My Sheroes, there you go as promised, by popular demand, a recipe for packing quick early morning lunch boxes that’s nutritious and great on flavour.
Not a malady in the world that a bowl of piping hot Khichdi cannot cure! Ahh the magic of simplicity! Good for warm spring days when you don’t wanna stand too long in the kitchen labouring over your meal, cause there’s tons of other stuff on your to-do list for the day.
Ideal go-to comforting meal to satiate the tummy on a busy mid-week lunch or dinner. Balanced nutritious one-pot meal-in-itself, great when you’re down with the chills with no taste in the mouth, excellent for weight loss (when you substitute regular rice with broken wheat (daliya) or brown rice) fast to cook, good way to get many veggies & pulses into the kids’ tummies & super-high on taste for all ages!
Wow, quite a few things going for this ‘so called boring & bland one pot meal’. Well not really, when you try this terrific recipe with an additional mildly spicy tempering on top. So tasty & healthy that we usually have it at least once a week. The teeny golden fried garlic bits, mild red chilli powder & a medley of a few other spices infused into the oil that not only add a flavour punch but also lend a beautiful red colour to your tempering. Totally lifts the dish & makes it appealing to kids and elders alike!
Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves & serve with some roasted papads, pickle, yoghurt or buttermilk.
Hang in there everyone, the heat is getting worse by the day, especially in India and these quick one pot meals truly make it easy on anyone who wants a quick, lite n easy meal on-the-go.
Recipe for One Pot Medley Masala Khichdi
Ingredients (Serves 4 persons)
Initial tempering
- 2 tablespoons ghee/clarified butter / oil if vegan
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder / hing powder
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns (optional)
- 4-5 fresh curry leaves, torn up (if available)
Vegetables
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1-2 green chillies, chopped
- 1 inch piece ginger, finely chopped
- 1 medium size carrot, chopped
- ¼ cup French beans, chopped
- ¼ cup green peas
- ½ cup sprouted raw whole green gram / green moong
Pulses & rice (All washed until water runs clear & soaked together for 10 mins)
- ½ cup rice,
- ¼ cup yellow moong dal
- ¼ cup slit pigeon pea lentil / masoor dal (red lentil)
Spice powders
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder / haldi
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder / dhania powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder / jeera powder
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- Salt to taste
- 2.5 cups hot water
For the final tempering
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds / rai
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder / hing powder
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 dry red chilli, broken up & deseeded
- ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon coriander powder / dhania powder
Procedure
- In a pressure cooker heat 2 tbsp ghee, add cumin seeds, pepper corns and hing powder & sauté for few seconds until it splutters.
- Add green chillies, curry leaves if using and ginger & saute for a minute.
- On medium flame, add in chopped onions and cook till translucent.
- Add in the rest of the vegetables like carrots, peas, beans & sprouted green gram. Sauté for couple of minutes.
- Now the spice powders, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala and salt along with 1 tbsp water to prevent the spices sticking to the bottom.
- Finally, add the drained dal-rice mixture & sauté on medium flame for 2 minutes allowing it to roast well in the ghee & coat itself in the spices.
- Add 2.5 to 3 cups hot water, mix well. Check for salt & spices.
- Close the lid and cook on high flame for 2 whistles. Lower the heat & allow for 2 more whistles. Allow the pressure to drop naturally.
- In the meanwhile, get together the ingredients for the final tempering, try not to miss this flavourful one!
- In a small pan add ghee and once hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing & stir till it splutters.
- Lower the heat to a simmer, add dry red chilli, chopped garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Now add chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder and stir quick. Pour this on the khichdi.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with poppadums, pickle and yoghurt / buttermilk.
Notes:
- You can replace the rice with broken wheat or daliya too.
- Use any vegetables as per your convenience & choice.
- The quantity of water can be increased depending on the consistency you desire.
One Pot Medley Masala Khichdi Video
The Culinary Konnoisseur 
Okay, I know I’m supposed to comment on the food, but can’t help saying this is a prettily composed picture
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