Khichra or Khichda ( ur, ) is a variation of the dish

Haleem Haleem is a type of stew that is widely consumed in South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia. Although the dish varies from region to region, it optionally includes wheat or barley, meat and lentils. It is made by blending or mashing the m ...

, popular with Muslims of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. Khichra is cooked all year and particularly at the Ashura of

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after ...

. It is made using

goat meat Goat meat or goat's meat is the meat of the domestic goat ''(Capra aegagrus hircus)''. The common name for goat meat is simply "goat", while that from young goats can be called ''capretto'' (It.), ''cabrito'' (Sp. and Por.) or ''kid''. In South ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

s and spices, slowly cooked to a thick paste. It is the meat-based variant of

Khichdi ''Khichdi'' or ''khichri'' (, , , , Odia: ଖେଚୁଡି) is a dish in South Asian cuisine made of rice and lentils ('' dal'') with numerous variations. Variations include ''bajra'' and mung ''dal'' ''khichri''. In Indian culture, in ...

, a rice dish from the Indian subcontinent. In

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and Khichra is sold as

street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumpt ...

in most cities throughout the year.

Origin

Khichra and Haleem are very similar dishes; meat is grounded in Haleem while it is left as chunks in Khichra. The origin of

lies in the popular Arabian dish known as

Harees ''Harees'', ''jareesh'' ( ar, هريس), boko boko, or harisa () is a dish of boiled, cracked, or coarsely-ground wheat, mixed with meat and seasoned. Its consistency varies between a porridge and a gruel. Harees is a popular dish known throu ...

(also written as Jareesh). According to Shoaib Daniyal, writing in ''

The Sunday Guardian ''The Sunday Guardian'' is an Indian Sunday newspaper, founded by journalist and politician M. J. Akbar, and currently owned by iTV Network. It was launched on 31 January 2010 from New Delhi and is printed in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. ...

'', the first written recipe of Harees dates back to the 10th century, when Arab scribe Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar ibn Sayyar compiled a cookbook of dishes popular with the "kings and caliphs and lords and leaders" of Baghdad. "The version described in his Kitab Al-Tabikh (Book of Recipes), the world’s oldest surviving Arabic cookbook, is strikingly similar to the one people in the Middle East eat to this day" it reported. Harees was introduced to the city by Arab soldiers of the

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

's army. As per the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

based historian Sohail Hashmi, the ''Khichra'' originated as a famine relief measure in the

North Indian North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

city of

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

while building the Old

Imambara A ḥosayniya or hussainiya (Arabic: حسينية ''husayniyya''), also known as an ashurkhana, imambargah, or imambara, is a congregation hall for Twelver Shia Muslim commemoration ceremonies, especially those associated with the Mourning of ...

of Lucknow. Due to a famine, the then

Nawab of Awadh The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishap ...

commenced the construction of an Imambargah, announcing that anyone who participated in the construction would be given free food. This free food consisted of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

slowly cooked with

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

and various

pulses In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

, thus becoming rich in

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

and carbohydrates. This aided a number of famine affected people who would otherwise have died. Once the construction of the Imambargah was completed, the dish continued to get popular and can today be found not just in Lucknow, but a number of cities of the Indian subcontinent. Travellers took this dish to other parts of the Indian subcontinent, where it further acquired a local flavor.

Haleem, Khichra and Khichdi

In the Indian subcontinent, both

and Khichra are made with same ingredients. Haleem is cooked until the meat blends with the lentils, while in Khichra chunks of meat remain as cubes.

is a vegetarian dish with

and

lentils The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest produ ...

References

{{Indian Dishes Indian meat dishes Lentil dishes Pakistani meat dishes Pakistani soups and stews

Origin

Haleem, Khichra and Khichdi

See also

References