It’s Ramadan season and whenever I get the chance, I snoop around the kitchen every near Iftar to hopefully get a glimpse and learn something from Sadia’s Bangladeshi cuisine. To date I’ve developed a huge interest in Khichuri, which should typically be rice cooked in a handful (by handful I mean a loooooot - as long as they communicate) of spices.

The funny part is my mum made Khichuri on most Sundays only that we called it yellow rice 😂, obviously owing to the fact that it is not typically our Malawian cuisine and nobody knows where my mum learnt it from. You can only imagine how much my tastebuds jumped for joy recognizing all those flavors and realizing it somewhat tastes like my mum’s “yellow rice”.

Here is a version I tried without Sadia’s wistful eyes 😂 because I like to play around in the kitchen and use only that which I have. So thanks for the nostalgia Sadia, now let’s see how much I recall of my mum’s methods.

PRO-TIP:- spices can be toned down by adding a little water 1 to 2 times when cooking the spices before adding the rice. This is also a good way to keep turmeric from turning bitter. Adding water also rescues your spice mixture from burning if it ran dry too quick before the spices were fully cooked