Chukku Kanji / Dry Ginger Porridge

Chukku Kanji is one of the main dishes used for breaking the Ramadan fast back home. This would be the main dish that you would have after breaking the fast, eating dates and drinking a glass of juice (mostly lemon juice at my home). This Kanji is accompanied with Kaya Thoran or Kaya Odachathu (Recipe coming soon!) or Kappa together with Meen Curry. Chukku (Dry Ginger) has a lot of medicinal properties which is supposed to be good for your fasting stomach. A cup of this porridge is the tastiest thing, especially after not eating or drinking anything the whole day from dawn to dusk. It is also good when you have stomach problems and cannot take any solid foods.

Serves 8-10 people

Rice	- 1 1/2 cup
Water	- 11 1/2 cups
Grated Coconut	- 1/2 cup
Cumin Seeds	- 1 1/2 tsp
Dry Ginger (Chukku)	- 2 big pieces (0.7 oz)
Salt	- to taste

1. In a pressure cooker, boil the rice with 4 cups of water until 3 whistles. We want the rice to be mashed a little.

2. Grind Coconut with Cumin and 1/4 cup of water to a fine paste.

3. When the pressure is gone, open the cooker and add the remaining water (or as much as you need based on your consistency requirement).

4. Break the dry ginger into smaller pieces and add it to the cooker and stir well.

5. Add the ground coconut paste and salt to the cooker and mix well.

6. Let the mixture come to a boil and turn off the stove.

Chukku Kanji (also known as Nombu Kanji) is worth a try, even when you are not fasting.

This goes to the Iftar Moments event hosted by Ayeesha of Taste of Pearl City.