"Masala Khichidi served with Onion- Tomato- Green Moong Sprouts Raita, Capsicum Bajia/ Bajo/ Fries and plain Curds" ... this aromatic khichidi is a treasured recipe in our home for over 45 yrs retrieved from the then famous "Dalda Cookery Book" ... Old cookery books are always worth its weight in gold when its comes to delicacies/recipes and I simply love browsing through my huge collection of books as I always find the forgotten childhood relished recipes in them ..... this spicy masala khichidi is prepared with rice- masoor dal along with spices and addition of potatoes, is scrumptious in taste ... tastes best with plain curds or simple raita ... Yummilicious ....
** Khichidi is a dish prepared with a combination of lentils and rice, spiced and served as a meal with either raita or any kadhi/sambar as side dish. Masala Khichidi is a recipe which my sister came across in the Dalda Cookery Book in 1975 which means at that time I was barely 10 years of age. I have often tried to remember certain dishes I loved during childhood but somehow I was too young to be interested then to jot down the recipes. That was the era of cookery books which we borrowed either from library or neighbors and browsed through and looked in awe at the wonderful colored food pictures in beautiful china wares. My father loved food and always encouraged my Mother and siblings to try them out, he even brought home packed food from eateries for us to taste and get the knack of the same as those days taking huge families to restaurant for lunch/dinner was not at all done, though my father did take us at least 3-4 times a year to really good ones where we really were supposed to be in the best of our behavior, not that we were ill mannered, I think all of us were always obedient during childhood and behaved politely.
** Women’s Era, Femina, Eve’s Weekly and a few Kannada weekly always were subscribed and we always eagerly looked out for easy and good recipes. I have no idea how I came across this book, but my sister did prepare this recipe called Masala Khichdi which I loved very much. Somehow after marriage I brought my huge collection of books along with me to my new home and often browsed through them for recipes. This book somehow landed with me and I have prepared this Masala Khichidi a few times during the first decade of my marriage. After that I somehow moved to Non-Veg. dishes and these dishes completely took a backseat. My collection crosses over a hundred books and they are all neatly stacked in cupboard which trust me have not be touched for ages except while dusting as it is net age now. After starting my Blog, I have often wanted to retrieve them, as I strongly believe the real treasure lies in those books. Yes, it is true, my father had printing press and I had bound all my collection of books including the pages which I tore out of magazines and had filed them. They have somehow been lost in transit and I so do regret that mishap now.
** It gives me immense pleasure as I browse through these recipes, as now I am able to grasp them better after being in this field for over 3 decades. Initially, I really found it tough to understand how a dish would turn out by just reading a recipe without any attachment of a picture to it. Some books are so old that, I have to take care as I browse through them for the fear of them getting torn out. Many a times while I am free or when I toss around unable to sleep, I go back to those lovely childhood day memories and sometime it games, at times those lovely books, friends etc. Accidentally I do vaguely remember dishes that I relished and give a call to Mom to query about the same, sometimes she is able to tell me, but many a times she herself cannot understand what exactly I am asking for. A week back as the year came to an end I suddenly made a decision that in 2020, I would really make an effort to prepare, relish and share from my treasured book assets, those lovely recipes from my collection and here is my first one. Special thanks to the The New Dalda Cook Book for this lovely, delicious recipe. I have just made a few minute changes in the recipe, but by large remains same.
** Here is my Recipe for “Masala Khichidi” … My Style … Do try it out, tastes aromatic and awesome when served with simple curds or raita ….
** Ingredients :
Basmati Tukda (Broken) Rice : 1 cup
Masoor Dal/Split Red Lentils : ¼ cup
Coconut/Soyi/Nariayal : ½ cup freshly grated white part only
Potato/Batato/Aloo :1 large sized
Cashew Nuts/Kajjubi : handful
Raisins/Dried Grapes/Sukkile Draksha : handful
Onion/Piyavu/Kanda : 1+1 medium sized.
Ginger/Alle’/Adrak : 1 inch piece
Ginger/Losun/Lehsun : 6 Cloves
Green Chillies/Tarni Mirsanga/Hirvi Mirchi : 2 spicy ones
Cumin Seeds/Jeera : 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds/Kothimbir/Dhania : 1 tsp
Cardamom/Yelu/Ellaichi : 2-3 green ones
Cinnamon/Tike Saal : 2 inch piece
Black Pepper Corn/Mire/Kali Miri : 12
Cloves/Lavang : 4-5
Badisep/Fennel Seeds/Saunf : ¼ tsp
Turmeric/Haldi Powder : ¼ tsp
Coriander Leaves/Dhania/Kottambari Pallo : ½ cup finely chopped
Curry Leaves/Kadipatta/Karbevu : 10-12 fresh ones.
Ghee/Toop : 2 tblsp
Oil/Tel : ½ cup
Boiling Water : 2.5 cups
Salt to taste/Namak Swad ke Anusar
** Wash and soak basmati rice in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Drain off the water, add to it the masoor dal and rinse well under running water and keep it aside in colander to drain off excess water for about 15-20 minutes.
** Peel off the skin of potato and cut them into 2 inch sized cubes. Wash them and keep them ready aside soaked in water so that it does not get discolored.
** Peel off the skin of onions and slice one onion thinly lengthwise and finely chop the other one and keep them separately aside.
** Heat the kadai and add in the spices~cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, badisep and fry for 2-3 minutes on low heat without adding oil. Do not over heat or they will turn bitter, just warm them up. Put them into a mixer grinder and grind into a fine powder. Keep this ready aside.
** Wash, chop ginger and green chillies into pieces. Peel off the skin of garlic and cut them also into pieces. Put all three ingredients into mixer grinder and grind to a smooth paste without adding water. Remove and keep this ready aside.
** Heat the oil together in a thick bottomed kadai, when hot add in the thinly sliced onion and fry till crisp golden brown. Drain, remove it and keep it aside in a plate. Now add in the cashew nut and fry till they turn light brown in color, remove and keep it in the plate. Finally add in the raisins and when they turn brown add them also into the plate.
** Drain off the potatoes and pat them dry well on a thick cotton cloth, add these to the oil in the kadai and fry till they turn brown and are cooked. Remove and add them also into the plate. Lastly add the curry leaves, fry for a second, remove and keep it also in the plate. These fried ingredients kept in the plate are all to be garnished later.
** Now add the ghee into the kadai in which the oil is remained and let it come to heat. If you find that the oil has decreased a lot, you can add in a tablespoon or two. Add the finely chopped onion and fry till it turns lightly brownish in colour.
** Now add the ground ginger-garlic-green chilly paste and further fry for another few minutes, till the rawness of the same goes and you get a good aroma. Now add in the masala powder, turmeric powder and fry for half a minute and then add in the drained rice-dal along with coconut, salt to taste and coriander leaves.
** Mix all the ingredients well and fry for at least 2-3 minutes on slow to medium heat. Finally add the boiling water, mix well, cover and bring to a boil. Once to comes to boil, lower the heat to minimum, cover with a tight flat lid, place a vessel with water in it on top of the lid and let the khichidi cook till done.
** Note : While cooking spiced masala rice dishes always cover the degchi/kadai/pan with a flat well fitting lid and keep a vessel with about half a liter of water in it on top of the flat lid. This helps the rice cook well without getting burnt at the bottom and always keeps the steam intact in the kadai and not allow it to escape ... sort of dum procedure.
** However, do check out once in between the cooking process and give a light handed mix for even cooking. Keep half a cup of extra boiling water ready and add in only if required, I have not added as I did not need it. When done, remove from fire, cover and keep it as it is for 5-10 minutes undisturbed.
** Now open the lid of kadai and garnish the khichidi with the prepared and kept ready aside fried onions, potatoes, cashew nuts and raisins along with some finely chopped coriander leaves and it is done. You can add on top some melted hot ghee too and cover and keep it aside for the flavors to be infused.
** "Masala Khichidi” is done and ready to be served. This khichidi tastes best when served hot with plain curds or any raita of your choice. We had this for lunch today and I served it with simple “Onion- Tomato- Green Moong Sprouts Raita, some Capsicum Bajia/ Bajo/ Fries and plain Curds too" to which recipe I have shared the link below. My lunch was scrumptious and I relished this particular khichidi to my heart’s content after about 2 decades.
** Do try out this delicious khichidi, I assure you it’s one of the best Masala Khichidi recipe that’s sure to be loved by one and all in your family and even amongst your friends. This is a one pot sort of dish that really does not need any accompaniment except a little bit of curds or raita to get along with. It has enough spices included and a complete meal in itself. You can add on some bajias to make it more lift if you have friends or relative coming out for lunch/dinner.
** Note : The original recipe is from the “Dalda Cookery Book-1975” and the credit definitely goes to them. I have made in a few minute changes while the rest of the recipe remains untouched. Given below are the small changes I made into the recipe.
** The recipe called for preparation of the khichidi in 1.5 cups of pure ghee only, which I assure you tastes awesome as that is how I prepared it decades back, but this time round I have cut down the fat content and mixed oil and ghee as in modern day that becomes a little bit on heavier side.
** I have replaced cashew nuts in place of almonds as I felt they tasted better and also being a south Indian we are always partial towards garnishing with fried cashew nuts. You can however use the sliced almonds, in which case do not fry it too much in ghee, just a minute or so is enough.
** I have also added on a few curry leaves, which was not included in the original recipe. Again we love them in all our dishes specially so with rice recipes, you may or may not include them. But I suggest you do as it does leave out some aroma into the oil when fried that turns imparts lovely flavor to it.
** I have included Badisep (Fennel Seeds/Saunf) and Coriander Seeds (Kothimbir/Dhania) while dry roasting for the powdered masala while that was not so in the original recipe. Again badisep is not only healthy when added to dishes but also gives good flavor when combined with other garam masalas and I always make it a point to add them on.
** I have used Basmati Tukda Rice here while the recipe did not mention any. I soaked the rice for 30 minutes and then mixed the same with masoor dal and rinsed well. In the original recipe I guess they used normal rice coz. both were washed and just rinsed together and kept aside for 10 minutes only. I leave the choice of rice to you, but rust me taste great with basmati tukda (broken) rice.
** I served the “Masala Khichidi” with “Onion- Tomato- Green Moong Sprouts Raita, Capsicum Bajia/ Bajo/ Fries and plain Curds”. Sharing recipe links to all three of the items below and you can check them out for the recipe by following the same ….
1.. For “Onion- Tomato- Green Moong Sprouts Raita” Recipe, Please follow the link given below ….
2. For “Donnemirsange Bajo/Capsicum Fries/Simla Mirchi Bajia” Recipe, Please follow the link given below ….
3. For the “Prepraration Method of Perfect Set Curds”, Please follow the link given below ….
** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of different types in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and Enjoy them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible.
** I am happy to inform you that I have also started a food group for by the name "KONKANI DELICACIES" which is over and year old, with about 23 K strong members. It is a pleasure to inform that you will find in the group many more recipes posted by our expert members and you too can share some of your own. The link to the group is posted on the left side of the blog page. Do join us in our culinary journey. I strongly believe in Sharing and always endorse that "Sharing Is Caring" Thank You.
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