Toor Dal Khichdi in Pressure Cooker

Khichdi is a one pot preparation with lentils and rice. Lentils used vary from toor dal, chana dal, moong dal to masoor. Today’s recipe is toor dal khichdi with vegetables. This is a filling one pot dish and a one pot meal. This recipe serves one, hence a recipe that falls under 'cooking for one' category.

This is my friend’s recipe. She made this toor dal khichdi when she visited me few years ago and that was the first time I tasted toor dal khichdi. There was no soaking and precooking the dal, and the khichdi was done in a breeze.

Few months ago I asked her the recipe, she was elated to share her recipe with a food blogger 😮 Her family uses chana dal, or combination of chana, toor and moong dals but since her children like this version, she always makes it with toor dal. I adjusted water to rice ratio and cooking time to my liking.

I initially made this recipe for this week's 'one pot dishes' theme, and then changed my mind as I wanted to experiment a bit more with the recipe, before I post. Though I liked the taste and the consistency of the khichdi, it did not taste like the khichdi my friend made years ago. Anyway, if you like khichdi, check out my other recipes on the blog; chana dal khichdi and moong dal khichdi recipes.

Since I wanted to tweak the recipe further, I made another dish for today but I am have some issues with my laptop the past two days. Whenever I load Lightroom, operating system is crashing. Initially I thought it was my old laptop’s fault but now I am beginning to think it is a problem with both LR and OS. Since that is the only application that is giving trouble, I decided not to tinker with it for next few days when I am preoccupied with other stuff. I decided not to edit anymore picture on LR until I get the issue resolved and use the photos I already have. Luckily, most of the photos for this month’s posts are edited and have only 3-4 more posts to cook and shoot, so I think I can use jpeg pictures and edit them online for now.

Source: Friend
Total Time: 45 - 60 minutes
Preparation: 20-30 minutes (includes soaking time)
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 10 - 15 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:
Measuring cup used here is the one that comes with the rice cooker, which is 180 ml.

⅔ cup Rice (I used basmati rice)
⅓ cup Toor Dal (rice and dal combined 1 cup)
2 tbsp. Oil
2 Cloves
2 Cardamoms
¼“ Cinnamon Stick
1 Bay Leaf
¼ tsp. Cumin
½ small Onion, sliced
1 tsp. Ginger Garlic Paste
3 small Green Chilies, cut into half
3 Baby Potatoes, peeled and diced, about ⅓ - ½ cup when diced
½ cup chopped Spinach
8 - 10 Strings of Green Bean, cut into ½-¾” pieces, about ⅓ cup
1 small Carrot, peeled and cut into ½” cubes, about ¼ - ⅓ cup
1 cup Cauliflower Florets
1 small Tomato, chopped, about ½-¾ cup (can add more for more sour flavor)
Pinch to ¼ tsp. Turmeric Powder
½ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
1¼ cup Water
1-2 tbsp. Cilantro ~ Kothmir Leaves, chopped

Preparation:

Wash rice and dal, and soak in a bowl for 30 minutes.
Chop all the vegetables and keep aside.
Take oil in a pressure cooker to prepare Khichdi. I used both a 2 liters Hawkins pressure cooker and a 3 liters Prestige cooker for this quantity of rice and this time it was a 3 liter cooker. Start this step 20 minutes after soaking rice and dal.
When oil is hot, add cloves, cardamoms, cumin, bay leaf and cumin seeds.
Add onions and saute until soft.
Add ginger garlic paste, green chilies and saute until raw smell of ginger is gone.
Add potatoes and saute for a minute.
Add beans, carrots, spinach, cauliflower and mix well for a minute until spices coat the vegetables.
Add tomato, salt and saute for 2-3 minutes until tomatoes are soft and vegetables are roasted.
Remove rice & dal from water, add to sauteed vegetables mixture.
Lightly roast rice and dal for a minute or two.
Add 1 ¼ cup water, chopped cilantro (kothmir leaves) and give a good stir. I used 1:1 ¼ cup rice+dal to water ratio.
Close the pressure cooker with the lid, when pressure builds up, put the weight/whistle.
Cook for one whistle/hiss on high, reduce the flame to low and cook for 2 minutes.
Turn off the flame and let the pressure cooker release pressure naturally. This will take at least 10 - 15 minutes. If you are not in a hurry, let it sit longer.
When ready to serve, open the pressure cooker, fluff up the rice and serve with some pickle or raita or plain yogurt.

Note:

Toor dal can be substituted with chana dal or moong dal or combination of these dals can be used.
Use any vegetables you like.
I soaked rice for ½ hour and cooked khichdi for 1 whistle. However, my friend uses equal quantities of rice and dal, soaks the dal before she starts the prep work (cutting veggies) for the khichdi and makes the khichdi right away. She uses 1 : 1 ¾ cups of rice+dal to water ratio for grainy rice and more water for a soft mushy khichdi. She cooks it for 3 whistle/hisses. This ratio and cooking time did not work for me, though my friend says this recipe (water ratio and cooking time) has never failed her. If you like very soft, mushy rice, go with my friend's water ratio and cooking time.

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2013 - Potato Kurma in Pressure Cooker
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