I have never heard about Khichdi until I met my husband. No, wrong! Until I went to India, fell sick and then my mum-in-law prepared this dish for me for the first time as a light, but nutritious meal.
In India, Khichdi is the most common dish served to babies and toddlers. It’s very simple, easy to prepare and healthy- perfect for a busy mum π
Every Khichdi is always prepared with two basic ingredients- rice and lentils. Moreover, we can add different vegetables into it: peas, carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, parsnip etc. They will make this dish more nutritious and even help to digest lentils better.
Which rice should we use? I recommend only white rice, but if you want to go extremely healthy, then you can use brown rice. However, bear in mind, brown rice needs 3 times more water than white rice while cooking.
Which lentil should we use? My mum-in-law always uses yellow mung (moong) dal, so do I π It is a high source of protein, fibre and other vitamins.
Which spices should we use? Again following my mum-in-law, I use only salt. However, I know others use turmeric powder, cumin seeds or powder, coriander powder, ajwain (carom) powder or curry leaves. It’s up to you and your kid π
In India, people mostly use pressure cooker to cook it. Personally, it is too much hassle for me, so I use simple, small pot and it works perfectly well too.
I don’t soak rice and dal as well. Just make it extremely simple, but still soft and tasty π
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 glass of Rice
- 1/4 or 1/5 glass of Yellow Mung (Moong) Dal
- Chopped Vegetables- peas, carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, parsnip (Optional)
- Pinch of Salt
- Spoon of Butter
STEP BY STEP:
- Mix rice and dal together, wash it twice in cold water, then drain.
- Heat butter (or ghee- Indian clarified butter) in your chosen pot.
- Add rice and dal.
- Add water (if you want to make it more watery, then add even 3cm on top of rice and dal, if you want to make it more dry, like I do, then 1,5-2m should be enough).
- Add chopped vegetables (I recommend to add peas or broccoli later on, while cooking).
- Add pinch of salt.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer it until rice and dal are soft and ready to eat.
- If you think you need to add more water while cooking, because it is getting very dry, please add it.
COOKING TIME: approximately 20minutes
Enjoy your meal! π
Marlena
(In the Khichdi below I used only peas)
My mum used to make it quite often when I was a kid. It reminds me of my childhood.
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Hi Aneeta π
I think every Indian kid has eaten khichdi at least 1000 times π including mine π
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