower stalk, green peas and 1 potato.
2. In a pan on medium heat, fry up the veggies in hot mustard oil; till golden brown.
3. Season the veggies with salt and keep it aside.
4. Dry roast a handful of cashewnut, until aromatic.
5. Now take 1/3 cup of sona mung daal. It’s a smaller grain than the easily found mung daal. If you can’t find the smaller grained lentil vareity, you can use the larger split mung lentils too.
6. Dry roast the daal until some grains turn brown. Constantly keep stirring it so that nothing burns.
7. Once roasted satisfactorily, wash the grains thoroughly. Soak it for 15 to 20 mins keepjuggling n water to soften.
8. Wash and soak 2/3 cups of short grained aromatic rice, for 30 minutes.
9. Now in a pan, on medium heat; pour over a couple of tablespoons of mustard oil. Let it warm up.
10. Add a dry red chilly, and cook it until deep dark brown.
11. Now Add ½ TSP of cumin seeds, along with 2 bay leaves, 1 star anise, 1 small stick of cinnamon and 3-4 green cardamom pods. Fry it to infuse the flavours in the oil.
12. Now drain and add over the rice. Fry the rice along with whole spices.
13. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to taste. Let the rice nicely fry off in the flavourful oil.
14. Add Finely chopped ginger in the rice, and sauté it to for another 5 to 10 mins, until fragrant.
15. Add over the drained lentils, and roast everything for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
16. Let’s create more flavours now, add 2-3 big pinches of raisins, followed with ½ TSP of cumin powder, a pinch of red chilly powder and 1 TSP of corriander powder. Sauté the spices for 2 minutes.
17. Now add a quarter TSP of garam masala powder. Mix well, adjust salt and sugar to taste. Depending on the amount of heat tolerance, you can add some chopped green chilly at this time!
18. Add over the veggies at this point, one by one. I added the potatoes and cauliflower stalk first. Mix well.
19. Submerge the grains and veggies in some water. the amount of water is not very important. Just submerge the grains and veggies in water. I started with a cup of water. Cover and cook until the water the s absorbed through.
20. Add over a few handfuls of fresh green peas. Mix well, cover and cook the veggies and
21. Now add in the cauliflower florets, and caheswnuts. These veggies would cook faster.
22. Top it up with more water. Mostly the bhuno khichuri is made not very watery. But depending on your subjective taste you can add more or less water at this stage. Again cover and cook until the grains soak up the water. Stir the occasionally.
23. To finish off this amazing one pot dish, add a tsp of good cow ghee, followed with another ¼ TSP of garam masala. Mix well and serve piping hot.