Our Vegetable Khichdi Recipe (Masala Khichdi) – Instant Pot

Vegetable Khichdi Recipe

Looking for an easy, one-pot dish that’s packed with healthy ingredients such as rice, lentils, and veggies? Then you’ve come to the perfect place!

In this article, we’ll be explaining how to make a yummy Moong Dal Khichdi dish with plenty of Indian spices and healthy veggies.

What’s more, we’ll be going through not one but two different methods to make it. One in an Instant Pot, if you’re lucky enough to own one, and also how to make it in a generic pressure cooker if that’s what you’re working with.

Let’s get cooking!

What You Need To Make This Vegetable Khichdi Recipe

Equipment

In terms of equipment, all you need for this recipe is either an Instant Pot or a generic pressure cooker.

Ingredients

  • Half a cup of lentils: We recommend using split green moong dal for the lentils, but other dals can be used in its place (more on that in our FAQ section).
  • Half a cup of rice: We like to use white sona masoori rice (a type of white, short-grain rice) for this recipe, but long-grain basmati rice also works well with it.
  • 2 cups of diced mixed veggies: In this instance, we are using cauliflower, green beans, green peas, and carrots.
  • 1 cup of spinach: Chopped, and also referred to as palak.
  • 1 medium chopped yellow onion.
  • Half a teaspoon of cumin seeds: Also referred to as jeera, cumin seeds are an important part of any Indian dal recipe, and they cannot be skipped.
  • 2 green chilis: If you wish to add heat, we can recommend using 2 Thai green chilis, but this can be skipped if you so wish.
  • Dry spices: Half a teaspoon each of red chili powder, ground coriander, and turmeric powder. This can be adjusted if it’s not to your taste.
  • 1 teaspoon of ginger: Freshly minced ginger would be ideal, but if not, you can substitute this with some store-bought ginger paste.
  • 1 tablespoon of oil: Traditionally, this recipe uses ghee, but we’re using oil to make sure it’s vegan.
  • 3 and a half cups of water.
  • Salt: To taste.
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro: Also known as coriander leaves, as a nice finishing touch.

How To Make Vegetable Khichdi In An Instant Pot

Here’s what you need to do to make vegetable khichidi in your Instant Pot:

  1. Begin by chopping your onion, cauliflower, green beans, green peas, carrots, and spinach, and deseeding and chopping your green chilis. Also, peel and mince your fresh ginger if you’re using it, and rinse the lentils (or dal).
  2. Set your Instant Pot to the sauté mode, and add in your cooking oil.
  3. Once hot, throw in the green chilis, ginger, and cumin seeds, and sauté them for a few seconds.
  4. Next, throw in the diced onions and sauté them until they become light brown in color.
  5. Now, you can add in your spinach and mixed veggies, which you should sauté for a further minute.
  6. Then, you can throw in the dry spices, namely the salt, ground coriander, turmeric powder, and red chili powder, and pour in the water, stirring well to combine the ingredients.
  7. Next, secure the lid and set the vent to “sealing”. Now, you can choose the High Pressure setting, on PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL, and set the dish to cook for 8 minutes.
  8. When the time is up, you must allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, being careful to release any remaining pressure prior to removing the lid.
  9. Once open, throw in the chopped cilantro leaves and give the dish a good mix once again.
  10. At this point, you can add in some extra water if you are concerned that the khichdi is too dry or not mushy. Then cook for a further minute.

We recommend serving your vegetable khichdi immediately, perhaps along with some kadhi, raita, or vegan yogurt on the side.

How To Make Vegetable Khichdi In A Generic Pressure Cooker

Here’s what you need to do to make vegetable khichidi in a regular pressure cooker:

  1. Begin by chopping your onion, cauliflower, green beans, green peas, carrots, and spinach, and deseeding and chopping your green chilis. Also, peel and mince your fresh ginger if you’re using it, and rinse the lentils (or dal).
  2. Sauté your cooking oil.
  3. Once hot, throw in the green chilis, ginger, and cumin seeds, and sauté them for a few seconds.
  4. Next, throw in the diced onion and sauté them until they become light brown in color.
  5. Now, you can add in your spinach and mixed veggies, which you should sauté for a further minute.
  6. Then, you can throw in the dry spices, namely the salt, ground coriander, turmeric powder, and red chili powder, and pour in the water, stirring well to combine the ingredients.
  7. Next, secure the lid of the pressure cooker and place a whistle, cooking on a medium flame for 3 to 4 whistles.
  8. When the time is up, you must allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, being careful to release any remaining pressure prior to removing the lid.
  9. Once open, throw in the chopped cilantro leaves and give the dish a good mix once again.
  10. At this point, you can add in some extra water if you are concerned that the khichdi is too dry or not mushy. Then cook for a further minute.

We recommend serving your vegetable khichdi immediately, perhaps along with some kadhi, raita, or yogurt on the side.

Vegetable Khichdi Recipe

Side Dish Serving Suggestions For Vegetable Khichdi

Khichdi can be served as a complete meal in itself; however, there’s no harm in making a side dish to go with it if you so wish.

This recipe tastes particularly good when paired with some kadhi, and a little pickle and papad on the side.

You could also consider serving it with some kachumber salad, chaas, or vegan yogurt.

Here are some great side dishes to consider that pair really well with this vegetable khichdi:

Tomato Chutney

Tomato chutney brings a nice contrast of flavor when served alongside vegetable khichidi. And it looks amazing, too. It takes about half an hour to make, and it features ingredients that are always easy to get hold of.

Palak Pakora

For those of you who don’t already know, palak pakora is basically another term for crispy spinach fritters. Because they are crispy, they provide an excellent pairing for this khichdi recipe because of the contrast of texture. You don’t need a lot of ingredients, and it can be ready to eat in just 20 minutes.

Mango Pickle

Although mango pickle is something that you often find in grocery stores, it can be fun to make your own, and if you do, this is the one we recommend. You only need 7 ingredients, and it’s ready to eat in less than 20 minutes.

Beguni

Beguni are basically eggplant fritters. It’s a Bengali dish with an amazing texture. All you have to do is dip a few eggplant slices into a thick, spiced chickpea flour batter before then deep-frying them to perfection.

Papad

Papad is a thin, crisp, round, deep-fried snack that you can use to scoop up your vegetable khichdi!

How Best To Store Your Vegetable Khichdi

Vegetable khichidi tastes best when served immediately upon cooking.

However, we are pleased to report that vegetable khichdi leftovers can be kept for some time after making if you’re lucky enough to have any. Here’s how:

  • Refrigerator: Provided that you keep the khichidi in an airtight container, it will keep in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.
  • Freezer: Provided that you keep the khichidi in an airtight container, it will freeze well and keep for a period of up to 3 months.
  • Reheating: If reheating your khichdi from frozen, you must ensure that it is thoroughly defrosted first. You can reheat your khichidi either on a stove top pot or in a microwave oven, but when you do, we recommend that you add a little water, at least a tablespoon, so that it doesn’t become too dry and it retains its moisture.

Different Variations Of Vegetable Khichdi You Can Try

There are so many ways you can switch up this recipe – let us walk you through…

  • Alternative veggies: To make this dish even healthier, you can throw in all manner of veggies. We’ve found that potato, pumpkin, cabbage, sweet potato, broccoli, and eggplant work well in this dish. And you’ll be pleased to hear that you can use frozen veggies as well.
  • Alternative lentils (dal): We like to use split moong dal for this recipe, with the husk or skin still on. However, you could try using toor dal (split pigeon peas) or moong dal without skin instead. Or you could use Masoor Dal, Chana Dal, or any combination of Dal, in fact.
  • Brown rice instead of white: If you want to give the dish more fiber, you can replace the white rice with brown rice instead. However, please bear in mind that if you do so, you will have to pressure-cook the dish for longer, up to 22 minutes or so.
  • Alternative grains: Or, rather than using rice, you could use other grains in its place. For example, we’ve tried it with millet and quinoa. But you won’t have to change the pressure-cooking time; you can keep it at 8 minutes on high.
  • Tweak the water ratio: In this recipe, we used 3 times the amount of water as the volume of rice and lentils put together, and it is through doing this that you achieve a soft consistency reminiscent of oatmeal. If you wish to make it more soup-like, all you have to do is add more water.
  • Adjust the spice amount or ratio: If you’re cooking for picky eaters, such as children, you may wish to adjust the amount of spice according to their taste.

Final Thoughts

We hope that you’ve found this recipe easy to follow and that you feel encouraged to go ahead and give it a go.

This vegetable, khichidi, is suitable for vegetarians, is very low in calories, and can easily be made suitable for vegans as well (more on that later).

And don’t be afraid to try any of the variations to the recipe mentioned earlier and tailor the dish to your particular tastes or according to what you already have in your kitchen.

Bon appétit!

See also: How to make mushroom masala.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Use Brown Basmati Rice For Vegetable Khichdi?

There’s no harm in using brown basmati rice for this dish in place of the white rice.

Is Vegetable Khichdi Gluten-Free?

We are pleased to report that this vegetable, khichidi, is 100% gluten-free and, as such, can be enjoyed by celiacs.

Can Other Dals Be Used To Make Vegetable Khichdi?

You certainly can. We like to use split moong dal for this recipe, with the husk, or skin still on. However, you could try using toor dal (split pigeon peas) or moong dal without skin instead. Or you could use Masoor Dal, Chana Dal, or any combination of Dal, in fact.

How Many Calories Are In Vegetable Khichdi?

This recipe is very low in calories, it makes 3 servings in total, coming in at 264 calories per serving. This means that it’s perfect for most dieters, and you can enjoy it even when trying to lose weight.

Share the Post:

Related Posts