Comfort Food ~ Khichdi
When I think of comfort food, nothing but Khichdi that comes to my mind. Growing up my Mom would make khichdi in a variety of ways including mung dal, toor dal, masoor dal and more. This dish is very easy to prepare and your imagination is the limit to prepare this dish. Any kind of vegetables you may like could be added or it could be made with just plain rice and dal. It is also a no fuss dish with just very simple flavors and without the complexity of too many spices. It is also a one pot, okay, not a one pot, but one pressure cooker meal; all the vegetables, rice and dal go into one pressure cooker and you are all set. Today I have tried to use a variety of vegetables including some unusual ingredients; the net outcome was still the same soothing and satisfying meal with every spoonful.
Recipe: (Makes for 4 people)
2 cups brown rice (or white rice)
1 cup toor dal
1 carrot diced
1/2 bell pepper chopped
1 small bunch of swiss chard chopped
< 1/4 cup corn
< 1/4 cup peas
< 1/4 cup string beans cut
1 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds or jeera
1 green chili pepper slit length-wise
1 tsp red chilli powder or per taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
Vegetables for khichdi
Soak the rice with double the amount of water for at least 30 minutes. Soak the toor dal also is possible with twice the amount of water. In a pressure cooker, heat ghee and add jeera. Then add the green chili, carrots and string beans saute for a few seconds. Then add the rice excluding the water and mix well with the vegetables so that ghee can coat every grain of rice. Now add the toor dal and water. Add the turmeric, chilli powder, salt, black pepper and mix. Cover the cooker with the lid and let the pressure come out at least 5 – 6 times before you turn off the flame. You can open the pressure cooker after about 10 minutes or when the pressure is completely calmed and no hissing sound is heard. Add the bell pepper, corn, peas, swiss chard now and mix well as these vegetables can cook through easily from the heat of the mixture. I also prefer the bell pepper to be a bit crunchy so I add it in the end. If you are using fresh corn or peas, add it along with the carrots in the beginning.
Top it off with a small dollop of ghee and your hot khichdi is ready to be enjoyed and you won’t even notice that it is made with brown rice.
Khichdi with a drizzle of ghee
© 365 Days of Pure Vegetarian 
Nice recipe. Could you please post the amount of water you used to cook 2 cups of brown rice and 1 cup of toor dal? I have problem trying to come up with the amt of water I need for brown rice. Thanks.
Hi,
Thanks for your wonderful comments. You will need water a little more than twice the amount of rice + dal together for khichdi.I hope this helps. Let me know how it turns out. Saute’ing in ghee is important to get the aroma & flavor. You do not have to add too much though. If needed, you can add a mix of ghee + oil.
Thanks; I will try this and let you know how it turns out. I usually prefer whole green moong dal for khichdis but I will try it with toor dal this time! Many thanks again.
Another quick question, what is the best way to cook brown rice if I were to just use it as is? How much water would I need for a cup of rice?
I have found that pressure cooking Bwn rice takes more time than the regular kind. Please let me know. Thanks.
Tried your recipe today, and came out really well ! Simple, comfort food to kickstart a demanding day 🙂
good recipe..i tried it and it worked….
Thanks Ankit. I am glad it turned out well.
Thanks Nithya for your sweet comments.
khichadi very nice and mouthwatering too. lovely picture. one confusion about swiss chord.i want to know about swis chord. any other name in hindi kannada telegu or tamil? please tell me about this.we make from rice and moongdal and spices
Malini, thanks for your comments. Swiss Chard is something i have seen in the US and I am not aware it is available in India. But you can instead substitute with any other greens such a palak. I hope this helps. But here is a link to know more about swiss chard, how it looks etc – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chard
This looks delicious! But unfortunately I don’t own a pressure cooker. Would you kindly provide directions for those of us with only regular cooking pots at home?
Anjum, if you do not have pressure cooker, u can use rice cooker by soaking rice and lentils for at least 30 mins before preparing. Else you can soak rice and lentils for 30 mins or more and cook it on stove top in any vessel by constantly checking if the water level has reduced so as yo avoid burning at the bottom. If the water level has reduced significantly, and the rice/lentil has not cooked, add some more water and adjust seasonings. This way you can prepare it on stove top. hope this helps. Also, lentils take longer to cook, so cook them first for about 5 mins and then add rice.