One Pot Vegan/Vegetarian Rice and Lentils Dish - Khichdi

Sudika's Note:

This is a popular dish in North India, and is quick, easy and fuss free. Everyone has their own way of doing it, and this is the way i do it. When i am exhausted and too tired to do much else, i make this dish. Other people use a lesser amont of lentil to rice, but i use a 50/50 cos thats the way my husband likes it, moist. Some people prefer it drier. The choice is yours. You can also vary the type of rice and split lentil you use, but then cooking times will vary.

• Total Time: 8 mins
• Prep Time: 2 mins
• Cook Time: 6 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 3

• ½ cup basmati rice (white)
• ½ cup mung beans (yellow split variety)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 2 cloves
• ½ teaspoon asafetida powder
• 1 red chili (optional)
• 1 cup mixed vegetables , chopped (frozen or fresh, use firm veggies only like carrots, peas, greenbeans) (optional)
• 1 potato , quartered (optional)
• 2 tablespoons ghee or 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons vegan margarine

Directions:

1. Wash mung and rice together in a few changes of water. Place in pressure cooker.
2. Put sufficient water in the pressure cooker, in my cooker i use 2 cups of water for the 1/2 cups rice and 1/2 cup mung).
3. Put all other ingredients in, except for cumin, ghee, chillies and asafetida.
4. Cook for 3 whistles (roughly 5 minutes after cooker has gained full pressure).
5. Let it cool down, and you can do this by running the closed cooker under cold water to facilitate faster cooling.
6. Heat ghee in pan, add chilli and cumin and asafetida, fry for a few seconds and mix into khichdi.
7. Serve.

Reviews

[JessicatheCivilian]

This was such an awesome dinner! I didn't have a pressure cooker, so I just chucked everything but the ghee into the crock pot; and I can't get asafetida powder here in rural WV, so I used garlic powder. I followed the recipe otherwise. I loved the subtle spicing, and the cinnamon made the whole house smell delicious! Great recipe.

[UrbanYogaMommy]

Looks very similar to the way my Ma makes this, although I am pretty sure she puts in some garlic, ginger, and one or two crushed elaichi. Also I use 2 parts yellow dal to 1 part basmati rice, which is my preference. I use shortcut garlic-ginger paste to save even more time. This is real comfort food that my picky kids will actually eat. Looks good. I can't wait to try this!