Dal khichdi

Dal Khichdi is the north Indian counterpart of south Indian’s sambar sadham (atleast thatz what i have interpret so far). My love for sambar sadham is an unsung story and I confess that a mixture of dal and rice cooked till mushy with vegetables makes my day.

I have tasted them a couple of times with variations and this is my version or should I say a derived version after a lot of trials and tests to suit my taste buds. Do try it!

Ingredients:

To Pressure cook:

Rice-1/2 cup

Moong dal/Split green gram dal-1/4 cup

Toor dal/Red gram dal/pigeon peas split-1/4 cup

Cubed Vegetables-1 cup (green beans, carrot, potato)

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Salt-as needed

Water-3 &1/2 cups

To Temper:

Cumin seeds-1 tsp

Asafoetida/hing-1/4 tsp

Dried red chillies-2, broken

Green chillies-2, slit

Ginger-garlic paste-1 tsp

Onion-1, cubed

Tomatoes-2, finely chopped

Red chili powder-1 & 1/2 tsp

Garam masala powder-1 tsp

Salt-as needed

Vegetable oil-2 tbsp

To Garnish:

Coriander leaves-2 tbsp, chopped

Ghee-1 tbsp

How It Happened:

1. Wash and soak the dal and rice for half an hour. Then add all the ingredients mentioned under ‘to pressure cook’ list in a pressure cooker along with water and half the salt needed. Then put the lid on and pressure cook for 1 whistle in medium flame and 1 whistle in simmer. Switch off the flame and set aside until the pressure is completely released.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, red chillies, asafoetida and green chillies and fry for a minute.

3. When the cumin seeds pop, add cubed onions and cook until they turn translucent.

4. Add the ginger & garlic paste and cook until the raw smell goes off.

5. Throw in chopped tomatoes, red chili powder and salt. Mix and cook until the tomatoes are completely mushy and oozes out the oil.

6. Sprinkle the garam masala powder, stir in and switch off the flame.

7. Add this mixture to the cooked rice and mix well.

8. Serve hot with chopped coriander and a drizzle of ghee along with vadams and papads.

Notes:

* I have used regular ponni rice. You can also use sona masoori/raw rice.

* The rice and dal should be well cooked and mushy so I have added more water. Adjust as per the nature of your rice.

* Usually either toor/moong dal is used. I have used both.

* Usually in north Indian tempering they don’t add mustard seeds or curry leaves, even I feel that they are the significance of sambar sadham. So I skipped those. But you can add if you like it.

* You can use whole cinnamon, clove and cardamom while tempering instead of garam masala.

* You can easily skip onion and garlic and make it vrat ka khana. Use ginger juliennes.

*I highly recommend the drizzle of ghee on hot khichdi while serving. They smell and taste heavenly!