Side Dish with Bengali Khichuri | 12 Side Dish Ideas for Your Khichdi

For a Bengali, a side dish is mandatory while having khichuri or Bengali khichdi. A khichuri without the side dish is irrelevant, tasteless and boring.

Adding a side dish with Bengali khichuri makes a world of difference. The added fritters bring in hope, positivity, happiness on the dining table. You will find a Bengali happily digging in the khichuri if there is a side dish with it.

I will share with you different side dishes that go very well with a Bengali khichuri.

Beguni | Perfect Side Dish with Bengali Khichuri

This is universal and no Bengali can claim to have never eaten this with a khichuri. Perhaps, the most common side dish with a Bengali khichuri is a beguni.

Cut the brinjal or egg plant in thin strips vertically (length-wise). Take besan or gram flour, add in some ajwain or carom seeds, add salt and sugar. Mix properly and add in water to form a batter of medium consistency.

Drop in the eggplants and coat nicely. Heat a wok, add oil and in a medium flame shallow fry the eggplants one at a time. The result is a crispy beguni.

Have it with khichuri and keep thanking!

Omelette

Most Bengalis have non vegetarian food habits, which is perhaps the highest in any region in India.

Omelette is mandatory if you are desperate for some non-veg side dish with your plate of khichuri. And it is quick too.

Once the khichuri is cooked, you simply whisk an egg or two with chopped green chillies, sliced onions, a pinch of turmeric and salt. Heat a wok with oil and fry this egg-mix in low to medium heat.

Omelette with bengali khichuri tastes delicious!

Alu’r Dum as a Side Dish with Bengali Khichuri

A regular during religious fests in Bengal, alur dum or spicy potatoes cooked in a tomato gravy makes one wait patiently in long queues, waiting for his or her turn.

In religious festivals, onion and garlic are a strict no-no. Hence the alur dum will not have any. However, when you cook it at home, you can use both.

Boil some potatoes. In a wok heat oil, fry whole spices, before frying the onion, ginger and garlic. Add in turmeric powder, coriander powder, tomatoes and cook the spice mix well till the oil starts separating. Add in the potatoes and give it a nice stir for a couple of minutes. Add in water as per desired consistency of the gravy. Add salt and sugar and adjust the seasonings.

A khichuri, just spiced up with the humble potatoes!

Labra

Talking about Bengali Hindu religious festivals, you can’t miss out on the labra while discussing khichuri.

Labra is a perfect side dish with Bengali khichuri that is slowly losing out because of the increasing cost of vegetables. In fact, alu’r dum is replacing labra to keep the entire affair economical.

Labra is a mix vegetable dish with a myriad of vegetables of which sweet potatoes and radish are mandatory. You can use normal potatoes too along with eggplants (brinjal), spinach, beans, pumpkin, cauliflower, etc.

You can get the recipe on Bong Mom’s Cookbook blog.

Daler Bora | Crispy Lentils Fritters

Crispy fritters made from dal are an excellent choice of side dish with Bengali khichuri.

You wash and soak your dal for a few hours or overnight. Then you proceed to make a fine paste of it using a mixer-grinder. Once done, throw in some finely chopped onions and ginger, green chilies, black cumin seeds (kala jeera), salt, and red chilly powder. Mix properly and deep fry in oil in a medium heat till they turn crispy.

You can use urad, moong, masoor, etc. as your choice of dal.

I eat a good portion of it while I am still frying rest of the batch. So if you are like me, be careful with your portions.

Fish Fry

A rainy day and khichuri is synonymous to Bengalis. Monsoon is also the time when the market is laden with fresh hilsha from the Hooghly River or the Padma in Bangladesh.

Ilish or hilsha is king of the fishes for the Bengali community. It has great flavor profile and accompanying this with the bengali khichdi is a king of a dish in itself.

It’s easy. Marinade with turmeric powder and salt and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Heat up the oil and shallow fry the fish pieces in medium heat till done.

Do not throw the oil. You can drizzle it on top of the khichdi.

Just thinking about it makes me salivate!

You can use any other fish of your choice if you are unable to lay your hands on the hilsha.

Fish Eggs & Entrails Fry

If you feel gross reading the headline, you can move to the next option. However, if you are yet to stroll into this uncharted territory and feel adventurous, read along.

Hilsha eggs are high in demand among the Bengalis. The eggs are cleaned and a batter is made using gram flour or besan, salt, sugar, red chilly powder, turmeric powder. You can also drop in some very finely chopped onions. Fry them in batches in medium heat.

You can also use eggs of other fishes.

Fish entrails have been an inclusive part of Bengali cuisine for centuries. Bengalis call it ‘tel’ or oil which is because it contains a lot of fatty oils. So you just marinade using turmeric powder and salt and fry them in a wok.

Tastes heavenly, trust me!

Vegetable Stir Fries

Whatever you read above are the most traditional side dishes that accompany a bengali khichdi or khichuri.

However, you can add vegetable stir fries to the list too. For example, cauliflower florets stir fried is a great accompaniment. So is eggplant or brinjal marinaded with turmeric powder and salt shallow fried in oil without the batter.

You can just use any vegetable of your choice like pointed gourd, okra, potatoes, etc.

Papad

When you run out of vegetables and eggs in your pantry, but still have a khichuri for your meal, a papad can come in handy.

Usually a papad is served in khichuri along with other side dishes.

And a papad can be made of several ingredients – lentils, sagoo, rice, etc. Here are a few examples of what I love and keep stocked in my pantry.

Chutney

Tomato chutney or a tomato dates chutney is a perfect way to end a khichuri. As I said before, khichuri goes very well with papad and chutney.

In a traditional Bengali set up during a Hindu religious festival, the khichuri is served with labra and/or beguni. Once this ends, the guest is served papad, chutney and rosogolla. Not to forget the payesh (or kheer).

Pickle

Pickle is the most common pantry ingredient across India after table salt and sugar.

You may not have vegetables, eggs, papad or chutney; but you will definitely have some sort of a pickle sitting pretty in a corner of the kitchen shelves.

A spoon of pickle with khichuri may not sound as royal as the beguni, omelette, alur dum or labra, but is definitely worth of a side dish with bengali khichuri.

We all have different tastebuds and hence our preference for pickles vary. Personally, I like a bit of tang, sweet and spicy notes together in a pickle. Here are a few recommendations that you may consider.

Ghee

Not a side dish actually, but most Bengalis like me feel that a dollop of desi ghee served on top of steaming hot khichuri is enough. You wouldn’t need a side dish when the ghee works its magic.

Ending Notes

Khichdi might be a simple staple for the rest of India. In this part of the world however, Bengalis have ensured that a simple dish is elevated by accompanying a humble khichuri with greatly flavored side dishes.

Do you know of any other side dish that would taste good with a Bengali khichuri? Do write to me and I shall be happy to try it out.