Khichdi is a comfort food for me and my family. It is in itself a wholesome meal. There can be various reasons for me to cook khichdi, if someone in the house is not keeping well or have digestion issues, khichdi is the remedy. Jokes apart, khichdi is light on the stomach and easy to digest. The ingredients for khichdi can vary largely. Sometimes, I prepare bajra ki khichdi and there are times, it is oats and vegetable khichdi.

This recipe is about split yellow moong dal khichdi with bottle gourd. A convenient way to incorporate bottle gourd in your meal. I have kept the tempering very simple with hing and jeera to keep the flavors of the main ingredients intact.

Cooking th khichdi

1 cup split yellow moong dal

1/2 cup rice

300gm bottle gourd (lauki / ghiya), chopped into small cubes

6 cups water (~ 1200ml) water

Salt to taste

2/3 tsp turmeric powder

For the tempering

2 tsp desi ghee

1/2 tsp jeera

Pinch of asefoetida

1 tsp coriander powder

2 green chili, slit into 4

Handful of chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

Cooking the khichdi

Rinse and wash dal and rice together in a bowl with 3-4 times change of water. After that, soak in 3 cups water and leave aside for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

In a pressure cooker, add soaked dal and rice along with the water, salt, turmeric and chopped bottle gourd. Add 3 more cups of water and cook for 2 whistles on medium flame.

For the tempering

Heat a small pan. Add ghee, once warm, add asefoetida and jeera. Cook on low flame until jeera starts to splutter. Add split green chilies and cook for a about a minute. Turn off the flame and add coriander powder. Since the ghee is already hot, the masala will cook in it.

Add the tempering to the khichdi and mix well.

Add chopped coriander for garnish and serve the khichdi on it own or with curd / pickle / papad.

NOTES

Soaking dal and rice fastens the cooking process but it can be avoided if there is no buffer time.