Kitcheree
Health Benefits

Make Kitcheree at Home! An Easy Recipe

| Modified on Jan 26, 2011
Gurudev Khar Khalsa, a Sat Nam Rasayan healer and Kundalini Yoga teacher in Los Angeles, sent us this Ayurvedic recipe for Kitcheree, a very healthy, high protein and easily digestible meal.

According to Gurudev, Kitcheree is an excellent regenerating food. It is a super meal for people who want to cut down on meat without losing out on a protein source. Kitcheree is also an excellent food for the elderly and sick. Gurudev recommends a mono-diet of the kitcheree with homemade yogurt and yogi tea for up to 40 days to some of her healing clients and yoga students.

RECIPE:

Add 1/2 cup of mung beans to 16 cups of filtered water.

Boil the mung beans first for about 10minutes, then add:

1 cup thoroughly washed basmati rice,
1 finely chopped onion,
5 to 7 cloves of sliced or chopped garlic,
1 teaspoon peeled and chopped ginger root,
1/2 teaspoon turmeric,
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper,
3/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes,
1/2 teaspoon cumin or the indian spice garam masala (optional).

Boil covered over low flame (covered) 30 to 40 minutes until very soft and soupy. Then add 1 or 2 cups of any chopped vegetables, preferably green, like asparagus, broccoli, swiss chard, celery, zucchini. You can also add carrots.

Optional: during cooking, add Braggs liquid aminos (similar to tamari). A few sprigs of fresh mint cooked in with all the vegetables is really good. So is adding a little fresh basil.

For a complete meal, serve with yogurt.




Kitcheree Feedback

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Sandra (Davis, CA) on 01/14/2008
★★★★★

Good recipe! Stir during cooking to prevent baking on. With brown basmati rice, add rice at the same time as mung beans. Don't forget the _____'s Aminos (not salty enough otherwise!

Replied by Karmala
(Templeton, C)
10/11/2009

I found a similar recipe for Kicharee several years ago that has addtional spices and herbs. It works great at "balancing" the body. I make sure to make enough to keep some in the freerzer for emergencies... cold season is coming on and I am too tired to cook, etc.

EC: Karmala is referring to the recipe located at the top of the kitcheree page!

Replied by Mi
(San Francisco, Ca)
01/25/2011

I cooked this in a pressure cooker (10 minutes). I either had food poisoning or a virus and my stomach hasn't been right for a week. After just one day of kitcheree (dinner, breakfast, lunch, and dinner), I feel almost back to my normal energy levels and my stomach doesn't feel like I'm in a sailboat in a storm any more! I'm going to do it for a few more days (until I can't stand it any longer) as it's really helping me clean out my insides.

Replied by Diane
(Berkeley, Ca)
01/26/2011

Both kitcheree and congee are great foods for convalescents and infants. I eat a rather plain kicheree when sick (just cumin added), but a Bengali-style one with sweet spices (cardamom, cloves, bay, peppercorns, cinnamon, cumin) for breakfast many mornings. I cannot imagine ever getting sick of it.




Click here for books on Ayurvedic Recipes.
Click here for books on Ayurvedic Healing.