Quick Fixes - Khichidi's - Rice cooked with Lentils

Its afternoon and I thought why not post something quick and easy food item. Every time I think what to cook for myself when at home, what comes in my mind is some jhatpat khana and one single item which should be filling, healthy and quick. I consider consuming some carbs in the noon as we need some energy. I read online and in some magazines that lentils and rice should be preferred in the noon rather consuming at night times.So, I generally end up cooking some mixed veg rice or khichdi's in my daily diet.


Here I write about the various types of khichidi's that can be made delicious, different, healthy and quick..:) 


 Masala Khichidi :

Ingredients :
1 cup - Rice

1/3 cup - Moong Dal (split)
 2 Big - Tomatoes
1 small - onion
Ginger - 1"
1/2 Tbsp - Cumin seeds/ jeera
1/2 tsp - Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp - Garam Masala powder
1/4 tsp - Pepper powder ( or freshly crushed)
1/2 tsp - Coriander powder / dhaniya pwdr
3- 4 - curry leaves
2 - green chillies
2-3 - cloves
1" - Cinnamon
2- 3 Tbsp - Oil
Hing / asafoetida - a pinch (optional)
Salt as per taste.


Method :
1. Wash Rice and Dal and soak it for 15 minutes.
2. In a pan or pressure cooker, heat oil, add jeera, colves, cinnamon, Hing and curry leaves. 
3. Add finely chopped onions, green chillies and turmeric. Once the onions turn transparent, add in tomatoes and cook well.
4. Add all the masalas, mix well and add soaked rice and dal. Saute for a minute.
5. Add 2 cups of water and salt as per taste. Close the lid once it starts boils and cook on medium for 20 minutes. Garnish with corriander leaves or chutney ..:)


Serve hot with salad, chutney or raitha


Moong Dal khichidi: 

Ingredients :
Basmathi rice - 1 Cup
Moong Dal ( yellow split) - 1/3 Cup
Green chillies - 2 - 3
Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Cloves- 4-5
Cinnamon - 1"
Cardamom - 2
cumin seeds/ jeera - 1/2Ttbsp
Bay leaf - 2
Oil/ ghee (clarified butter) - 2 Tbsp
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Wash Rice and Dal and soak it for 15 minutes.

2. In a pan or pressure cooker, heat oil, add jeera, colves, cinnamon and cardamom  Saute for a minute. 

3. Add Ginger -garlic paste, chopped green chillies, turmeric and bay leaf.. Mix well and add soaked rice and dal. Saute for 5 minutes. 

4. Add sufficient amount of water and salt as per taste and cook

5. Finally garnish it with coriander leaves.

 I generally enjoy with pickle, plain curd, sals and one masala papad.

Looks yumm..also tastes yumm :)

Mixed Vegetable Khichidi :

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 cup

Moong Dal - 1/2 cup

Grated carrot - 1/3 cup (approx 2 carrots )

Spring Onions chopped finely - 1 cup

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Cauliflower florets - 1/2 cup

Chopped beans - 1/4 cup

Capsicums (yellow/red/green) - 1

ginger- 1"

green chillies paste - 1 tsp

turmeric - 1 tbsp

cinnamon - 1"

cloves - 2

cardamom-1

curry leaves - 2-3

Cumin seeds/jeera - 1 Tbsp

salt to taste

Oil/Ghee - 2 Tbsp

Method :

1. 1. Wash Rice and Dal and soak it for 15 minutes.

2. In a pan or pressure cooker, heat oil, add jeera, colves, cinnamon and cardamom  Saute for a minute. 

3. Add curry leaves, turmeric and all the vegetables. Mix well for 5 minutes and add ginger paste and green chilli paste.

4. Add soaked rice and dal. Add water, salt and cook till the rice is done.

5. garnish gently with finely chopped corainder leaves and serve hot....!!!


Brown rice Khichidi :
 Refer link - Brown Rice Khichidi

Brown rice khichidi

One day, we went to a Thai restaurant and they served red curry with brown rice. It was very filling yet light. We were not feeling it too heavy or drowsy as we generally feel with Indian restaurants after having food. We then saw on net about brown rice Vs white rice and to our surprise, we realized that white rice has about one fourth of fiber as compared to brown rice. White rice is chemically processed and they do add talc or glucose as a whitening or polishing agent. Eating white rice is ok, if we cook it in a right way (refer to my earlier post about Cooking rice the healthy way). But I feel, once in a while we have to include brown rice in our diet.


So we started cooking brown rice but I couldn't enjoy brown rice with south Indian chutneys and rasam. I seriously wanted to have white rice but my husband was enjoying it. I then thought probably, my taste buds weren't accepting it and I thought this happens with many of them, thats why many hesitate to buy brown rice. Then I started experimenting to make this rice tastier and see with what dishes it goes well.


I tried many dishes and came to know that it goes well with dal makhani, tadka dal, thai green curry and when cooked  as mixed vegetable rice or khichidi. 


Now I am going to share the recipe for Brown Rice Khichidi. There are many ways to cook khichidi but the basic premise is cooking rice with lentils. Simple and authentic :) 

The spices are added according to my families taste, you can always modify it as per your taste.


Brown rice Basmati - 1 cup
 mung dal - 1/2 cup ( I used whole green mung dal)
Ginger chopped - 2 tsp
green chillies - 3 to 4
Onions thinly sliced - 1 
Crushed Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Clove - 3
cardamom  and cinnamon - 1 each
Bay leaf - 1
curry leaves - 1 sprig
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Crushed cumin - 2 to 3 tsp
oil/ghee - 1 Tbsp
salt - to taste


Wash rice and soak at least for 15 minutes. Meanwhile You can be ready with all the ingredients.


- In a pressure cooker, Add 1 tbsp oil and add crushed cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and  bay leaf. - Saute for a minute and add turmeric, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger and onions. Wait till onions become translucent.
- Add rice and dal, fry for a minute mixing all the masalas evenly and add 3 cups of water to it.( remember this khichidi must be very soft, you can add 1/2 cup of water more to it)
- finally add crushed pepper, salt and coriander leaves and close the lid. Wait till 3 whistles. turn off and serve hot.


Goes well with tadka dal or raitha.