Assam is home to a sticky rice variety known as Bora Saul. This rice variant plays an essential role in Assamese traditional festivities, including Bihu. Bora Saul stands in complete contrast to those rice-based recipes in mainland India yet strikingly similar to those in Southeast Asia. Bora Saul Khichidi from Assam is a delectable, nutritious, and wholesome dish. It has a porridge-like consistency. Many a times, the locals include a lot of vegetables, making it a balanced food.
The Bora Saul rice variety is often boiled and relished with cream, jaggery, and curd. Kola or black Bora Saul, often known as black sticky rice, is one of the variants. Various Assamese cuisines, like jolpan (snacks) and pitha (rice cake), contain this rice. The latter made with Bora Saul uses soaked and pulverised rice.
Bora Saul sticky rice, Image Courtesy: Rumi Mahanta Dutta@RumiCooks.com
For the khichdi, both yellow lentils and Bora Saul rice are used to make this Assamese dish. It is often cooked as a one-pot comfort food and relished for its high nutrition quotients. One can always tweak it a bit, by adding a few ingredients such as dried bay leaf, black peppercorn, fresh coriander leaves for extra flavour and taste.
Here is a simple recipe.
Assamese Khichdi with Bora Saul Rice
Ingredients
Yellow mung dal: Image Courtesy: Freepik.com
• 1 cup Bora Saul rice
• 1/2 cup yellow moong lentil
• 1 bowl (medium) of mixed vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, peas, potato)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 3-4 green chillies
• 1 tbsp pure ghee
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 whole dry red chillies
• 6-8 garlic cloves
• Pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp of homemade garam masala powder
• Red chili powder to taste
• Salt to taste
• 5-6 cups of water
Khichdi, Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times
Method
1. Wash the rice thoroughly to remove any dirt. Let it soak for 4-5 hours.
2. Rinse the dal and let it soak lentil for a couple of hours.
3. Wash the veggies of your choice and cut them according to your preference.
4. Dry roast 2-3 cloves, 3-4 green cardamoms and 3-4 cinnamon sticks. In a blender, ground them into a coarsely pounded powder. You can use a mortar and pestle.
5. Now cook the rice in a pressure cooker until it gives 2-3 whistles.
6. Once the pressure releases, open the lid and add the soaked dal and chopped vegetables.
7. Blend in chilli and turmeric powder. Add salt to taste and let it cook for another 2-3 whistles.
8. Switch off the heat. Let the pressure from the cooker release on its own.
9. In a kadhai, heat 1 tbsp pure ghee.
10. Add the spices for tempering: cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dry red chilli, slitted green chillies, crushed garlic cloves and asafoetida.
11. Pour it over the khichdi, add the garam masala powder and stir it gently.
12. Before serving, add a dollop of ghee and enjoy it hot.
Give the regular khichdi an Assamese signature twist with Bora Saul.
