For many, KHICHDI is comfort food. I wont say its comfort food for me ,for me its quick food something that I make when I am busy, just come home from a hectic shopping trip, or when I just don’t feel like cooking my everyday elaborate food of rice,dal,vegetable,salad and chapatti.
I learnt the art of making Khichdi from my mother who loves this food item and is always on her list of “to be made things” when she is alone with no one else to eat at home. She loves to have it with a dollop of ghee and a cup full of curd, but I have my Khichdi with papad.
Easy to put together and digest as well, it is also a commonly fed food to very young kids, so as to incorporate rice and dal at one go. Usually kids are given plain Khichdi sans the spices and chili.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Rice
½ cup moong dal (yellow)
Here you can vary the proportion of moong dal; some prefer to have more moong dal too.
I added vegetable to increase the nutritional value, which may not be always added.
I added one carrot grated and a few French beans..
1tbsp cumin-coriander powder.
1 tsp turmeric powder.
1 tsp sugar
1tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander and grated coconut for garnish
Tempering.
Oil
Mustard seeds,
Cumin seeds,
1 tsp asafetida
2 green chilies chopped
Curry leaves.
METHOD
Wash and keep the rice and moong dal mixture separately
In a kadai take oil and add the ingredients for tempering one at a time
Then add the vegetables and stir fry.
Add the rest of the ingredients and the rice and moong dal mixture
Add 31/2 cups water, water should be more than double the quantity of rice and moong dal together.
The final consistence should not be dry but a bit sticky.
Cook on medium flame for about 20 mins keeping an eye to see that it does not stick to the bottom.
Serve hot with ghee, papad or curds.
