Khichdi is a dish prepared in almost every household in South Asia. It is primarily made of rice and lentils but can also be prepared with different variations. Khichdi is extremely nutritious as it offers the perfect balance of carbs and proteins.
Khichdi is also very easily digestible hence it is often fed to babies or when you’re under the weather. Growing up I never really liked khichdi as it was often bland, until my mom started making masala khichdi using different veggies and spices.
And now I have taken khichdi to another level by incorporating greens along with veggies. Now in my house, we actually look forward to devouring khichdi. After a weekend of indulgence in carbs, desserts etc., I literally crave for my spinach khichdi on Mondays. It is a whole meal in itself. Give me some piping hot spinach khichdi with some chilled plain yogurt, and my day is made.
Looking for more healthy recipes? Check out my Carrot Paratha recipe.
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Spinach Khichdi
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Toor Dal (Yellow split pigeon peas)
- 1/3 cup Small grain White Rice
- Water (to boil)
- 2 tsp Ghee (divided)
- 3 cups Tightly packed Baby Spinach Leaves
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 inch Ginger
- 2 Green Chilies
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- ¼ tsp Asafetida
- 1 cup Red Onion (finely chopped)
- 1 cup Tomato (finely chopped)
- ½ cup Boiled Corn Kernels (Optional)
- 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 ¾ tsp Salt (divided)
Instructions
- Thoroughly rinse 1/3 cup of Toor dal (Yellow split pigeon peas) and 1/3 cup of small grain white rice and put it in a pressure cooker with water twice its quantity. Also add 1 tsp of ghee and 1 tsp of salt in the pressure cooker. Close the lid and cook the rice and dal for 20 mins on medium-high heat. Then turn of the gas and let the cooker cool down completely before opening it.
- If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can also do the above step in an open pot. After rinsing the dal and the rice, soak them for couple of hours (this step with lower the cooking time). Then in a large pot, add dal, rice, salt, ghee and enough water and let it cook over medium heat until the dal and rice are fully cooked, and all the water is evaporated.
- In another large pot, bring water to a boil, then add 3 cups of baby Spinach leaves and cook them for two minutes. Then immediately transfer the blanched spinach into a bowl filled with ice cold water.
- Transfer the blanched spinach into a blender, add 2 cloves of garlic, 1 inch ginger, ½ tsp salt, 2 green chilies and make a purée using as little water as possible. Keep it aside.
- In another non-stick skillet, heat 1 tsp ghee and add 1 tsp cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds swell, add ¼th tsp asafetida, 1 cup finely chopped red onions, 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes, 1/4th tsp salt, 1 tsp turmeric powder and mix everything well.
- Cook the veggies until they’re tender. Then add ½ cup of boiled corn kernels (optional). Followed by the spinach purée that you made. Mix everything well and let the spinach purée come to a boil.
- Now add the cooked rice and Toor dal (Yellow split pigeon peas) into the skillet and gently mix until everything is well combined. Taste check for seasoning.
- Serve immediately with some chilled plain yogurt.
Wow! Upasana very nice recipe keep it up .👍👍