Hi The Nish Kitchen readers!
My name is Hetal and I blog over at Pretty Polymath, where I blog about food, traveling, crafting and whatever else catches my fancy. When Rosemary asked me to do a guest post about a unknown Indian meal I immediately thought of kichu. Kichu, also known as papdi nu lot, is my favorite Gujarati comfort food dish. Gujarati food is typically vegetarian and the diet is mostly based on grains, lentils and lots of interesting vegetables like okra and bottle gourd (my favorite!).
Onto today's recipe! Kichu is basically steamed rice flour dough that is cooked with cumin and ajwain seeds. Kichu has a mochi-like consistency, where it’s sticky but not as chewy. You typically serve it with a sprinkle of red chili powder, minced green chilis and a nice helping of oil. Oil makes everything taste good in this world. The texture of sticky, warm, gooey, and oily with spicy goodness makes it a snack that really highlights how texture and flavors of foods can work together to make something amazing. I hope you enjoy this recipe from my home to yours!
The best way to eat this is with your hands, nothing beat getting your hands all greasy and sticky with kichu. It’s actually one of the reasons why I love kichu so much! Enjoy!
Also if you’d like (only if you want to), follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Bloglovin!
Hetal
Kichu | Papdi Nu Lot (Guest Post by Pretty Polymath)
Ingredients
- 1 cups rice flour
- 2.5 cups water
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds jeera
- ½ teaspoon carom seeds ajwain,ajmo
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon green chili paste
- 2 teaspoon oil
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch asafoetida hing powder
- Pinch of red chili powder
- Additional oil for serving
Instructions
- Boil the 2.5 cups of water in a saucepan (preferably a non-stick one). Once the water starts to boil add the cumin seeds, carom seeds, green chili paste, salt, and asafoetida and boil for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the baking soda, oil, and rice flour. Stir with a dampened wooden spoon until it’s as smooth as possible. You might still have a few lumps here and there, don’t worry about it! Once all the water and flour is incorporated, cover and cook on low heat for 3 minutes.
- Transfer the kichu to a large bowl and let it cool to the touch. Grease your hands with oil and knead the dough until it’s nice and smooth!
- Steam the dough on a well-oiled tray until a knife inserted comes out clean. This should take about 30 minutes.
- Serve while hot with a pinch of red chili pepper, dash of oil and additional green chili (if you like it spicy!)
prettypolymath says
Thanks so much for letting me share this recipe with you!
Nish Kitchen says
You're welcome 🙂
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health says
this is pretty interesting recipe. i m not very familiar with alot of Gujrati recipes.
MyKabulKitchen says
This looks like a nice winter comfort food, thanks so much for sharing Hetal 🙂