Many years ago in an organisation that I worked in, we had a lunch room which would serve nutritious lunches every day. Whenever I was in town, I would have lunch there. The peculiarity of this lunch room was that on Thursdays, it would offer sabudana khichdi along with the normal fare for those who observe a fast on Thursdays.
While most of my colleagues would restrict their intake to the khichdi, I would take everything else on offer as well as the khichdi, much to the bewilderment of the fasting fellows. I would tell them repeatedly that for them the khichdi may be fasting food whereas for me it was feasting food. I have always liked both the khichdi and the vada versions of this delicious Maharashtrian dish.
While Urmeela was as fond of the khichdi, our son Ranjan never took to it somehow and we therefore did not make it at home whenever he was in.
For the past few days, I had been longing to have the khichdi version which I had not had for quite some time now, and when Ranjan left for an outstation trip this morning, I suggested to Manjiree that we have it for lunch and that is what we did.
As I write this a good four and a half hours after the meal, I am yet to recover from doing more than justice to a fantastic preparation made by our help Mangal. A veritable feast indeed.
I too grab the ‘Sabudhana Kichdi’ very much, whenever any colleague brings for lunch. Same with the ‘Sabhudana vada’ which we get from the Girme vadawala’s, but the best I have tasted is at Boriyayi market, where it is served with Cucumber chutney in a roadside shop, Absolute Bliss.
But I still don’t get the concept of ‘fasting’ food :):)
It is actually poor man’s food and that is why they call it fasting food. Unlike the more elaborate food that they normally eat, this is inexpensive and easy to cook and digest as well.
We often have rice and dahl, which I guess is quite similar to khichdi. It’s delicious. And there’s never any fasting in this house!
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Rice and dhal combined while cooking is called khichdi too. There is no fasting in mine either.
Looks good.
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And tastes better Looney. Come over, I will feed you with the dish cooked by me.
Why is it supposed to be a fasting food?
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It is essentially a poor man’s food. It is all starch and filler with hardly any taste to it. You can imagine the sophistication of the other food that the Marathis have when this is considered to be for fasting!
Each time you post an image of your food it makes me drool. I feel the satisfaction in your words. Happy feasting to ya, Rummy.
blessings ~ maxi
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Thank you Maxi.
“Fasting Food”!!! – An oxymoron if there ever was one. And a totally North Indian concept. I’ve actually seen restaurant menu’s list a whole bunch of “fasting food” you can order and gorge upon, without being afraid of violating the stated purpose of fasting. Whatever floats the boat, i guess…:-)
RR – do you fast periodically? As in total abstinence….
Yes, that is an oxymoron, but in common usage in many traditions, it is accepted. For instance the Roman Catholics will eat fish on Fridays but not any other flesh. The idea is to eat something that is not commonly eaten and which is perceived to be of inferior quality.
If all I ate was Indian food I could handle being a vegetarian quite easily. Nut I agree with Vignesh about the oxymoron 🙂
You would Chuck, take my word for it. Vignesh is my cousin cum nephew. Double trouble if there ever was one. Please read my reply to him.
Well, of course, I had to look up the recipe. It looks quite simple once the soaking is done. When I return from my upcoming trip, I will try it.
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