One of the oldest Indian dishes and continuously popular these thousands of years is khichri, a dish of rice and split peas. (Starting around the Raj period, the British began to serve a version of khichri in their country homes for breakast: they removed the dal, added fish, and called it kedgeree.) There are two general versions of it: one is dry, like well-cooked rice, where each grain is separate, and the other is wet, like a porridge. Both are delicious. The first is more elegant, the second more soothing. This is the first, the dry version. Serve it like rice, with all manner of curries.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　1 1/2 cups basmati rice

　　1/2 cup hulled and split moong dal

　　3 tablespoons olive or canola oil

　　1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

　　1 small onion, cut into fine half rings

　　1 teaspoon salt

　　

Step 1

Combine the rice and dal. Wash gently in several changes of water. Drain. Cover generously with fresh water and leave to soak for 2 hours. Drain well.

　　

Step 2

Pour the oil into a largish, heavy pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the cumin seeds and, a few seconds later, the onions. Stir and fry until the onions have turned reddish brown. Now add the drained rice and dal. Stir very gently for a minute. Add the salt and 2 2/3 cups water. Bring to a boil. Cover tightly, turn heat to very, very low, and cook gently for 25 minutes.

　　Excerpted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright © 2010 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Buy the full book from Amazon.