This was one of those spur of the moment recipes ~ I wanted the ease and comfort of a bowl of kitchari, but wanted to change up the flavors a bit. Since it’s fall and everything tastes better with nutritional yeast (except those boxed vegan mac & cheeses that only taste like nooch), I married the flavors of traditional India and fall and came up with this great concoction.
Traditional kitchari is very gentle and cleansing for the body – it removes toxins, and it great to have when coming off of a fast or illness.
Cheesy Butternut Kitchari
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 cup mung dal or red lentils
- 5-6 cups water
- 1 cup butternut squash, steamed or roasted & cubed
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- dash cayenne
- salt & pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Put in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and heat until they are toasted and start to pop. Add in the rice and beans and toast for a few more minutes. Pour in the water and squash and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the water is mostly absorbed and everything is soft, 30-40 minutes. Add more water if needed to reach the desired consistency.
Stir in the nutritional yeast, turmeric, cayenne, salt & pepper and serve warm.
Makes 6-8 servings.
This recipe was featured on Healthy Vegan Fridays!
Kelli's Vegan Kitchen 
kelli, any idea on carb count for a serving? insulin pump desires rough estimate.
JGD!
Bhakti Lila ~ I calculate 258 grams of carbs for the whole recipe, so if it’s 6 servings that would be about 43g per serving.
thanks dear kelli,
I would love you to include a carb count in posts as I always need to put in insulin and am the worst carb counter in the world.
Ooh this looks like a delicious bowl of comfort!
Yes! this will be lunch on a winter day. thanks!
This was lunch on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday. I made a half recipe in the crockpot. I set it up before I went to the studio to teach, and it was wonderful when I got back home. thanks!
That’s a great review ~ thanks Bhavani!
yum! I absolutely love kitchari and I just made some butternut risotto… this looks like a perfect combination of the two 🙂
Thank you … it is a great combination of both !