It's a comfort food in most homes in India. The humble Khichdi also has a fascinating past, and it comes in different versions with tantalizing twists. It is the Khichuri in West Bengal, Bisibele Bhat in Karnataka and Ven Pongal in Tamil Nadu.
Historian Mohsina Mukadam describes Khichdi as ‘the most ancient food in India, yet one that has hardly changed over the years.'
The name 'Khichdi' comes from the Sanskrit word khiccā meaning a dish of rice and legumes. There are early mentions of this dish as 'Krusaranna' in Vedic literature. Rice was teamed up (even then) with a variety of ingredients like milk, curd, and even sesame (til).
Ibn Battuta, the famous Moroccan traveler who visited India in the 14th century, wrote, “Munj is boiled with rice, then buttered and eaten. they called it Kishri, and they eat it as a breakfast every day.”
The mighty Mughals too fell in love with this rice-dal staple and gave it an essential place in the imperial menus of medieval India. There are several historical references to Akbar’s penchant for khichdi (who hasn’t heard the story of Birbal using khichdi to make Akbar accept a mistake in judgment?).
In fact, Abu Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari mentions several versions of the khichdi prepared in the imperial kitchen, including ones with saffron, strong spices, and dry fruits.
According to India’s celebrated food historian KT Achaya (in his book The Story of our Food), Jahangir was so fond of a spicy khichdi adaptation that he named it “lazeezan”!
Even Aurangzeb, who rarely paid attention to food, was fond of the Alamgiri Khichdi, a spin-off featuring fish and boiled eggs.
In the 19th century, Nawab of Awadh Nasir-ud-din Shah’s royal kitchen was famous for it ingenious raqabdar who would make an outrageously extravagant khichdi entirely from pistachios and almonds painstakingly cut to resemble the grains of lentils and rice respectively.
