Savoury Rice with lentils and peas (Toor dall khichedi )

Khichedi is a traditional Gujarati comfort dish. Khichedi is one of those dishes you make at home for your self when you are feeling lazy or not too well.  It's a very easy to eat and digest kind of a dish. It's also a very healthy dish with the right amount of carbohydrates and protein.

It is usually made from an equal mixture of rice and lentils such as split mung beans or toor dall.  Recipe for mung dall Khichedi can be found here.

This is a recipe for Khichedi made with Toor Dall and Basmati  Rice. 

Ingredients for 4 servings:

Half a cup of Toor Dall
Half a cup of Basmati Rice
2-3 tablespoons of peas
2 small green chillies - chopped lengthwise
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
6-7 curry leaves
1-2 tablespoons Cooking oil
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
2-3 Cloves
1 inch of cinnamon stick


Method:

1.   Mix the rice and toor dall, wash it well and soak in cold water for as long as you can. I tend to put this soak in the morning ready to cook for when I get home in the evening.

2.  Wash the rice and dall mixture again until the water is clear.

3.  Heat the oil in a saucepan.  Add the cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon and allow them to pop and get a bit dark in colour.

4.  Add in one cup of water and cover the saucepan.  If you are not used to seasoning or tempering then, let turn off the heat, and add the water and cover the saucepan to avoid any oil sputtering on you.

5.  Remove most of the water from the khichedi mixture and add it to the tempered water.  Add the salt, turmeric, curry leaves and the green chillies. Also add the  green peas.  You don't need to add the green chillies or the peas but I add them to give the khichedi a bit of colour.  Stir the mixture.

6.  At this stage, you can either cook the khichedi at a low heat keeping an eye on the khichedi. (You may need to add half a cup of extra water to it if the dall isn't cooked).

7.  OR...... do what I do....Transfer the khichedi to the microwave for 10 minutes and check . This is what my khichedi looked like after 10 minutes.   It almost looks like pilau rice.

8. Lightly fluff up the khichedi and add half a cup of water to the khichedi and cook it again for a further 10 minutes.

9. The khichedi is now ready to serve.

10.   The khichedi can be served with potato curry and rotli or bhakri.

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