Kichiri quroot is sticky rice for the home table: short-grain rice and mung beans cooked slowly in plenty of water until they collapse into something thick and soft, then mounded on a platter with a well in the middle filled with garlicky sour dairy and scattered with dried mint. Quroot, the dried yoghurt that gives the dish its name, is hard to find and harder to make outside Afghanistan; strained yoghurt, as here, is the usual stand-in. A little sauce from a pot of meatballs or a meat qorma is spooned over the rice, and the meat goes on the table alongside. It is the opposite of the Herati kichiri, where every grain is kept separate.
Zone: Silk Road Table
INGREDIENTS
- 225 g short-grain rice
- 50 g mung beans (or green split peas)
- 75 ml vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt (plus more for the yoghurt)
- 425 ml strained yoghurt (in place of quroot)
- 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 tsp dried mint
- pinch of red chilli powder
- 450 g lamb or beef mince
- 1 medium onion (minced or grated)
- 2 garlic cloves (crushed, for the meatballs)
- 1 egg (optional)
- 1-2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp char masala (optional)
- ½ tsp black pepper
- salt (for the meatballs)
- 75 ml vegetable oil (for the sauce)
- 2 medium onions (finely chopped)
- 110 g tomatoes (skinned and chopped)
- water (for the sauce)
- red or black pepper (for the sauce)
METHOD
- For the meatballs, mix the mince, minced onion, garlic, egg if using, coriander, char masala, black pepper and salt thoroughly. Shape into balls 2.5 to 5cm across and flatten slightly.
- For the sauce, heat the 75ml oil over a medium-high heat and fry the chopped onions, stirring, until reddish-brown. Add the tomatoes and fry briskly until the sauce turns brownish. Season with salt and pepper and stir in a little water.
- Bring to the boil, add the meatballs in a single layer and add water just to cover. Cover with the lid slightly ajar, turn the heat down and simmer for about an hour, until the meatballs are brown and the sauce is thick.
- While the meatballs cook, wash the rice and the mung beans.
- Boil the mung beans in plenty of water until soft.
- Add the rice and enough water to cover by about 5cm. Add the oil and the teaspoon of salt, stir and bring to the boil.
- Cook gently over a medium-low heat until the rice is soft and the water has evaporated, 30 minutes to an hour.
- Turn the heat to low and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the rice is thick and sticky.
- Meanwhile, mix the yoghurt with the garlic, a little salt and the chilli powder.
- Mound the rice on a large dish and shape it with the back of a spoon. Make a well in the top and fill it with the yoghurt, keeping some back to serve separately.
- Spoon a little sauce from the meatballs or qorma over the rice, sprinkle with dried mint, and serve the meat separately.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Strained yoghurt stands in here for quroot; if you find quroot or kashk at an Afghan or Iranian grocer, soften it in warm water and use it for up to half the yoghurt. Short-grain rice such as Egyptian, or pudding rice at a pinch. Whole mung beans from any South Asian grocer, or green split peas. Char masala, the Afghan four-spice mix, from Afghan grocers; leave it out if you cannot find it. For the separate-grained version, see kichiri herati. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Strained yogurt for quroot; kashk from Persian grocers can replace up to half. Calrose rice. Mung beans from Patel Brothers. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Stir more often as the water disappears in the last half hour. Sticky rice catches on the base, and you want it thick and soft, not scorched.
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