Fragrant, comforting, and easy to serve as a complete meal, Masala Khichdi | Vegetable Khichdi is a vegetarian North Indian main course made with simple everyday ingredients in about 30 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: North Indian

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup broken rice (or any regular rice)
  • ⅓ cup moong dal ((mung lentils))
  • 1 tablespoon ghee
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 small to medium tej patta ((indian bay leaf))
  • ½ inch cinnamon
  • 2 cloves
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 1 medium onion (chopped or ⅓ cup chopped onion)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (or 3 to 4 medium garlic and ½ inch ginger - crushed to a paste in mortar-pestle)
  • 1 small to medium tomato (or ¼ to ⅓ cup chopped tomatoes)
  • 1 or 2 green chilies (- chopped)
  • 1 to 1.25 cups mixed chopped veggies (– carrots, green peas, cauliflower, potato, french beans, capsicum or preferred veggies)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))
  • 2 cups water
  • a few chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
  • salt as required

Method

preparation

  1. Take rice and moong dal in a bowl. Rinse with water for a couple of times. Drain and keep aside.
  2. Also chop the veggies and keep aside.

making masala vegetable khichdi

  1. Heat 1 tbsp ghee or oil in a pressure cooker.
  2. Add the following garam masala or whole spices - 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 small to medium tej patta, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 2 cloves, 2 green cardamoms. Saute till the spices crackle and become fragrant.
  3. Add 1/3 cup chopped onion and saute them till they turn translucent.
  4. Add 1 tsp ginger garlic paste. Stir and saute till the raw aroma of ginger-garlic goes away.
  5. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes and 1 to 2 green chilies (chopped). Saute for a minute or two.
  6. Then add 1 to 1.25 cups mixed chopped veggies along with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp red chili powder and a pinch of asafoetida. For a more spicy khichdi, add 1/2 tsp red chili powder. Saute for a minute.
  7. Add the rice and moong dal. Mix the rice and moong dal with the rest of the ingredients.
  8. Add 2 cups water. This much amount of water gives a masala khichdi which has a consistency not like a porridge, but not even dry like a pulao. For a more liquid consistency, you can increase the amount of water to 2.5 to 3 cups.
  9. Season with salt. Pressure cook for 14 to 15 minutes or for 7 to 8 whistles. When the pressure falls down on its own, remove the lid.
  10. Serve vegetable khichdi hot drizzled with a teaspoon of ghee if you prefer. Accompany a side veggie salad, raita, pickle or plain curd by the side.
  11. You can also garnish it with a few chopped coriander leaves if you want.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.