Dal Khichdi

Dal Khichdi is a soupy healthy Indian comfort food made with rice and dal/lentil (toor or moong dal) cooked with vegetables making it a wholesome meal. It is a quick meal to prepare when you don’t have much options. Having dal khichdi takes me to my childhood, having it on cold wintry nights with loads of ghee and papad. It is the best meal to have when one is sick as it is very light on the stomach yet full of nutrition.

There are many ways of preparing khichdi in India, but this is my favourite way of preparing it. I often prepare dal khichdi when I feel lazy to prepare dinner, it is so quick to prepare and you can avoid preparing rice, dal and vegetable separately.

I have only used peas and potatoes in my recipe but you can add any vegetable of your choice (like carrots, cauliflower/gobi, beans, raw banana etc.), but do not add soft vegetables like brinjal/baingan or ladyfinger/bhindi, it will change the texture of the whole dish. The khichdi can be made with both moong dal and toor dal. This is a basic toor dal and rice/chawal khichdi which I have tempered with cumin, pepper and cloves. The cloves and pepper add a distinct flavor to the khichdi and elevates its taste.

Best accompaniments for dal khichdi are pickles, papad, curd or fried potatoes.This dish is for immediate consumption so serve hot, if you keep for later consumption it might thicken so to reheat the khichdi add ½ -1 cup water and mix it well with a big spoon and then heat it on low heat to avoid it from sticking at the bottom of the vessel while stirring occasionally.

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Dal Khichdi

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Serves: 2 Prep Time: 10 Mins Cooking Time: 10 Min 10 Min Nutrition facts: 467 calories 8.4 grams fat

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice (preferably jeera rice or basmati)
• 1 cup toor/arhar dal
• ½ cup peas (fresh or frozen)
• 1 big potato
• 1 big onion or 2 small onion
• 1 big tomato or ½ cup tomato
• 3-4 garlic crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 5-6 cloves/laung
• 5-6 black pepper corn
• ½ tsp cumin/jeera seeds
• ½ tsp hing/asafetida
• ½ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• 2 tsp ghee
• 5-6 cups water (add more water if needed)
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Instructions

1. Soak dal and rice in water for a minimum of 30 mins before starting to cook.
2. Finely chop onions and tomatoes. Cut potatoes into big pieces.
3. Heat a pressure cooker and add ghee. Then add the whole spices (cumin/jeera, cloves/laung, pepper corns and bay leaf) and hing, sauté for half a minute. Now add the chopped onions and crushed garlic and sauté this for 2 mins.
4. Now add the chopped tomato and sauté for another minute. Add the cut potatoes and peas. Cook this for a minute. Then add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and sauté this for a minute.
5. Now add the rice and dal and fry for a minute. Then add 5-6 cups of water and mix everything well.
6. Add salt and cover with the pressure cooker lid and cook till 3-4 whistles. The rice and dal should be cooked very well. The number of whistles may vary according to the size and built of your pressure cooker.
7. After removing from stove, wait till the pressure cooker has released all the pressure.
8. Open and serve hot immediately, garnished with freshly chopped coriander leaves and ghee.

Nutrition