For the love of Khichdi at Durga Puja

While most people hate khichdi, some really love it. I know of some friends who prefer to order dal khichdi from a restaurant instead of a biryani or paneer+tandoori roti combination. After all, like dals, khichdis can be of various types, consistencies and flavours. And when they are served hot with a dollop of pure ghee, khichdis are truly heavenly!

I was not such a huge fan of khichdi always...
When I was a kid, my mother and grandmothers (dadi and nani) would give us dal khichdi for lunch / dinner whenever we were sick. Why? Because it’s easy to digest and seriously light on stomach. Now since we grew up having khichdi mostly on those fever and bad stomach days followed by some bitter tablets, for us “khichdi” became synonymous with “sick”. No wonder, khichdi would not be out obvious choice when mom would ask us if we wish to have something special on a weekend!


And then one day I happened to attend Durga Puja with my Bengali friends. During the puja fest, khichdi is the main prasad served in the traditional dry leaf bowl along with tomato chutney. The first bite of it and I realized that it was perhaps the tastiest food I ever had. Of course, no one can match the taste of the khichdi made during puja... it enjoys the blessing of the Goddess!

From that day, khichdi became one of my favorites. In fact, I started loving all kinds of khichdis. After the Durga Puja, when my mom prepared her regular moong dal khichdi, the “sick” part of it was completely out of my mind. I finally realized that the three ladies, my mother and grandmothers, really made amazing khichdis. And now, I can confidently say I am following the trend. The best part is that both me and my mom love to experiment while cooking and all the khichdi variations we have ever tried out have had a brilliant success rate.

Why this post now? This once I missed having the bestest Durga Puja khichdi and this one’s for the love of that authentic bliss!

Wondering how to prepare different types of dal khichdis? Give me a while and this site would be buzzing with all the recipes.