Red rice cooked with jaggery, coconut and cardamom into a sweet festival porridge — made for Sarhul, Karam and Tusu puja across Jharkhand.
Ingredients
1.5 cups red rice (traditional Jharkhand rice varieties; substitute with short-grain rice)
4 cups water
3/4 cup jaggery — dissolved in 3 tbsp warm water and strained
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 tbsp ghee
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp cashews — fried in 1 tsp ghee
Method
Wash red rice. Soak 20 minutes. Drain.
Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add drained red rice.
Stir. Reduce to medium-low. Cook covered, stirring every 8 minutes, for 25 to 30 minutes until rice is completely soft and slightly broken down into a thick porridge-like consistency.
Reduce to low. Add dissolved strained jaggery.
Stir well — the khichdi turns a warm golden-brown.
Add grated coconut, ghee and cardamom powder. Stir.
Simmer on low for 5 more minutes until coconut and jaggery are fully incorporated.