We made this at our Ayurveda Integrative Nutrition (AIN) Celebration Retreat last weekend as a demonstration of a great, easy lunch for Vata Dosha. So, while it is more of a late autumn/winter delight, everyone asked for the recipe, and I wanted to share that here, with you, too.

Baked Kitchari is a great revelation. I tried it as an experiment during CoVid season, when it seemed everyone was baking and I wondered what it would be to bake a loaf of rice and beans! It is indescribably wonderful – truly comfort and love in a loaf.

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Baked Kitchari Loaf
Makes 2-4 servings

This particular recipe is in my 7-day Winter Cleanse. You can adjust the veg and spice to fit your current season and it will be just as good. It’s as great in high summer as it is in November, January or March!

Ingredients
3/4 cup basmati rice
1/4 yellow dal (split mung)
1 cup veg broth
1 t ground flaxseed, optional
1 knob ghee
1/2 t mustard seeds, optional
1 t winter spice blend
chopped seasonal vegetables, optional*

Instructions
Set your oven to 350F. Rinse the rice and mung. Put in the blender and blend 3 seconds. Pour into a small parchment-lined bread or loaf baking tray. Add the vegetable broth and ground flaxseed. Melt the ghee, over a medium flame. Add the mustard seeds. When they pop, reduce heat to low and stir in the winter spice blend. Sauté one minute and pour over the kitchari loaf.

*If you are adding the vegetables put those in the baking tray first. 

Place the loaf in a larger tray, cover and set on the middle rack in your oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove the cover and cook another 10-15 minutes or untul all the broth has been absorbed, or cooked off.

Remove from the oven and let cool five minutes. Put a serving plate over the loaf and flip to remove from the baking tray. Carefully peel off the parchment. 

To serve: From the photo above you can see I plated this with vegetables and broth. I simply sautéed the remaining vegetables, chopped carrots, celery and baby spinach, in a bit of ghee, with a little more winter spice blend, for about 2 minutes, then added about 1/8 cup of vegetable broth, brought that to a gentle simmer and spooned onto the plate around the kitchari loaf. I then drizzled a little, little bit of olive oil over the serving, and dusted with of sesame seed, orange zest, fresh thyme and pink salt.

Adding a little pink salt, or a lovely herb salt, and/or a spalsh of tamari (shoyu) really brings up the flavor. It’s divine, and so easy!

Have you ever baked your kitchari? Will you try this? Let us know in the comments below. And if you are looking for more Kitchari recipes or the whys and wherefores of this wonderfully healing meal, pop the word kitchari in the search box above right and you will find a variety of Kitchari recipes on this blog. I love it, and make it often. I hope it inspires you too!