AI-generated image
Nombu kanji
நோன்புக் கஞ்சி (nombu kanji): Ramadan rice porridge cooked with coconut milk, warm spices and a little minced meat
As sunset nears during Ramadan, mosques in Colombo, Beruwala and Kattankudy ladle out great pots of nombu kanji to queues of families carrying jugs and tiffin tins, and the same porridge is cooked at home to break the fast gently after dates and water. Rice and a little moong dal are simmered with onion, ginger, garlic, fenugreek and whole spices until soft, then enriched with coconut milk and a small amount of minced mutton or chicken that flavours the whole pot. It should be loose enough to sip from a cup, mild, savoury and comforting, with fresh coriander and mint stirred in at the end; for a vegetable version leave out the meat and add diced carrot, leeks and a handful of green peas. The thing that spoils it is letting it thicken into a stiff paste, because it keeps setting as it cools. Chef's tip: thin it with hot water just before serving until it pours easily from the ladle.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil
- 5 cm piece cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves
- 1 /2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- 4 cloves garliccrushed
- 3 cm piece fresh gingergrated
- 2 green chilliesslit
- 1 /2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 carrotfinely diced
- 5 ½ oz raw short-grain ricerinsed
- 1 oz split moong dalrinsed
- 5 ¾ cups water
- 1 ¾ cups coconut milk
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp fresh corianderchopped
- 2 tbsp fresh mint (optional)chopped
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (8)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Heat 2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil in a large pot over a medium heat and fry 5 cm piece cinnamon stick, 3 green cardamom pods, 3 cloves and 1 /2 tsp fenugreek seeds for 30 seconds.
1 minStep 2: Add 1 onion and cook for 5–6 minutes until soft, then stir in 4 cloves garlic, 3 cm piece fresh ginger and 2 green chillies for 1 minute.
6 minStep 3: Add 7 oz lean mutton or chicken mince with 1 /2 tsp ground turmeric and 1 tsp ground cumin and cook, breaking it up, for 5 minutes until it is no longer pink.
5 minStep 4: Add 1 carrot, 5 ½ oz raw short-grain rice, 1 oz split moong dal and 5 ¾ cups water and bring to the boil, stirring so nothing sticks.
2 minStep 5: Simmer, partly covered, over a low heat for 30–35 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the rice and dal have broken down into a soft porridge and the mince has passed 160°F.
30 minStep 6: Stir in 1 ¾ cups coconut milk and 1 ½ tsp salt and simmer for 5 minutes, adding hot water if needed to keep it pourable.
5 minStep 7: Stir in 3 tbsp fresh coriander and 2 tbsp fresh mint and serve warm in cups or bowls.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 12 g
- Carbs
- 36 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does nombu kanji take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of cinnamon stick?
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon per stick.
- What can I use instead of green cardamom pods?
- A pinch of ground cardamom per 2 pods.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Polos curry
Polos is the tiny unripe jackfruit picked in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces long before it sweetens, and cooked low and slow it becomes one of the island's most loved festival curries, especially at Sinhala and Tamil New Year in April and at wedding lunches. The firm, pale flesh soaks up a very dark roasted curry powder, garlic, ginger, goraka (a smoky souring fruit) and coconut milk until it turns almost black-brown and tastes rich, sour and meaty. Fresh polos is hard to find abroad; tinned young green jackfruit in brine works well. A frequent mistake is not cooking it long enough, which leaves it squeaky; the pieces must be soft enough to break with a spoon. Chef's tip: oil your hands and knife before cutting fresh jackfruit; the sticky white sap washes off oiled skin but not dry skin.
Paneer biryani
A mild, creamy biryani: rice and husked green gram roasted in ghee, then cooked in coconut milk with peas, carrots, potatoes, peanuts and cashews, and finished with soft fried paneer and a fresh coriander yogurt. Serve hot, garnished with more fried cashews and paneer.
Indian
Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani
Hyderabad's biryani grew up in the kitchens of the Nizams, and the kacchi style is its proudest form: the chicken goes into the pot raw, in a thick yogurt, mint and fried-onion marinade, and cooks only in the steam trapped under part-cooked basmati. In the old city it is wedding and Eid food, ordered in huge copper deghs, and at home it's the Sunday showpiece, served with mirchi ka salan and a cooling raita. Because the meat cooks without being stirred, small bone-in thigh and drumstick pieces work best. Chef's tip: marinate overnight in the fridge — the yogurt tenderises the chicken and the flavours go right to the bone.