At the World Food India 2017, an expo for food processing industry held recently in New Delhi saw the humble Khichdi take centre stage. A team of about 50 people led by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and supervised the night-long preparations and yoga guru Ramdev Baba put the crowning ‘tadka’ in the dish at the event.
Khichdi, a superfood
Khichdi, might not be a favourite of everyone, but it is a solution to those depending on food supplements as it is rich in all the nutrients. It meets all the requirements in the efforts of the government to Feed the Children.
A World Record to Boot
Promoting khichdi as a ‘Brand India food’ is a good step towards promoting the healthy superfood not only in the domestic, but also in the international market.
At the World Food India 2017, India set a Guinness world record by cooking 918 kg khichdi.
Khichdi was steam-cooked in a giant wok. The entire preparation measured 1,200 kg. Out of this, the wok alone weighed 343 kg. The dish was prepared using multi-grains like rice, pulses, coarse cereals and vegetables.
The minimum requirement to create a world-record was 500 kg. The cooked dish, however, weighed more than the target of around 800 kg set by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.
Other leading chefs, including Imtiaz Qureshi, Ranveer Brar, Sudhir Sibal, Rakesh Sethi, Akshay Nayyar, Satish Gowda, too helped in the cooking the dish.
It is a wholesome food as it contains most of the nutrients. It also symbolises the country’s unity in diversity.
The khichdi was distributed to orphans by the Akshaya Patra Foundation and a Gurudwara.
Taking Indian superfoods abroad
Move over blue berries, kale, salmon, soya bean etc. While international foods are promoted in India, be it soya bean or others, it is our opportunity to showcase our superfoods to the world.
The new-age Indian chefs are innovating this dish across the world. It has been given an interesting shape these days with the taste suiting requirement of the region.
The mega Khichdi preparation was part of the ‘Great Indian Food Street’ at the global event, being organised along with industry body CII, that features traditional food from more than 20 states.
It took over three months of planning and multiple trials in attempting 800 kg of Khichdi . The dish and recipe will be popularised by Indian foreign missions and the Government to ensure it is part of restaurants and kitchens around the world.
Importance of Khichdi
The study by the Gurgaon-based Food Analysis and Research Laboratory has found that a 300 g pack of ready-to-eat khichdi from Akshaya Patra would give 94.81 kcal per 100 g and 100 g would have 3.10 g of protein.
With Children’s Day to be celebrated on November 14, the dish will yet again be in the limelight when it will reinforce the commitment to provide high quality nutritious food to schoolchildren.
The Mid-Day Meal Guidelines set by Government prescribes the following nutritional content to achieve the objectives of the Scheme in the mid-day meal:
The Khichdi alone in the Mid-Day Meals of Akshaya Patra is able to provide a significant portion of the nutritional needs of the children and helps fight Hidden Hunger. Donate to Akshaya Patra to feed the children with nutritious food.
