Food for Life and Health – Kicharee

kicharee.jpegI have a new recipe that I have been promising to get on here. You can find a few recipes online, but I will show you how I make it and what its about.

I’ve talked before about Congee, a Chinese porridge that is made for the purpose of health and healing. Personally I like Congee for breakfast. The white rice porridge with Gou Qi Zi, Da Zao, some cinnamon and sweeten it up a bit. Add whatever you like, the Chinese like to make Congee for Dinner as well with Fish, etc. I however, like Kicharee for lunch and dinner instead.

Remember in the movie ‘Matrix’ on board the ship they were eating a food that was said to have “everything in it that you need.” Well Kicharee is in fact a food that has everything you need. Kicharee can be eaten at anytime, at any meal, and for as long as you like. Kicharee has a balance of all the nutrients you need, is healing, has huge detox properties, and also supports the body functions. Kicharee has been used as diet therapy to heal cancer and many other degenerative diseases. Eat this when your sick, healing, pre and post surgery, can’t hold food down, want to diet.

First, I will tell you how to make Curry. You may have some already made but this is better and you want it roasted.
Combine:
1 part Turmeric Powder
1 part Cumin Seed Powder and
1/2 part Coriander Powder
in a sauce pan under medium heat. Stir around and heat to a nice roast until a pleasant aroma comes off. The Curry Powder is done at this point if you want to have Curry to cook in other meals. For the Kicharee you need about 1/4 cup and you want to continue to roast it until its a nice brown, set aside.

Here is the rest of what you need. Remember that many things can be added or removed or substituted, etc. Make sure you have a Huge Crockpot for this. A Huge Pot would work but requires more supervision.
2.5 cups Brown Rice
3/4 cup Mung Beans
1 Large Yellow Onion
2 Large Pinches of Kombuchu Seaweed
1/4 cup Curry
1/4 cup Chicken Stock
1/8 cup Tamari
Minced Garlic and Ginger
and 1/4 cup of any or all of the following
Flax Seed
Wheat Germ
Buckwheat
Barley
Cracked Wheat
and about 1/2-1 cup of any vegetables you want.

First thing is you need to soak your mung beans overnight. So the night before you need to put the mung beans in a large bowl full of water and add the seaweed to it.
The next day you need to take all of the floating beans and toss them. Drain the mung beans (keep the seaweed) and set aside. Put your rice in a colander and wash with hot water. Put your beans and rice in the crock pot. Add vegetables and the sea weed from the beans. Cover with water over about an inch and set at low for 1 hour. At this point Almost all of your water should be soaked up. Now add your vegetables, meats, herbs, additions of wheats, etc. Add the chicken stock and fill up the crock pot, leaving about 1/4 inch or so, with water. Let your Kicharee continue to cook on low for about 4-5 hours. At this time turn a large frying pan on medium heat. Add olive oil to the the pan and chop your onion. Add garlic and ginger to the oil and add your onion and add olive oil on top of the olive oil. This may seem like a bit of olive oil but look at the pot of Kicharee you have. Cook the onion till the onion is softened, not browned. Add the Tamari and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add your curry in there and cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Now add this directly to the crock pot and stir it in well and pour a bit of olive oil on top and stir. Let that cook 20-30 minutes and you are all done. Dish out and put some soy sauce or tamari on top of it. I portion this out into individual bowls and refrigerate the bowls. The kicharee thickens up in the fridge, but thats okay, you can add water to make it as soupy as you like!

Enjoy!
You also may notice you may need to make a trip to the Oriental Grocery Store before making this, and also you are making a gigantic amount, but you will have to portion down on your own if you want.

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