Zucchini Kichari

A nutritious Kichari with summer zucchini

Zucchini Kichari

A simple, comforting one-pot dish made with whatever huge zucchini your garden (or a generous friend) hands you. Ready in about 20 minutes. Zuchini is a tender vegetable and does not need much cooking.

My friend Cate brought a huge zucchini to my Sunday morning yoga class and asked if I needed more. As it turned out, I did.

This summer I'd grown two types of squash — Desi squash, a round summer squash, and Romanesco squash, with its distinctive stripes. Both were delicious, but neither survived the season. Squash borers, caterpillar-like larvae that hatch in the soil, tunnel deep into the stem near the root and slowly drain the plant of nutrients. Within a day or two, the plant is gone. Despite a strong early harvest, I had to pull both plants a couple of weeks ago once the infestation took hold.

So when Kate mentioned she had extra zucchini, I stopped by her house on my way home from class. She'd left a few zucchini and a handful of cherry tomatoes waiting for me on her front porch. I picked them up, drove straight home, and had this dish on the table within 30 minutes.

I meant to save some for Kate — but by evening, I opened the fridge to find the kids had finished the entire thing. I've promised to make it again and bring her a batch, because this one's a keeper. I have a feeling I'll be making it many, many times.

Serves: 3–4 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the pongal:

• 1/2 cup moong dal

• 1/2 cup Sona Masoori rice

• 4–5 cups zucchini, shredded

• Salt, to taste

• Cracked black pepper, to taste (be generous)

• About 3 cups of water / Water, as needed for the pressure cooker

For the tempering (tadka):

• 1 tablespoon ghee

• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 1/2  teaspoon mustard seeds

• 1/2 cup sun-gold tomatoes, split in half

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/4 tsp Chili powder

To serve:

• Chana masala (or a drizzle of extra ghee)

• Papad

• A squeeze of lemon juice, optional

• A bowl of yogurt

Instructions

1. Wash and rinse the dal and rice together. Add the moong dal and rice to a pressure cooker with water. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the dal just begins to fall apart.

2. Turn off the heat and stir in the shredded zucchini, salt, and cracked black pepper. No need to cook it further — the residual heat will soften it.

3. In a separate pan, heat the ghee. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, and chili powder, and let them sizzle for a moment.

4. Add the sun-gold tomatoes and cook for 1–2 minutes, just until warmed through and starting to soften. Add a splash of water if you feel the turmeric might burn.

5. Pour the sizzling tempering over the dal-rice-zucchini mixture and stir to combine.

6. Taste and adjust salt; add a squeeze of lemon juice if you'd like a little more acidity.

7. Serve hot

Straight from the garden to the table — simple, delicious, and hard to beat.

Namaste

Savitha