Coming from South India, Khichadi always meant Upma cooked with vegetables. I have already posted a recipe of Bansi Rava Khichadi which is a staple at our home. Today’s recipe is Khichdi, which is quite different from Khichadi. Khichdi, popular in North India is made with rice and lentils cooked until mushy. Add in a few vegetables, it not only is an easy option but a wholesome meal too!
I had been planning on making Khidchi since so long. Don’t ask me what was stopping me, it somehow was not happening in my kitchen. One fine evening, I finally got to make it and how awesome was it?! All I had to do was put everything together in the pressure cooker and let it complete the cooking for me. Given how I had never tasted Khichdi before (Yes!!) I had to look up a number of recipes before going ahead with my own version combining more than three recipes together. The base recipe is from here – I used Moong Dal (Split Green Gram Dal) instead of Toor Dal (Split Pigeon Peas) and added in different spices. It was comfort food in a bowl, topped with a dollop of ghee/clarified butter. I could eat it all by itself and guess what, it tasted much better the next morning 🙂
In a bowl, add rice and Moong dal together. Wash a couple of times and then soak in 2 cups of water for atleast 10-15 mins.
In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add the cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon piece, dried bay leaf and red chillies (tear them into halves). As the cumin seeds splutter, add chopped onions. Fry on low flame until the onions are translucent.
Add cubed potatoes, eggplant, fresh green peas and fresh lilva beans (tuvar/avarekalu). Give them a quick stir. Add ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder. Mix well and cook for 3-4 mins.
Add the water used to soak the rice-dal and remaining two cups of water. Add salt as required and add the red chilli powder. Mix well. Bring the water to boil. Add the rice-dal mixture to the boiling water and cook on medium flame for 3-4 whistles in the pressure cooker. Let the pressure drop before opening the pressure cooker. Mix well.
Serve hot with a dollop of ghee (clarified butter) on top.
Instead of Moong dal, Toor dal can be used in the same recipe. Red chilli powder can be replaced with green chillies. Choice of vegetables is as per choice. Khichdi has to be cooked to a mush and hence pressure cooker works very well. Also, I use 3-4 cups of water for cooking Pongal in pressure cooker – used the same measurement here. Adjust accordingly.
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