About The Author
Hello! From Chuchura (in Hooghly District) and a foodie, I created this blog with a mission to preserve the food of the land; with a message to encourage and promote clean and real food. I hope you enjoy and gain out of this blog, happy reading!
Looking forward to read and hear your feedback.
Khichdi is one dish that everyone loves and hates in equal measures. It is however beyond doubt that this rice and lentil staple can provide your soul solace, nourishment after a hectic day at office when you are tired of eating outside.
Now, I have done a detailed and more elaborate Bengali khichdi recipe previously on my blog. And I have mentioned in it, many of the side dishes that go well with a khichdi.
Office days are hectic and a plain khichuri may not be something that you relish. And side dishes would require additional chopping, cooking and washing!
Here is one easy and quick khichdi recipe that you can whip up without additional effort before or after office, for either your office lunch or post office dinner, respectively.
Making the Easy and Quick Khichdi Interesting
As I said, we want to have a tasty one-pot meal without any side dishes. That would be mean making some minor modifications.
These modifications are not rocket science and once you give it a try, you will remember them forever.
Choose The Right Rice
Almost every kitchen pantry stocks up on rice that’s either the regular boiled or raw rice that does not have any flavor, or the so called long-grain rice that looks nice and has no flavor.
For this quick khichdi recipe, we will need a rice that has some flavor. Flavor can come from either the aroma or taste or both.
You can either settle for a good quality basmati rice which will be really expensive. Or settle for more inexpensive varieties of rice like the gobindobhog from Bengal and seeraga samba from the Southern parts of India.
Give Oil a Miss
Replace oil with ghee and your easy and quick khichdi is a gamechanger. Just add a teaspoon of it before tempering the cumin seeds and another before you serve.
Ghee makes a world of difference.
Never Forget The Veggies
You can simply have rice and lentils for your khichdi. However, give the veggies lying in your refrigerator some consideration.
For example, I love to peel and chop in a small sized potato. You can go with brinjals, carrots, cauliflowers, etc.!
Not that you have to add a lot of veggies, just one vegetable would do fine! They will provide some body to the khichdi and depending on what you use, it will always add some variation to the rice and lentil dish.
Now that you know the secret to make a quick, easy and delicious khichdi, you can whip it up in your kitchen. Here’s the recipe in case you need!
Note
The equipment & ingredient quantity provided in this recipe is to assist you in cooking this dish. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients. Remember that we all have different set, size & shape of kitchen tools in our pantry.
Equipment
- Wok or kadai or saucepan
- Ladle
- Preparation and serving bowls
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rice any flavorful rice
- 1/3 cup dal preferably split moong dal
- 1/2 cup any vegetable cut in medium sized pieces
- 2 tsp desi ghee
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
- 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
- salt to taste
- 2 cups hot water
Instructions
- Dry roast the dal for a couple of minutes
- Wash the rice and dal repeatedly to remove the dirt and starch
- Chop the vegetables of your choice
- Put the wok/kadai/sauce pan on medium heat and add 1 tsp ghee to it
- Once hot, add the cumin seeds
- When the cumin seeds splutter, add the chopped vegetables
- Add turmeric powder and salt and give it a nice stir
- Put in the washed rice and dal and give it a nice stir for half a minute
- Add water and bring it to a boil
- Taste for salt and adjust if needed
- Cook for 15-18 minutes and put off the flame
- Drizzle 1 tsp of ghee and serve hot
Notes
- Cut the veggies in small or medium sizes. This will ensure that they cooked along with the rice and dal
- I would recommend that you soak the rice and dry roasted dal for 30 minutes, which help to cook faster
- Use an fragrant and flavorful rice variety
- Replace oil with ghee
- Add in some veggies
- Dry roasting the dal makes a lot of difference, don’t miss the step. Takes hardly 2 minutes!
So when do you put in the fried potatoes and cauliflower?
Please follow Step 6 in “Instructions”
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