Friday, March 6, 2009

Vegetable Khichdi (Lentil rice with vegetables)

This incident happened during our second wedding anniversary. We had planned for a weekend visit to hubby’s parents’ home. We were in Bangalore & his parents were in Srirangapatna. We used to travel on Friday evening & reach Bangalore back on Sunday night. My brother used to stay with us those days & my brother-in-law who was also studying in Bangalore happened to stay at our place on that weekend. We informed them about our plan to visit to Srirangapatna. They happily accepted & said, they would still stay back at our place & cook something for themselves ;) I knew that my younger bro-in-law prepared maggi sometimes, but I was sure that my brother did not know “ABC..” of cooking. Anyways, we left them thinking.., boys world, let them enjoy!! I just showed them the containers of the basic ingredients.

We did not worry for them much & enjoyed our weekend in his place. We took evening train back to Bangalore & had plans of eating outside before reaching home & take something to eat for them, so that I can skip the cooking process for that day. We called them around 8p.m & asked them what they would like to eat. They gave me a surprise saying that.., they are cooking something special for us!!! Later calls started coming from boys, out there, asking where is this, n that, n that..When asked, they told me that they were planning to cook bisibelebhath for me. "Hmm...impressive", I thought to myself.

When I went home, the kitchen was soo clean (?!!). Phew, almost all utensils, pulses & masala powders were on my cooking table. They had messed up everything. It was 10:30p.m already & all of us were really hungry. Instead of toor dal, they had used masoor dal & without knowing which masala powder to add, they added red chilli powder, dhania powder & I don’t know what all!!! I took control of the kitchen immediately & asked all of them to go out. I tasted the rice+masoor dal+ vegetables that were getting cooked. It was completely bland. I gave a twist to it by adding more salt, chilli powder, dhania powder & garam masala (I did not have bisibelebhath powder with me. Mom was yet to send that to me!!). Finally gave a tempering of, onion, garlic & curry leaves with 2-3 tbsp of ghee. Then started the aroma at my kitchen. They started peeping in to ask what was being cooked. I made my bro-in-law go & buy salted potato chips from near-by “Hot Chips” shop.

We all enjoyed our bisibelebhath(?!) with chips. Let me tell you, the dish was finger licking good. We were 4 of us at home & we emptied the pot in less than 15mins. Later, I made a point to prepare this once a month & called it vegetable khichdi.Over years, I have refined this recipe & below are the ingredients I currently use to prepare khichdi


Ingredients:
2 cups rice (sona masoori or ponni rice is recommended, don’t use basmati)
1.5 cups masoor dal
1 cup chopped vegetables (I normally use French beans, carrots, peas, cauliflower, potato, broccoli)
2 nicely ripened tomatoes
1 onion sliced
1 pod garlic minced
1 tbsp tamarind juice
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp jeera powder (cumin seeds powder)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves
7-8 cups of water
A generous pinch of turmeric
Salt according to taste
2 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

  • Wash the rice & dal together. Allow it to soak for 15-20mins.
  • Heat a broad pan, add ghee to it. When ghee is hot, add mustard seeds , when mustard seeds splutter add garlic & fry till garlic turns golden brown.
  • Add onions to it & sauté till onions also turn golden brown. Add curry leaves to it.
  • Add vegetables & sauté the vegetables in ghee for 1-2mins. Now add tomatoes & fry tomatoes till raw smell disappears (no need to cook the tomatoes till soft).
  • Add water, salt, jeera powder, red chilli powder, tamarind juice, turmeric & let the water to boil. When water starts boiling, add soaked rice & dal together. Close the pot & allow the rice to get cooked.
  • Keep stirring in between, add more water if needed.
  • When the rice & dal gets cooked properly (the rice & dal will get mashed easily if it is cooked properly & dal will get dissolved along with the spices, this is an indication that both are cooked properly).
  • When the khichdi is almost done, add garam masala & a dollop of ghee.
  • Add coriander leaves, mix together & serve it hot with chips or papad.
Note:

1. I recently found from Deesha of Vegetable Platter that, adding a dollop of ghee to the prepared khichdi makes it more tastier, I followed her trick & it added more aroma & tasteness.
2. I add 2.5 cups of water to 1 cup rice+dal mixture(meaning ½ cup rice + ½ cup dal), you can use the same proportion, the khichdi turns out little watery (like bisibelebhath)

I'm sending this vegetable khichdi & urad-toor dal chutney to "Lentils Mela" hosted by Ashwini's Spicy Cuisine

19 comments:

  1. Looks perfect.. Tamarind is a little something extra here I am sure will add a great deal to the dish! I will need an extra spoonful of ghee in any case :)

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  2. khichdi ...yuummyy..one of my comfort food..looks very delicious

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  3. wow ..looks yummy and delicicous :) Thanks for the recipe

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  4. @Smitha,
    ghee adds taste to dishes like BBB, khichdi. everybody would love to eat it with pure desi ghee ;)
    Thanks for your comments

    @Ashwini, Trupti & Mangala Bhat,
    Thank you people.

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  5. LOL at the adventure in the kitchen! Khichdi looks so delicious.

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  6. Love the fried chillies and wafers on top of that delicious Khichdi, Sushma. good one! :))

    Happy Women's day.

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  7. You know just today I made khichidi for lunch and added few veggies in that....this looks gud...love reading your story :)

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  8. @Uma,
    Thanks & imagine my situation. Had to go to office the very next day even after cleaning the mess :(

    @Asha,
    Thanks & wishing you the same.
    I feel rules should also be made in such a way that women shouldnot be allowed to do any sort of work on that day ;)

    @Priti,
    Thanks a lot, veggies in khichdi add more vitamins to our lunch :)

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  9. Oh God! cleaning the mess is really a big prob....but the kind gesture shown by them is really gr8. Kichidi looks yum.

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  10. Looks yummy...Picture is inviting..

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  11. @Kitchen Flavors,
    Yeah!, very true.Thank you.

    @Ashwini,
    Thanks a lot.

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  12. that's so comfort food to taste it to satisfy our stomach.

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  13. Hi Sushma, I came to this post while looking for resources on how to cook Khichdi for a post of mine (which incidentally is a way of how NOT to cook Khichdi). Have linked to your post.
    Cheers!

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  14. Is masoordal and moong dal same or different. Here i get masoordal in red color. But your khichdi is in yellow color. After cooking will it turn to yellow?

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  15. Recently i started to view your recipe ... Is masoor dal and moong dal is same. Masoor dal is usually red, but your khichidi is in yellow color. After cooking will it turn to yellow? I would like to try this recipe :)

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  16. Recently i started to view your recipe ... Is masoor dal and moong dal is same. Masoor dal is usually red, but your khichidi is in yellow color. After cooking will it turn to yellow? I would like to try this recipe :)

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  17. @Suchithra,

    Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes Masoor dal is red in color & after it is cooked, it turns yellowish. I hope I have answered your question. Do try & kindly let me know the result. Do keep visiting :)

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  18. "Hmm...impressive" dish it very delicious so good to taste it......

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