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Khichdi recipe | How to make khichdi | Moong dal khichdi recipe

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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.
khichdi
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
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

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.

Print
Course Main
Cuisine Indian
Keyword easy, healthy, quick
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 2 people
Calories 463 kcal
Author Swasthi

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

  1. Wash and soak rice & dal for sometime. If you have time you can soak for 30 mins. Drain water completely.

  2. Chop onions, chilli and tomatoes. Grate the ginger.

How to make khichdi

  1. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker or heavy bottom pot.

  2. Add cumin & allow to crackle. If using bay leaf then put it in the hot pan.

  3. Fry ginger until fragrant on a medium heat. Do not burn.

  4. Then put in hing.

  5. Fry onions and green chilies until the raw smell of onions goes away. 

  6. Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric and saute until they turn mushy. If using carrots & beans then add them and saute for another 2 mins.

  7. Then add drained daal and rice. Saute for 3 to 4 mins.

  8. Pour 3 cups water for mushy consistency and 4 cups for porridge like consistency. 

  9. Stir well. Check the salt by tasting the water. If needed add more salt.

  10. 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. 

  11. Pour 1 tsp ghee on the hot khichdi. Serve with papad and pickle.

Recipe Video

Video of khichdi recipe

Nutrition Facts
Khichdi recipe | How to make khichdi | Moong dal khichdi recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 463 Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 12g 18%
Saturated Fat 7g 35%
Cholesterol 28mg 9%
Sodium 689mg 29%
Potassium 580mg 17%
Total Carbohydrates 71g 24%
Dietary Fiber 16g 64%
Sugars 3g
Protein 16g 32%
Vitamin A 1.3%
Vitamin C 10.2%
Calcium 6.3%
Iron 24.6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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.
heating ghee for khichdi recipe
4. When the ghee melts, add jeera and allow to splutter. Then add hing.
cumin hing in ghee for khichdi
5. Next add ginger and saute for a minute.
sauteing ginger for khichdi recipe
6. Add onions and green chili. Saute well until golden.
frying onions chilies for khichdi
7. Then transfer tomatoes, turmeric and salt.
tomatoes salt to make khichdi
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.
frying dal for khichdi
10. Then add the drained rice. You can also add rice and dal together and saute.
drained rice
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.
khichdi recipe

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Comments

  1. 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

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  2. 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

    Reply

    • 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

      Reply

  3. 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.

    Reply

  5. Turned out just perfect. Quantity of rice, dal and water gave just the right consistency. Thanks for the recipe

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  8. My wife went to her Home town. I was alone at home and tried Dal kichidi following this process. I was cooking for first time. The output was WOW and Yummy. When I told to my wife and she want me to prepare again. 🙂 🙂

    Thanks for detailed process.

    Reply

  9. I just prepared the dal khichdi method 1. My pressure cooker somehow didn’t whistle but I put the gas off on time. Left it for about 7 to 10 mins in the cooker on medium heat. the taste is amazing! definitely making this again.

    Reply

  10. Wow…. Thanku so much, dal khichadi is my husband’s one of favorite dish… He loves if when I sarve him… Thanku so much 🙂

    Reply

  11. Thank you MUCH! The thing about your recipes are I don’t need to “trial run” ’em. I can serve them off your site, straight on. That is real nice ‘cos you make my times in the kitchen precise, easy and enjoyable. The other thing is when I pay attention to what you are saying especially those little little tips I find in each recipe (i am a newbie and SO need it). Thank you MUCH for this site that you share!! God Bless Ya! May your tribe increase!

    Reply

    • Hi Beulah,
      You are welcome. I really appreciate your detailed comment and appreciation. Happy that the recipes are helpful. Thanks a ton for the wonderful and sweet wishes.
      You made my day
      🙂

      Reply

  15. Today I cooked urs pressure cooker khichdi recipe it s really amazing…thanks for ur recipes ?

    Reply

  17. Hi
    Did not have mood to cook today and wanted to have something new
    Tried this one 1 cup rice,1/4 cup brown rice,toor dal,moong dal each. Came out very tasty and different from regular khichdi

    Reply

  18. I liked these recipes a lot I tried it it is really very tasty awesome hands off to you and your group????

    Reply

    • Hi Zeenath
      So happy to know the foods turned out good. Thanks a lot. There is no group at this end, it’s only me who manages the blog.
      🙂
      Thanks for the compliments

      Reply

  21. This is not authentic dal khichdi. Basmati chawal is not used, Whole spices are also not used in dal khichdi. Whatever this is, this looks, tasty, definetely gonna try.

    Reply

    • Hi
      Dal khichdi is not native to any particular regional Indian cuisine. It is made thru out India in the different regional styles. I know basmathi is not used to make khichdi, just any kind of rice can be used. I have not specified to use basmathi, just said rice in the recipe ingredients. Do try it. Thank you

      Reply

  23. Hi swathi
    Have a 18 month old kid
    she weights abt 8.5 kgs
    she is active but she is not gaining weight
    Tried few things from last 3 months
    but no improvement
    can u plz recommend

    Reply