Khichdi, a rice and moong dal dish, is the quintessential Indian comfort food. Full of healthy ingredients, it is perfect to warm you up from the inside on cold winter nights. However, served with yogurt and cucumber like I have, it is a perfectly cooling dinner for hot summer days too! This is a prime example of a recipe that uses Ayurvedic principles – the ginger and the spices work in concert to aid in the digestive process and provide you with healthful nutrients your body needs. Since I like to make it a one pot dinner, I throw in a variety of vegetables into my Khichdi to make it a complete meal.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain white rice (nothing too sticky!)
• 1 1/4 cup moong dal (I use the split moong beans with skin on)
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced into visible pieces to remove later
• 3 small carrots, diced
• 1 cup of green beans (I just used frozen cut beans)
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• a generous handful of cilantro, chopped
• 4 – 5 cups of water (or more depending on your rice)
• 2 tsp of ghee or unsalted butter
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chilis
• 1/4 tsp Hing (asafetida)

Method

• I use my trusty Indian pressure cooker to make this dish. You can just as easily make it in an Instant pot. If you don’t have either, you can use a Dutch oven or any large heavy pot. See Priya Krishna’s Khichdi recipe in Bon Appetit for tips on cooking Khichdi this way.
• Start with rinsing the rice and moong dal in a sieve till the water runs clear. Add it to your pot of choice. Now add in the ginger. If you don’t want to bite into the ginger, cut it into large slices so you can easily remove it later. However, I recommend mincing the ginger and letting it cook into the rice so you’ll get all the benefit from it.
• Add in all your vegetables and the cilantro.
• Now add in the water. Note – depending on the type of rice you are using you may need more or less water. First add the amount of water for the rice per package instructions. Then add double the amount of water as your dal. So in this case, 2 1/2 cups of water for the 1 1/4 cups moong dal. When in doubt, add in extra water.
• Then add in the dry spices – turmeric, cumin and chili powder.
• Cover and cook until the rice and dal are well done. You are looking for a risotto-like consistency.
• Now for the tempering. This is the key to a great Khichdi. In a small saucepan, add the ghee and let it melt over medium heat. If ghee is not available, use unsalted butter. Add in the cumin seeds, the dried red chili and the Hing, till the cumin seeds are sizzling and you get the warm aroma from the spices. Technically the more ghee the better but you can use your judgement here!
• Pour the tempering over the cooked khichdi and let it sit covered for a bit so all the flavors develop.
• Serve piping hot in the winter but just warm in the summer. If you cook this ahead of time, you will notice that the consistency becomes drier the longer you wait. No worries. Just add about 1/2 cup of hot water and warm it up again either on the stovetop or the microwave.

Khichdi is usually served with Indian spicy pickle and crunchy Papad. However, in deference to our low sodium diet, I just serve it with plain yogurt, cucumber slices and a handful of crunchy banana chips. The cucumber and yogurt have cooling properties while the healthful ginger and spices in the Khichdi serve to make this an easily digestible dinner. I did not add any salt while cooking so feel free to salt the plate. To your health!