FOOD

Health Benefits of Kanji, Rice Gruel, and Mung Beans

My Breakfast Today Series -1

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‘’Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food ‘’ Michael Pollan.

I grew up in a small coastal village in Kerala surrounded by the backwaters and lush green paddy fields.

Kanji and curry were our official food. The word “Congee (Kanji)” has a Tamil origin. It is a rice porridge or a thick rice gruel made from rice. It was the Kerala equivalent of bread and butter. Grown-ups went to earn a living to provide ‘kanji ‘’to their families. Little me loved making small mud kitchens and indulged in making ‘’Kanji and curry ‘’ as my favorite game. Childhood during the eighties was so precious. Devoid of any other distraction, we played with our hands using all the elements of nature, filling our minds with imagination.

Kanji is my comfort food as well as nostalgia!

My grandpa was a connoisseur of rich and royal food. He relished warm kanji, topped with fresh ghee, daily for breakfast, along with mouth-watering vegetable curries and puzhukku ( Dry and sticky vegies preparation, not a curry ) made from jackfruit and tapioca or boiled green gram (payar ). Kanji and one…