Khichdi recipe – Easy one pot rice lentil dish under 30 mins. Khichdi also known as khichadi or khichuri is a comfort food that’s most commonly eaten all over India. As such it is not native to any regional cuisine and is made in so many different ways. The simplest way is to just cook rice & mung dal with salt to a mushy texture. Then top with ghee and serve hot.
Most people refer khichdi to be the food for babies and the sick as it is bland in taste. But a well made khichadi is very delicious, protein packed, healthy and nourishing. It can be served with ghee, papad, and Pickle or achar to spice up your meal.
The most common lentil used to make khichadi is moong dal or skinned & split green gram. According to Ayurveda, moong dal is Tridoshic in nature and can balance any kind of disturbances in the body.
In this post I have shared simple khichadi made with minimum spices. I also make vegetable masala khichdi using more dry spices like bay leaf and cinnamon.
Other khichdi recipes I make
Steel cut oats khichdi
Oats khichidi
Dalia khichadi
Sabudana khichadi
Millet khichadi.
This simple khichdi is super quick to make so I make it often for my lunch or dinner and serve it with Lassi and pickle.
More Rice Recipes here
Ghee rice
Veg pulao
Tomato rice
Khichdi recipe
Khichdi recipe | How to make khichdi | Moong dal khichdi recipe
Moong dal khichdi is a one pot rice and lentil dish cooked with mild spices. This recipe shares the simplest way to make khichdi in a cooker. It can also be made in a pot. It can be served alone or with pickle & papad.
Ingredients (240 ml cup used)
Ingredients for khichdi
- 1 to 2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
- ½ to ¾ tsp cumin or jeera
- 1 bay leaf or 1 sprig of curry leaves (optional)
- ½ to ¾ tsp ginger grated or ginger paste
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 green chili slit (optional)
- 1 small tomato deseeded & chopped
- 1/8 tsp turmeric or haldi
- salt as needed
- ½ cup rice (any kind of rice or millets)
- ½ cup moong dal or skinned split mung beans
- 3 to 4 cups water (more if cooking in pot)
- 1 pinch asafoetida or hing (optional)
- ½ tbsp ghee for topping
optional ingredients
- 1 medium carrot cubed
- 8 french beans cut to 1 inch length
How to make the recipe
Preparation for khichdi recipe
Wash and soak rice & dal for sometime. If you have time you can soak for 30 mins. Drain water completely.
Chop onions, chilli and tomatoes. Grate the ginger.
How to make khichdi
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker or heavy bottom pot.
Add cumin & allow to crackle. If using bay leaf then put it in the hot pan.
Fry ginger until fragrant on a medium heat. Do not burn.
Then put in hing.
Fry onions and green chilies until the raw smell of onions goes away.
Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric and saute until they turn mushy. If using carrots & beans then add them and saute for another 2 mins.
Then add drained daal and rice. Saute for 3 to 4 mins.
Pour 3 cups water for mushy consistency and 4 cups for porridge like consistency.
Stir well. Check the salt by tasting the water. If needed add more salt.
Pressure cook for 2 whistles on a medium flame for a mushy khichdi. or Cook 4 to 5 whistles on a low to medium flame for porridge consistency. If cooking in a pot, cook until soft adding more water if needed.
Pour 1 tsp ghee on the hot dal khichdi. Serve with papad and pickle.
Recipe Video
Video of khichdi recipe
Recipe Notes
Variations of dal khichdi recipe
To make masala khichdi, Just add 3/4 tsp garam masala along with turmeric.
For vegetable masala khichdi, add 1.5 cups of mixed veggies like carrots, beans and potatoes. Also stir in 3/4 tsp of garam masala.
To make palak or spinach khichdi - Use about 1.5 to 2 cups of finely chopped spinach and saute for 2 mins. Then add rice and dal.
Preparation – khichdi recipe
1. We usually dry roast dal on a low to medium flame until lightly golden. Cool and store it in a jar. When ever needed rinse the dal and use. This helps to make the khichdi more aromatic. This is an optional step which you can follow if you have enough time.
2. Wash rice and dal in a pot. Soak them until the onions and tomatoes are chopped. Chop onion, tomato, green chili and grate ginger. Set these aside.
3. Heat a pan with ghee.
4. When the ghee melts, add jeera and allow to splutter. Then add hing.
5. Next add ginger and saute for a minute.
6. Add onions and green chili. Saute well until golden.
7. Then transfer tomatoes, turmeric and salt.
8. Saute until tomatoes turn mushy. You can also use carrots and french beans and saute them for 2 mins.
How to make khichdi
9. Drain the daal completely and add it here. Fry for 3 to 4 mins. Skip frying if you are using roasted dal.
10. Then add the drained rice. You can also add rice and dal together and saute.
11. Pour water. Mix well and taste the water. It has to be slightly salty. If needed add more.
12. On a medium flame I pressure cooked for 4 whistles to get a soup consistency. To get grainy consistency, 2 whistles would be enough.
13. When the pressure goes down, stir well.
Transfer to a serving bowl and add a tsp of ghee. Serve khichdi with pickle & papad.
Michelle Nazareth says
Good
Chris says
I made this in the stant pot. I followed the recipe with the exception of adding a fresh green cubanelle mild pepper and a 1 tablespoon of hot hatch chili diced in place of the chili, 1/4 t of tumeric, and a small pinch of hing. I cooked it on high pressure for 10 min and allowed it to release naturally for minutes. The moong dal and tbe rice was soft, but the dish still had a nice texture to it without being too mushy. Excellent flavor.
swasthi says
Hi Chris,
Glad to know khichdi turned out good.
Thanks for sharing the insta pot timings. I am yet to make it in a insta pot.
🙂
Susan says
HI Swashi
I don’t have a pressure cooker – do I need to alter the quantities of water if I cook this in a pot on the hob or will it work with these quantites, and just take a little longer to cook?
Kind regards
Susan
swasthi says
Hi Susan,
You can just cook it in a pot. Initially just pour the same amount of water I mentioned in the recipe. You can add more as needed later when the water is absorbed. After every addition make sure you cook until the khichdi begins to bubble well. Hope this helps.
Teena says
Hi Swasthi
Thanks for all the amazing recipes. I love this khichdi & make it often. Was wondering if multigrain rava can be used to make khichdi. Can I give to my 2 year old twin toddlers for dinner? How long should I soak? Do you think they can digest well? TIA
swasthi says
Welcome Teena,
Yes you can use multigrain rava. You can give them just make sure you soak it well for at least 2 hours or more to avoid indigestion. Discard the water and use it. You may need to use more water and few more whistles to soft cook it. Hope this helps
Himadri says
Recipe is so delicious but I want to know what oven you have used for cooking in this video?
Pls reply me the oven details on my email address.
swasthi says
Hi Himadri
I have not used any oven in this video.
Neelima says
Yummy Khichdi. I made it today. Very good
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Neelima
Radhika says
Turned out just perfect. Quantity of rice, dal and water gave just the right consistency. Thanks for the recipe
swasthi says
Welcome Radhika
Thanks for trying
Sunitha says
Hi….can you please tell me how much water for one glass of rice+Dal
swasthi says
Hi sunitha
for 1 cup rice, 2 cups water if you want the consistency to be grainy. If you want it to be runny or soupy then add 1 to 2 cups more.