Skip to main content
Main

Boonee Khichari of Musoor-ka-dal

A rice and lentil porridge cooked with onions, ghee, spices, and garnished with fried onions and boiled eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Boonee Khichari of Musoor-ka-dal

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick the rice and dal, removing any stones or gravel.

  2. Wash them well in cold water.

  3. Set aside.

Cook

  1. Heat the ghee.

  2. Add the sliced onions and fry until browned.

  3. Remove and set aside.

  4. Add allspice, pepper, and salt to the pot.

  5. Add the washed rice and dal and fry until they turn a nice brown color.

  6. Pour in enough hot water to cover the rice and dal completely.

  7. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

  8. Reduce the heat as the water is absorbed.

Serve

  1. Serve hot, garnished with the fried onions and halved hard boiled eggs.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the cooking water to become tender.
Dal
Adds protein-rich body and helps the khichari set into a thick, soft texture.
Ghee
Carries the spices and onions and browns the rice and dal, adding richness.
Onions
Browned onions add sweetness and deep savory flavor.
Hard boiled eggs
Add creamy richness and mild flavor as a garnish.

The step that matters

Cooking the rice and dal on low heat with a tight lid. Low heat and a tight lid trap steam and let the water absorb slowly, so the grains cook through without scorching on the bottom. Stirring prevents sticking while the mixture thickens.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, ghee, ginger, egg, allspice, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, ghee, ginger, egg, allspice, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Rice FrittersRice Fritters84 recipesSteamed RiceSteamed Rice48 recipesRice Griddle CakesRice Griddle Cakes28 recipesRice and Cheese CasseroleRice and Cheese Casserole23 recipes