Coconut Kitchri With Jammy Eggs

By Zaynab Issa

Updated January 26, 2026

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Ready In
50 min
Rating
5(135)
Comments
Read comments

Kitchri is a popular South Asian savory porridge made with rice and lentils. The flavor adaptations for it are endless, and this version looks to kuku paka, an East African coconut milk-based curry, for inspiration — featuring the same aromatic curry base, warming ground spices and coconut milk to form the broth in which the rice and lentils cook. Since kitchri always includes lentils, it’s already a complete meal, but serving it with jammy eggs adds even more protein and also nods to kuku paka, since boiled eggs are often served in the curry. To cut the richness of this kitchri, any crunchy, spicy vegetables or fresh herbs will pair well as a garnish, especially when finished with a drizzle of tangy, salty yogurt. 

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the kitchri

  • 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped

  • 1 Roma tomato, roughly chopped 

  • 1 serrano chile (optional), roughly chopped, deseeded if desired

  • 4 garlic cloves

  • 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

  • 1 tablespoon ghee, coconut oil or neutral-tasting oil 

  • Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

  • Black pepper

  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin 

  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander 

  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric  

  • 1 (13½-ounce) can coconut milk

  • ½ cup red lentils

  • ½ cup uncooked jasmine or basmati rice

  • ½ cup plain yogurt

  • Jammy eggs, halved

Optional toppings

  • Red onion, sliced into thin wedges 

  • Persian or mini cucumber, sliced 

  • Radish, thinly sliced 

  • Chiles, thinly sliced 

  • Mixed herbs, roughly chopped

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

47 grams carbs; 4 milligrams cholesterol; 446 calories; 4 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 26 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 604 milligrams sodium; 12 grams protein; 4 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Start the kitchri: In a food processor, blender or mini chopper, combine onion, tomato, chile, garlic and ginger and process until smooth. 

    1. Step 2

      Heat a medium pot over medium-high. Add ghee, and once melted, swirl the pot to coat the bottom. Add the onion mixture and season with 2 ½ teaspoons of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the water has evaporated and the mixture is paste-like, about 10 minutes. 

    1. Step 3

      Add a few grinds of black pepper, the cumin, coriander and turmeric, and stir to combine before stirring in the coconut milk. Add 5 cups of water (you can fill up the empty coconut milk can three times), stir to combine and bring to a boil over high heat. 

    1. Step 4

      Meanwhile, add lentils and rice to a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs mostly clear. Once the coconut mixture is boiling, add the lentils and rice, stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and rice have completely broken down and absorbed most of the liquid, about 25 minutes. The texture should be similar to loose oatmeal and will thicken slightly as it cools. 

    1. Step 5

      Meanwhile, stir ½ teaspoon of salt into the yogurt. 

    1. Step 6

      Serve bowls of kitchri, topped with soft-boiled egg halves, a drizzle of salted yogurt, more black pepper and your desired toppings. 

Tip

  • Kitchri can be prepared (without toppings) up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated. Reheat on the stovetop with water as needed to return to original consistency.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
135 user ratings
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Comments

Gabe

Day 1: Made as written. Served with red onion soaked in a bit of vinegar. Day 2: Added some water and a diced sweet potato to the leftovers. Served with chili oil. Day 3: Added some more water and some spinach. Delicious, adaptable and perfect for a winter's never ending soup pot. The fat tasted pretty good too.

Sanjay

This turned out extremely flavorful. With about 10 mins of simmering left added a full bag of frozen peas to up the protein, and it was perfect. Also added a tsp of ground cumin to the yogurt.

Mahesh

I am not a fan of Ghee, (in fact hate the taste and odor), hence would use olive oil instead. Also, not a fan of blending. So, would rather cook the onion, tomato, chile, garlic and ginger on slow heat until smooth. Brings out a much better taste especially if you have access to early girl tomatoes.

Lori F

Excellent recipe and ridiculously simple. Made as written and we each added our own toppings to our preferences. Husband was sort of reluctant (he gets a little petulant when there's no meat in sight, but he will def eat vegetarian dishes; loves rice, natch, and red lentils are harmless and the coconut curry didn't put him off at all) but he cooked it up and we ate it and loved it and I was EXTREMELY happy. Will make again.

mscmfw

A very delicious recipe which saved our bacon this evening when the cupboards were almost bare. A warning though: frying the chilli-ginger-onion paste at the start can cause extreme burning of the eyes. I could barely see for a solid 10 minutes, even with all the doors and windows open to the freezing winter air, which almost caused the whole thing to burn. It's a testament to how tasty it is that I would still make it again. If making in the UK, reduce (regular) salt to three quarters of a tsp!

Hilary

I find a lot of NYT recipes fall flat in terms of flavour and this was no exception :( I added veggie broth instead of water, 1/4 tsp more of cumin, coriander and turmeric as well as 2 bay leaves. Bummed it wasn't more flavourful! That being said, the salted yogurt is amazing and this would be a good soup if you had an upset tummy and couldn't handle too much flavour. I liked the texture.

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