Basic Khichadi
An easy basic rice and lentils recipe made with simple and inexpensive ingredients with a sindhi flavour twist (Instant pot and stove top option)
Servings: 6
Ingredients
For the Khichadi
- 4 cup basmati rice (I use a sella aka aged basmati)
- 1 cup dried moong daal (whole mung bean) -also works well with channa daal or split moong daal
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 cups water* (plus more for soaking & rinsing)
For the Tadka
- 4 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp caraway seeds (pula zeera) or cumin seeds
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1-2 fresh green chilli -optional, if you like a bit of spice
- pinch salt
Instructions
For the Khichadi
- Rinse and soak the lentils and rice for at least 4 hours.* Make sure you add plenty of water (about 2-3 inches above the level of the ingredients) as they will absorb a lot of water. (If I am planning on having khichadi in the evening, I will normally start soaking them in the morning when I wake up, so they get a good 6-8 hour soak before I start cooking in the evening.)
- When you are ready to start cooking, drain and rinse the rice and daal one more time.
- Place the washed rice and daal in your instant pot, add 1 1/2 tsp salt, cinnamon stick and 5 cups water. Cover, seal, and cook on the rice setting. (See stove top variation in notes below).
- When rice is ready, start the tadka.
For the Tardka
- In a large frying pan or wok, heat 4 tbsp oil, add the 2 tsp caraway seeds (or cumin seeds), 2 tsp minced garlic and allow to cook for 30 seconds till fragrant and garlic starts to brown, add a pinch of salt and a layer of the cooked khichadi to fill the pan.
- Cover, and let cook on low heat till the rice starts to turn golden brown at the bottom (About 10 minutes).
- Turn off the heat, and carefully flip over onto a serving plate and serve warm with a dollop of yogurt or raita!
Notes
Soaking helps reduce the phytic acid in your lentils (which can cause gastric issues, if you know what I mean!) and reduces the amount of water you need to cook your khichadi later.
You can cook without soaking the rice and daal, but you will need to adjust the amount of water you add when cooking - add at least 1 more cup of water for dry version, and you can add more than that for the wet version (depending on how thin you want your khichadi).
For Stove Top Variation:
Place the rice and daal in a large sauce pan, add 1 1/2 tsp salt, cinnamon stick and 5 cups water. Allow this to come to a boil on high. Once it starts boiling, reduce to medium and let the rice simmer till the water is almost completely absorbed (about 10-15 minutes). Rice and lentils should be starting to soften, if not add a cup more water and let it cook uncovered till they start to get soft. Cover, turn the heat to low and allow to steam for at least 10 minutes.
For the soup version of khichadi:
Add 2 more cups water during the cooking - total of 7 cups water. Or add more if you like it thinner. Once cooked, the khichadi will thicken the longer it sits, so if you are making ahead and reheating, you will need to add more water to help thin it out again.