Recipe: How to make moong dal khichdi

You are working from the comfort of your homes these days, yet the last thing you want to do is make lavish, extravagant and time consuming meals when your laptop is perched on the kitchen slab and you are attending a meeting. So, what do you do? Well, you make khichdi!

Khichdi is one of the easiest and simplest dishes to make. It requires you to buy no special ingredients. Everything you need can be easily found in the kitchen cupboards of an Indian household. It doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to cook this scrumptious and fulfilling dish. And there is more, its many health benefits will make you go scouring for the ingredients in your kitchen as soon as you finish reading this piece. It is not without reason that we are forced by our moms to indulge in khichdi when we are sick.

Khichdi is packed with many of our daily required nutrients and is great for our digestive system. It is one of the most recommended things when someone is having stomach problems. Khichdi is easy to digest, keeps us full for a longer time period and hence promotes weight loss. It is great to detoxify and also provides you with energy to carry on with your daily activities.

Khichdi can improve your digestion. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make khichdi for a full and happy stomach:

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1 cup moong dal
1 tbsp turmeric powder
Salt
1 tbsp jeera
Hing
1/2 chopped onion (optional)
½ chopped tomato (optional)

Recipe:

Step 1

Heat a pressure cooker with 1 tbsp of ghee or oil. Though it is best to use ghee with khichdi to enhance its taste and benefits.

Ghee will enhance the taste of your khichdi! Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Step 2

Once the ghee has melted, add jeera and a pinch of hing, and saute until the former crackles. If you wish to add onions and tomatoes, you can add them now and saute for 3-4 minutes.

Step 3

Now, you add turmeric powder and salt to your taste. If you wish you can add other vegetables (bottle gourd, capsicum, carrots, peas, potato, etc.) at this point and you will get masala khichdi.

Step 4

Add the rinsed moong daal and rice to the pressure cooker and saute for 3-4 minutes to bring out the aroma of daal.

Step 5

Pour 8 cups of water, stir well, close the lid and heat the cooker on medium flame for 2-4 whistles.

Your khichdi is ready to serve and you didn’t miss out on your meeting. You can top it up with some ghee or lemon pickle and enjoy!