Himachal urad dal khichdi
A delicious, nutritious, easy and quick lentil and rice preparation from the state of Himachal Pradesh, that is especially made during makar sankranti
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- ½ cup long grain rice
- ½ cup sabut urad dal or black lentils
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 black cardamom
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 3-4 cloves
- 1 tbsp ginger finely chopped
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
- pinch of turmeric powder
- salt to taste
For the tempering
- 2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 2 dried red chilis
- 1 tsp hing or asafoedita
- 1 green chilli
Instructions
- Soak the urad dal for 30 minutes
- In a pressure cooker, add the urad dal, turmeric and the bay leaves with 1 cup of water
- Pressure cook until the dal is completely done but still whole
- Heat a shallow cooking pot, and add a tablespoon of ghee. Once it melts, add the whole spices and ginger
- When they turn fragrant, add the washed rice and mix well*
- Now add the cooked dal and mix well
- Add 1 cup of water and salt, mix and cook on high flame until you don't see any water on the surface
- Then on a low flame, cover n cook until the rice is cooked
- Prepare the tempering by heating the ghee in a separate small vessel. Once it melts, add the tempering ingredients and wait until fragrant
- Drizzle this over the cooked khichdi and mix well. Keep covered for five minutes
- Sprinkle the coriander leaves and serve the Himachal urad dal khichdi hot with some chilled yoghurt. Enjoy!
Notes
- *You can add the rice and the whole spices, along with the ginger in the pressure cooker, once the dal is cooked. That makes it a one pot meal. However, I have chosen to cook the rice and lentils together in a separate pot
- 1 cup = 250 millilitres
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon