“Masoor Dal- Lapsi- Vegetable Masala Khichidi” served with homemade Dahi and Donne-Mirsange Bajo … I have always loved variations in preparation of khichidi be it prepared sweet or spicy … here is a delicious spicy one prepared with a mixture of lentils and thick rava with addition of seasonal veggies, which I got to know about from a Gujarati friend … a lovely dish to relish on “No Onion- Garlic- Rice” Days served with simple curds … added on some bajias/ fritters to make it that much more appealing … Yummilicious …
** As I mentioned Khichidi is sort of a one pot meal that can be relished to hearts content with plain homemade curds/ raita. In my home we often prepare moong dal- rice khichidi sometimes as it is or at times with variations adding on veggies, or serving with plain or bajia dunked besan kadhi, etc. Somehow, we never get bored eating this meal even when repeated over several times in a month. Decades back I got to know about khichidi prepared with moong dal and thick lapsic (kanik rava/ bansi rava) from a Gujarati friend of mine. I was very eager to try it out as till then I had prepared khichidi with inclusion of rice only.
** We loved it very much and those days I did prepare it quite often. However, in recent years I somehow never got round to preparing it, so yesterday when I came across some excess red lentils/ masoor dal while clearing my kitchen, I just felt why not try a variation of kjichidi mixing it with rava and veggies, as it was Ekadashi, when its NO Onion- Garlic- Rice day for us. That’s it here is the lovely khichidi prepared with masoor dal and bansi rava with lots of veggies like fresh green peas, french beans, capsicum, carrots, tomatoes and spices. With this lentil combination, I am preparing it for the first time and it tasted wonderful.
** Diversity, be it in our way of life or food or other ways should be tried out to make it that much more interesting. There is so much you can experiment with when it comes to food, be it trying out in healthy ways or otherwise, the choice is yours. If you stick to routine ones, you will never learn much in life, neither will you discover new dishes, tastes nor will you enjoy the joy of finding or cracking out some new combos. There are so many healthy combinations out there that can be relished even by those who are health conscious, dieting or people with minor ailments, you just need to try them out, not just sit there and imagine.
** This Khichidi is a healthy one and served simple with just homemade skimmed cow’s milk curds, it is a better choice for anybody to consume for a healthy lifestyle. Those with BP, diabetes, heart ailments etc. always turn their life into depression by mere thoughts of thinking that they have to give up on everything that was dear to them in life. While I agree one needs to cut down drastically on salty, sweet, oily or many more dishes, there are plenty out there that are very healthy and can be relished IN LIMITS, so change your lifestyle, study about nutrition and keep in touch with your Doctor and lead a satisfactory life.
** Here is my very own healthy recipe for “Masoor Dal-Lapsi-Vegetable Masala Khichidi” … My Style, do try it out and enjoy with your family …
** Wash and soak one cup of masoor dal/ red lentil in plenty of water for just 10-15 minutes. Once again wash it and then put it in pressure cooker with 1.5 cups of water and cook on medium flame to 2-3 whistles. Remove and keep it aside allowing the pressure to fall on its on, when able to open the lid, do so and keep it aside ready to used later.
** You can use Veggies of your choice, I have used green peas, capsicum, carrot, french beans and tomatoes here which are all in season now and a very healthy Option. Keep all the veggies cleaned and cut ready and the lentils too pressure cooked and ready, before you begin to start preparing the khichidi as rest of the method hardly takes time.
** Peel off the skin of 1 large sized carrot (gajar) and cut them into ½ inch sized cubes. String 8-10 french beans and cut them into one inch sized pieces. Shell about one cup of fresh green peas (vatana). Wash and cut one large sized capsicum (simla mirchi/ donne mirsanga) into small pieces. I did not have cauliflower, you can add it too.
** Wash, wipe dry and cut into small pieces one large sized tomato and keep this separately aside. Wash, scrape the outer skin of one inch sized adrak (ginger/ alle’), grate it and keep it aside ready. Pick, clean, wash and finely chop about one cup of coriander leaves (dhania/ kottambari pallo) and keep it also aside ready.
** Add about 4 cups of water in a vessel and bring to boil, when it starts boiling add in the prepared and kept green peas, french beans and carrot pieces and let cook on medium heat till half done, lastly add in the capsicum pieces and let simmer on low heat while you prepare the khichidi. If adding cauliflower add initially along with the first three veggies.
** Heat 2-3 tblsp ghee/ toop in a kadai/ pan, when hot add handful of cashew nuts (kajjubi/ kaju) and fry till lightly browned, remove and keep it aside on a plate. Add in 1 tsp of mustard seeds (rai/ sasam) when they begin to splutter add in 1 tsp of cumin seeds (jeera), 8-10 curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu) and fry for a few seconds.
** Now add ½ tsp haldi (turmeric) powder, ½ tsp kashmiri red chilly powder, ½ tsp hing (asafoetida) powder and then immediately add in 1 cup of bansi rava (lapsi/ broken wheat) and fry on medium to low heat for about 4-5 minutes, if need be add in another tablespoon of ghee, if you find that the rava is not getting fried well, which is optional.
** When fried, add 2-3 tsp of Kashmiri red chilly powder (mirsange pitti/ tikat), 1 tblsp of malvani masala powder, salt (namak/ meeta) to taste, chopped tomatoes, cooked lentils and mix well. Lower the heat and add the simmering water along with veggies in them slowly into the kadai and immediately mix them well so that there are no lumps formed.
** Cover with lid and let cook on low heat. Always do keep aside ready some boiling water to be added if need be. In between give a good stir and add in more hot water if needed. When 80% done add coriander leaves keeping aside a handful for garnishing and mix well. Cover and cook till all the ingredients have cooked mushy and well done.
** This is a soft textured Khichidi so remember to cook it that way and not like pulao or biryani where the grains remain separate. Add hot water if needed, check seasoning and add if required. When done remove from fire, garnish with coriander leaves, fried and kept cashew nuts. Cover and keep it aside for 15 minutes for the flavors to seep in well.
** “Masoor Dal-Lapsi-Vegetable Masala Khichidi” is done and ready to be served. This is a very spicy khichidi that really does not need any other accompaniment served along with it. So, I prefer serving it hot topped with a teaspoon of homemade ghee, a lemon wedge for those who like a little bit of tartness to khichidi and just fresh homemade curds.
** If you have guests coming over or you want some added on accompaniments, just add in a few bajo’s/ bajia or tava fried podi (fries) while serving and it turns out into a fantastic meal. Today being Ekadashi it was NO Onion- Garlic- Rice one meal of the day for us, so I prepared a few donne mirsange bajo (capsicum fritters) to be served along too.
** The recipe may look a long read, but its actually simple and easy to prepare dish, its just that I like to always give/ write full explanation method without taking short cuts or leaving somethings to imagination. Just try it out and I assure you it’s a healthy dish that will be loved by one and all and yes, you can cut down on ghee and spices if need be.
** Note : I love the flavor of Malvani Masala Powder, so add it to most of my dishes, however, you can skip it and add any other masala powder you have, like pav bhaji or chole masala powders too. If you do not have any, then just add chilly powder, coriander powder, jeera powder in proper portion along with just a pinch of garam masala powder.
** If you want to try out “Donne Mirsange Bajo (Capsicum Fritters)" Recipe, Please follow the link given below …
** If you are new to preparation of curds at home, then you can also check out the method of “pefect curds at home” in the link shared below …
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