One pot recipe for Khichri. This is Ayurvedic, vegetarian, vegan friendly and gluten-free. An ultimate Indian comfort food classic made with rice, lentils, turmeric, ghee and veggies of your choice. Enjoy for quick and easy weekday lunches or dinners.
1cuprice(we prefer white or brown basmati - but any other long, medium or short grain rice works too)
1cuplentils(we use yellow moong dal the most, but other variations work very well too - whole or split green moong dal, red lentils or even the lentil soup mixes from the super market)
1tbspghee(vegan option is virgin unrefined coconut oil)
1/2tspcumin seeds
1/2tspturmeric powder
1-2mediumgreen chilli chopped(or mild red chilli flakes)
1/2tspsea salt(or more as per taste)
1pinchfreshly ground pepper
2-3mediumgarlic cloves smashed
1thumb-sizeknob of ginger grated
1cupVeggies of choice(you can add one or two of any staple veggies - baby spinach, chard leaves, kale, frozen green peas, carrots, french beans, zucchini, broccoli )
Instructions
In a deep saucepan add in the rice and lentils. Add double the amount of hot water. Cook on a medium heat for about 20 min until the rice and lentils are mushy with a porridge like consistency. When they are cooking, if you notice the water dries up then add in some more hot water, give it a stir and continue cooking it. You want a thick risotto like consistency and the rice does leave adequate amount of starch so the mixture thickens well
Once the rice-lentil mix is cooked and is a porridge/risotto style consistency, in a shallow pan add in the ghee (or coconut oil).
Warm it and add cumin seeds, green chilli and garlic in that order. Ensure they temper on a low heat until the garlic starts to brown.At this stage add in the turmeric powder and black pepper. And if you are using ginger and raw veggies ( of choice) add them as well in the saucepan.
Saute everything together for couple of minutes. Now transfer the cooked tempered spice-veggie mix into the rice-lentil porridge pan. Give everything a good stir, season with salt and add in some more hot water if the mixture has turned too thick.
Heat everything in the pan. Garnish with coriander leaves (optional) . Then serve in bowls with yogurt(raita) , mint chutney , pappadam or pickles of choice.
Notes
This is completely optional - Some people add a small onion, a tomato and red chilli powder during the tempering process to give it a more "masala" khichdi vibe. So experiment with that if you want to.