Instant Khichdi mix- a ready to cook mix of rice, lentil, spices and tempering-just add water and cook
Khichdi is a comfort food of Indian cuisine,its healthy and easy to cook.It don’t take much time to cook and is fuss free.. Khichdi can be made with almost all the Indian lentils,every one have their own preferences and method of cooking ,some like it simple and some prefer to add vegetables in it. I usually prefer Tuvar daal Khichdi and Gujarati Vaghareli khichdi then the others khichdis.
Now there are so many packed food and ready to eat food packets are easily available in the market. So many variety and so attractive packaging and tag lines . But we are not sure about the quality of the ingredients added in those packets and the freshness of that food inside.
The working women who doesn’t have much time to prepare fresh breakfast,lunch and dinner ,students who are going away from the house for their further studies often crave for home made food ,no body can enjoy hotel or hostel food every day so they end up buying such ready to cook packed food. When people go for tours due to their work also need such type of easy to cook food packets .
So Instead of buying expensive and not so healthy ready food packets from the markets it is a good idea to make such food items at home .They are quite easy to make and very healthy and hygienic.
I have already posted the recipe of making- Home made Instant Upma Mix and Instant Poha mix recipes which you can easily make and pack for your loved ones or make for your self and keep in your kitchen pantry and use when ever needed.
Today I am sharing this easy to make -Instant masala khichdi mix ,which you can make either in the pressure cooker or in the microwave. Just add water and cook.Can add some chopped vegetables in it while pressure cooking to make it more healthy and colorful .Easily stays fresh for a month at room temperature and for 4-5 months(minimum) in the refrigerator.
Instant Masala Khichdi Mix- ready to cook mix
Ingredients
- 2 cup Rice/chawal
- 1.5 cup Yellow Lentil / Moong Daal (dhuli huee)
- 3/4 tsp Red Chilli powder / Laal mirch powder
- 3/4 tsp Turmeric Powder / Haldi Powder
- 1 tsp Readymade Pickle Masala / Achar Masala optional
- 3.5 tsp Salt / Namak
- 20 Peppercorns / Sabut Kali Mirch
- 10 Cloves / Lavang
- 1 inch Cinnamon /daalchini
- 6 Green Cardamom / Hari Elaichi
- 1/3 cup Cashew Nuts / Kaju broken into pieces
- 2.5 tsp Ginger / Adrak chopped
- hand ful of Curry Leaves / Kadi Patta
- 8 Dried Red Chilli, Whole
- 1/2 cup Fresh Coriander / Cilantro / Hara Dhaniya dried
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds / Rai *
- 1.5 tsp Cumin Seeds / Sabut Jeera
- 1/2 tsp Asafoetida / Hing powder
- 6 tbsp Cooking oil or ghee
Instructions
- Wipe rice and lentil with a moist kitchen towel and then sun dry for just an hour.
- How to dry the coriander -wash and chop the fresh coriander and then spread it on the paper napkin for a day so it will dry completely
- Heat the pan and add the chopped ginger and dry roast till the moisture evaporates and IT look dry, then keep aside in a plate
- Heat ghee in the pan and add the whole spices (Garam masala)and saute for few seconds then add cumin and mustard ,when cumin start crackling then add the cashew nuts, whole red chilies, asafoetida , ginger,curry leaves and stir for few seconds.
- Now add the rice and yellow lentil in the pan and saute for about 5 minutes on low heat
- Add salt, turmeric, chili powder and pickle masala and give a stir and remove from the heat.
- Let it cool down completely then add the dried coriander leaves and mix.
- Next day fill the khichdi mix in the glass jar or zip lock bags and store or carry on your tours and trips.
- How to cook it- if you want to make a dry pulao kind khichdi then add 2.5 cups of water in 1 cup khichdi mix , and if you want a soft khichdi then add 3.5 -4 cups of water in a cup of khichdi mix.but it also depend on the quality of rice and lentil so adjust accordingly by trial and errors 🙂
Notes
- you can also add some chopped vegetable in the khichdi while cooking.
- It will take about 3-4 whistles in the pressure cooker to make the khichdi.
- It will take about 20 minutes to cook in the microwave ,again it depend on the power and watt of your microwave ,so adjust accordingly.
- Try using broken rice or the rice variety which cook faster and easily become soft and mushy when cooked ,no need to use long grain basmati rice to make this instant khichdi.
Hi how to cook this if I am travelling.
Hi Sushila -you can either pressure cook it or make it in the microwave
Hello mam, can I cook this on a stovetop in a pan? how long will it take? I am travelling and will only have a small pan to cook in. What would you suggest I carry along?
Hello Sri-yes you can cook it on stove pan in a pan ,it will take around 20 minutes,I suggest you to soak it in water before start cooking.you just need a pan with a lid and a spatula or spoon.
Really helpful mam,thanks…
Thanks for the recipe. I searched to pack for long trip… Will try out and let you know feedback.
waiting for your feedback 🙂
Don’t we need to wash rice and dal…
Does just wiping with moist kitchen trowel rid
the grains of the pesticides???
Nidhi if you want to wash them then wash and dry them completely else just wiping them with a moist towel is also fine
Really helpful recipe ma’am.. will definitely try
It looks like it’s so delicious! I’m definitely going to try it this weekend. Thank you for sharing the details!
I love khichdi.. This is a nice and handy recipe.