800 kg of khichdi: India to attempt world record today

Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with Baba Ramdev making khichdi at World Food Event.

In a bid to popularise khichdi in international markets, renowned Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor took a mammoth task: he is attempting a world record by preparing 800 kg of khichdi live at the World Food Event in New Delhi on Friday. For the purpose of this event, a giant kadhai or frying pan of 7-feet in diameter, with the capacity to hold 1,000 litres will be used.

Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with Baba Ramdev contributed their efforts in preparing khichdi at World Food India event. Earlier Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti along with chefs Imtiaz Qureshi and Ranveer Brar also helped in the cooking of khichdi.

The prepared khichdi will then be distributed to around 60,000 orphan children and guests who will be present at the event. The cooked dish along with the recipe will also be served to the Heads of Foreign Missions in India. As per an official statement by the government, Brand India Khichdi’s ingredients and recipe will be popularised by Indian Foreign Missions throughout the world. The statement further added that the government will ensure that khichdi is available in restaurants and kitchens around the world.

The event will take place amid recent controversy over claims naming khichdi as the National food of India. Despite clarifying that khichdi will not be declared as a national dish of India, Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the dish is the ‘wonder staple food’ of the country.

“Khichdi is the wonder staple food of India and is considered the healthiest prepared food in India and it is being eaten across length and breadth of India by rich and poor,” Harsimrat told reporters at the curtain raiser event on Wednesday. She further added: “Khichdi symbolises India’s great culture of unity in diversity at its best. Therefore, Khichdi has been selected the Brand India Food.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the World Food Event on Friday at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. Addressing the crowd at the event, PM Modi described India as the fastest growing economies in the world. He further applauded India’ jump in World Bank’s ‘ease of doing Business rankings’. “India has jumped 30 ranks this year in the World Bank Doing Business rankings. India was ranked number 1 in the world in 2016 in greenfield investment. India is also rapidly progressing on the Global Innovation Index, Global Logistics Index and Global Competitiveness Index,” he said.

World Food India is a three-day event, organised by Food Processing Industries Ministry, which aims to facilitate participation between domestic and international businesses. Over 2,000 participants along with 400 exhibitors from around 20 countries, 26 states and over 50 global CEOs were expected to participate in the even this year, according to an official release.