In less than 15 minutes, put together this easy , no cook sidedish that pairs with a lot of Indian meals. This digestive friendly, gluten free, onion garlic free mild dish is a classic in Kerala sadhya.
Tlhe Kerala sadhya is an elaborate five-course meal with nearly 28 items to be on the “vazhayila” or the banana leaf. Crispy papadam, lip-smacking pickles, an array of vegetable curries, and rice to begin with nei and parippu, to move on to sambhar, rasam, buttermilk and of course the yummiest payasam. This parade of items is savored by hand, sitting on the floor on a mat.
As much as the excitement of eating these is the meticulous planning of where each items sits on the leaf. The pickles, papadams, chips stay on the left hand smaller side of the leaf. The middle top half of the leaf has all the sides that you need to go woth the rice and curries that are served in the centre.the right hand down half is reserved for payasam and the top half of the kichadis and pachadis. This arrangement helps you eat the right proportions and in perfect combinations. The item we are highlighting today is the kichadi.
What is kichadi?
Kichadi is a confusing name in Indian food.Kichadi in NorthIndian food styles, is a comfort one pot meal of rice and lentils, in Karnataka cuisine, it is a version of upma and in Kerala it is sidedish. Kichadis in Tamil becomes a thair pachadi. So, this inji kichadi is called inji thair pachadi. Such a simple recipe adding to all the confusion!!
Since we are talking about Kerala cuisine kichadi is a side dish that is made with fresh coconut, natural set yogurt and a tasty water-laden vegetable that adds flavours and texture. It is a version of a raita. The ingredients are usually kept uncooked and the dish is served cold. It is a great addition to your meal in summer and at times lovely to have on its own.
We have tried and tested a few other than this ginger kichadi.
Why is inji kichadi so special?
Inji kichadi is a unique recipe that is cleverly designed to help your heavy (banana leaf) meal digest well, without compromising on flavours. The ginger provides all the health benefits and is in this recipe a featured main ingredient. The combination of it with yogurt ensures heartburns are reduced.
Why use ginger in your meals?
Being from the tropical cuisine there are plenty of uses for ginger in the cuisine as a dietary condiment.
• ginger has been used as a digestive aid in Asian cuisines
• it is used to alleviate nausea especially during early trimester of pregnancy
• ginger is a well-known anti-inflammatory and recommended in small doses for menstrual pain relief.
• the antifungal properties of ginger have always been a reason for its inclusion in the tropical diet.
• a significant decrease in LDL cholesterol levels has been found in the use of ginger in the diet by a few studies.
When do you prepare ginger kichadi?
Ginger kichadi is great to add to a banana leaf meal. So, for Onam, Vishu and Pongal, inji kichadi is perfect to be added.My mother inlaw prepares this inji kichadi as a part of the meal we make for the death anniversary (thevasam). For a common easy day meal, kichadi is a great side for chappathi and rice.
Ingredients to make inji kichadi
Ginger: fresh ginger root is needed to make this recipe. The dried version or gingerpowder doesn’t taste as good as the fresh ones, which have the spicy flavour. The minced ones work better, but ensure you don’t have salt in them.
Yogurt: freshly set natural yogurt will be perfect for this recipe. The Greek yogurt is a bit thicker, however it is ok to use in this recipe. You could whisk in with a bit of water and lemon juice to bring it to a natural flavour.
For the coconut masala:grated fresh or frozen coconut is the one you want to blend into the smooth paste. The dessicated coconut is not a good optionOther than this you will need curry leaves, chillies and salt to blend.
For Tempering: the tempering is done in coconut oil. Whole mustard seeds and black gram dal (urad dal) are used in this. Add some curry leaves or red chillies to flavour the oil.
Let’s make inji kichadi
Since there is no cooking involved, inji kichadi comes together in less that 15 minutes.
Prep the ginger:wash peel and grate the ginger using a fine grater. Half of this goes into Grinding the coconut masala and the other half into directly into the dish.
Whisk the yogurt: natural set fresh yogurt will have the whey separating when you ladle them into the bowl. Whisk this together to form a seamless mix. Don’t add water.
Grind the coconut masala: into the blender add finely grated coconut, rhe grated ginger, green chillies as per your heat tolerance, salt and curry leaves. Blend this mix using minimal water into a smooth paste.
Putting the kichadi together: into a mixing bowl add the grated ginger, whisked yogurt and the blended paste. Mix well so they are all well incorporated.
Add the tempering:into a small frying pan add coconut oil, mustard seeds and a few fenugreek seeds. When they crackle, add the urad dal and let them become golden.add 4 or 5 curry leaves and remove from heat.add this tempering directly into the kichadi mix. Cover an keep for a few minutes.
The kichadi is now ready to serve.
Meal prep the inji kichadi
Honestly, I don’t like the idea of meal prep for the inji kichadi as the fresh one tastes amazing.what you can do instead is make the coconut masala paste in bulk as it will double up as chutney if you add some lemon juice to it.
Inji kichadi
Ingredients
- 1 tsp fresh ginger root cleaned and grated
- 0.5 cup yogurt unflavoured, natural set
- salt to taste
To grind to a paste
- 1 green chilli
- 1 tsp fresh ginger root grated
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 1 tbsp grated coconut
Seasoning
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- few fenugreek seeds
Instructions
- Clean and scrape the peel of the ginger with the back of a spoon.
- Grate the ginger finely. sperate this into two portions. One to blend and the other to add to the kichadi as such.
- Whisk this with the half cup of yogurt and salt and set aside
- blend the curry leaves, coconut, grated ginger and chillies with just enough water to make a smooth paste.
- Whisk this mixture to the ginger and yogurt.
- Set a small pan and add the coconut oil to heat.
- As it warms up add the mustard seeds and fenugreek
- When the mustard splutters and remove from heat.
- Add this tempering to the whisked yogurt mixture.
- Mix and serve cold.
Notes
Can inji kichadi be vegan?
It is easy to make a vegan inji kichadi. Instead of yogurt which is dairy based, choose coconut yogurt which will transform it vegan. All the other ingredients used in this recipe are vegan friendly anyway.
Stay connected
Hope you like our kerala style recipes and will make some. Here are a couple of unique collections we have on this blog
Kerala vegetarian Christmas recipes.
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I love ginger in any form. Ginger with curd and coconut sound delicious. Lovely share.
Thanks, Sujatha, ginger is definitely an all-rounder
This sauce sounds delicious, love the ginger in it! I hope I get to try a Sadhya someday, one of the many things on my list to try 🙂
Can smell the flavor of this kichadi rite from your clicks, and the addition of coconut makes me drool. Wonderful dish there.
Ginger in coconut and yogurt sauce sounds so flavorful !
This is my fav ,I usually make it when i buy lots of fresh ginger from the market.. Lovely dish..
My family is a ginger loving family. My daughter eats it just like that with a rock salt.
This kichadi is very new to me. Replacing almonds for coconut is also new idea to me.
I must make it. As summer is here, this kichdi will be a hit. And thank you for detailed post.
Lovely reading your post Seema. Nice information about Kerala Sadya.
Inji kichadi sounds absolutely delicious. I’m definitely going to try this some time.
Wow, I never heard of this dish, sounds so delicious and beneficial for the body too.
This is somewhat similar to the masala dahi that we make…but the addition of ginger and coconut sounds interesting 🙂 Lovely clicks 🙂
Oh I love this combo.. Such a flavourful and refreshing Kichadi.
Ginger is having great medicinal benefits. I love to use ginger in my almost every recipe. Your recipe looks delicious.
I have always seen kichadi made with vegetables but never knew it could be made only with ginger too… sounds so good… I love a good sadya, always fills up the tummy and heart too…
Ginger Kichadi is very nostalgic in flavour.. Good for digestion too..
I have never added ginger to yogurt but I think it must have tasted refreshing and spicy.
this is a keeper recipe and is super healthy too. i can see many benefits of it….lovely…will give it a try soon
That sounds like a delicious and healthy sauce. I using ginger in my cooking, but haven’t used in yogurt. will try
Your description of the sadya on banana leaf certainly got my appetite up and running. I learnt the placement of the items on the leaf, only after my marriage. We have so much of variety and its quite daunting to keep a track of things. However, some items like this certainly earns its own place on the leaf, easy to remember, not to forget, lipsmacking in taste. I love ginger in thogayal too and with curd it definitely makes a yum combo. Great share!
Serving food in ‘Vazhayilla’ is an art… you brought me those memories…inji kichadi looks delicious…
Indeed it is an art serving in the banana leaf. I am so glad my dad taught me this when we were kids itself.
I had a chance to have this sadhya on banana leaves. Really so many dishes served in small quantity on leaf. Though I did not what all items were served 😛 but I loved few of them
I absolutely love this Seema and it is so good for health too. It is making me nostalgic. Soul food indeed.
As soon as I saw this inji kichadi recipe, I had to give it a try. While I loved it, hubby didn’t like the grated ginger I added. This recipe is definitely something I will be making often.
I am sorry to note your husband did not enjoy the bites of ginger. In fact that is the highlight of the recipe. You can however change it to grinding it all to suit him.
inji kichadi (we call it pachadi though :p) is a family fav.. come summer, we make this dish often, soothing and great for the gut .. love this with parathas as well.
True, Kichadi is often pachadi in Tamil so very common that you would have had it as inji pachadi. i am so glad you like it.
Wow seema, ginger kichadi is super delish! Made this for lunch today and it was super hit with kids too!! Thanks for the brilliant share ❤️
Inji KIchadi sounds so good, it will be a regular feature in my menu now as I love using ginger. It has many health benefits.