Kitchari


January 30, 2017

This kitchari from the Clean Soups cookbook is vegan and gluten-free and is a fantastic hearty comforting vegetarian dish for lunch or dinner.

I love kitchari, and I’m so excited to share this amazing kitchari recipe from Rebecca Katz’s new book, Clean Soups.

For those of you who don’t know Rebecca, she is a chef, speaker, and author of The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen, The Longevity Kitchen, and The Healthy Mind Cookbook, as well as the founder of Healing Kitchens, a company that helps people translate nutritional and culinary science to the everyday plate through online courses, including the Clean Soup Course and The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen Course.

I was honored to blurb Clean Soups along with Dr Andrew Weil, and have made many of the recipes in the book. What I wrote was, “This book is a triumph! Rebecca has harnessed the healing power of soups in spectacular fashion with this stunning collection of tips and recipes. No matter what your dietary stripes, this healthy, clean comfort food will revitalize you, body and soul, and make you voracious for vegetables.”

This is the best book on soups I’ve seen. Not only does it have delicious recipes and stunning photography, it also has comprehensive information to help you create your own blends. There are some really interesting ideas in this book to help you expand your soup-making repertoire.

Rebecca opens with her soup tool kit sharing all of the staple ingredients you’ll need to make the recipes in the book as well as things that will help you construct your own great soups. She covers things like produce and herbs, spices, oils, dry and canned goods, and flavor boosters, as well as essential kitchen equipment like pots, skillets, appliances, and kitchen tools. There’s some great tips for labeling, storing, freezing, thawing, and reheating soups and broths, and I love the FASS soup chart: Fat + Acid + Salt + Sweet = Yum!

Then, there’s a master chart that shows you the broth and stock pairings for all the soups in the book. Rebecca shares her recipes for magic mineral broth, thai coconut broth, immune broth, and bone broths, and builds her soup recipes from those bases.

The recipes are divided by blended and traditional healing chunky soups. Some of my favorites include: avocado citrus, chilled watermelon with chile and lime, golden beet and fennel, celeriac with crispy shiitake mushrooms, caramelized fennel and chickpea with saffron, smoky split pea, African sweet potato and peanut, Hungarian sweet and sour cabbage, triple mushroom, and cauliflower korma.

There’s also recipes for soup toppers like chermoula, crispy shiitake mushrooms, crunchy kale crumbles, herb drizzle, gremnolata, parsnip chips, polenta croutons, and silken nut cream; and soup salsas like heirloom tomato, radish, fennel, and herb, so you can mix and match your desired topping with the various recipes.

There’s also a great jump-start soup cleanse included.

I tried so many delicious recipes from this book I struggled to pick just one to feature. But, I love kitchari so much I decided on that! Rebecca uses her magic mineral broth in the recipe. This broth is cleansing, strengthening, and revitalizing with carrots, onions, leek, celery, potatoes, and other veggies.

“Kitchari” means “mixture” and is traditionally made with basmati rice, mung beans, and ghee. Rebecca suggested using olive or coconut oil to make it vegan, and that’s what I used. The people of India and Pakistan have been using kitchari as an Ayurvedic staple for over 5,000 for detox and to improve memory. Rebecca has kicked the flavor profile up a notch by adding onion, ginger, cauliflower, coriander, turmeric, and cumin. So, this dish has the texture of kitchari with the spice mixture of a dal.

The results are spectacular.

Learn more about Rebecca Katz, and get your copy of Clean Soups.

 

Kitchari

This kitchari from the Clean Soups cookbook is vegan and gluten-free and is a fantastic hearty comforting vegetarian dish for lunch or dinner. 

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 3 hours 5 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes
Servings 6
Author Tess Masters

Ingredients

magic mineral broth:

  • 6 unpeeled carrots, cut into thirds
  • 2 unpeeled yellow onions, quartered
  • 1 leek (white and green parts), cut into thirds
  • 1 bunch celery (including the heart), cut into thirds
  • 4 unpeeled red potatoes, quartered
  • 3 unpeeled orange-flesh sweet potatoes, quartered
  • 5 unpeeled cloves garlic, halved
  • 1/2 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 (8-inch) strip kombu
  • 12 black peppercorns
  • 4 whole allspice (or juniper berries)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 quarts cold filtered water, plus more if needed
  • 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt, plus more if needed

for kitchari:

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or virgin coconut oil)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 1/4  teaspoons Celtic sea salt, plus more if needed
  • 1/2 cup split mung beans, rinsed and soaked (*see notes)
  • 1/2 cup brown basmati rice, rinsed and soaked (**see notes)
  • 5 to 6 cups Magic Mineral Broth (recipe above)
  • 1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

  1. To make the mineral broth, rinse all of the vegetables well, including the kombu.
  2. In a 12-quart or larger stockpot, combine the carrots, onions, leek, celery, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, parsley, kombu, peppercorns, allspice berries, and bay leaves. Add the water, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for at least 2 hours, or until the full richness of the vegetables can be tasted. As the broth simmers, some of the water will evaporate; add more if the vegetables begin to peek out.

  3. Strain the broth through a large, coarse-mesh sieve (use a heat-resistant container under­neath), and discard the solids. Stir in the salt, adding more if desired. Let cool to room tem­perature before refrigerating or freezing. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
  4. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, then add the onion and sauté for about 4 minutes, or just until golden. Stir in the ginger, fresh turmeric, cumin, ground turmeric, coriander, and salt and sauté for about 1 minute. Add the beans and rice and stir to coat. Add 5 cups of the broth and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until the rice begins to soften. Stir in the cauliflower and carrots and continue to cook until very tender and soft, another 20 minutes. Add another cup of broth if it becomes too thick. Stir in the lemon juice. Taste; it may need another spritz of lemon juice or another pinch of salt. Serve garnished with the cilantro, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes

*To soak the beans and rice, put them in a large bowl and add water to cover by 3 inches. Cover with a towel and soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain well just before cooking.

**Kitchari is even better the next day; however, it will absorb most of the liquid, so you may need to add some broth or water to thin it out before reheating in a soup pot over medium-low heat.

Recipe from Clean Soups, copyright by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson, 2016. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Photo copyright © 2016 Eva Kolenko

Comments

Comments 1

  1. I’ve been on a crazy soup kick lately. This looks AMAZING and really close to what I’ve been making! I’ll have to try this recipe! Yum!

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