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Lord Krishna’s Khichdi

A simple, one-pot dish with the textures of Bengal gram dal and soft rice enlivened by feathery, licoricey fresh dill. Adapted from the Gujarati “Geeli Chana Dal Khichari” on p. 82 of Yamuna Devi’s classic cookbook, Lord Krishna’s Cuisine—she allows dill seeds to be substituted for fresh dill; I swear by the latter alone. I’ve also added the option of using onions and garlic, though Yamuna Devi’s recipes are, according to Vaishnava custom, free of both.
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup parboiled or other short grained rice of your choosing: ambasamudram idli rice/Ambai 16, Arcot khichli samba, iluppaipoo samba all work very well.
  • ½ cup Bengal gram dal
  • 6-7 cups of water
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric

To fry

  • 1/2 tablespoon ghee or oil (use up to 2 tablespoons if using onions and garlic below)
  • 1 teaspoon jeera
  • 3-4 dry red chillies
  • A few generous pinches of good quality hing or asafoetida
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • 6-8 sambar onions or shallots, sliced (optional)
  • 5-6 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
  • 2 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • A large bunch of fresh dill, tender stems and leaves finely chopped
  • Salt, to taste

An optional Tempering

  • ½ teaspoon ghee
  • A pinch of jeera/cumin seeds
  • 2 julienned green chillies, cut in half lengthwise if they are too long
  • A sprig of curry leaves

Instructions
 

Cook the rice and dal

  • Soak the Bengal gram dal for ½ hour, combine it with the rice, add 6-7 cups of water, the ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and bring to a boil—cover—and simmer until done. Check this every 15 minutes or so, either to stir or check for done-ness. The rice and dal should be done in about 30-40 minutes. Do not worry if there’s a little extra water once both the dal and rice are cooked. Do not worry if the rice seems mushy!
  • Alternatively, you can cook the Bengal gram dal (with the turmeric) and the rice in separate vessels in a pressure cooker.

Prepare the khichdi

  • In a heavy-bottomed pot or kadhai, heat the oil or ghee until very hot. Quickly drop in the jeera and red chillies; fry until fragrant, just a few seconds.
  • Drop in the hing and the turmeric.
  • Follow immediately with the onions and garlic, if using, and sautee these until the onions are just starting to soften.
  • Add the tomatoes. Cook until they are softening, and glistening with ghee/oil
  • Add half the fresh dill at this stage—preferably the half with more stems than leaves.
  • Add a teaspoon of salt
  • Now you can either pour this mixture into the khichdi or pour the cooked dal-rice into the dill-tomato mixture, depending on how you’ve cooked it.
  • Optional tempering: In a separate tempering pan, heat the last ½ spoon of ghee, add the jeera, then the julienned-and-halved chillies and curry leaves, fry for a minute—and pour this into the khichdi.
  • Add the remainder of the fresh dill leaves, and mix well. Keep tightly covered until ready to serve.

Notes

Khichdis always go well with a pickle on the side, and some fresh curd. A yogurt salad works well, too, as do fried eggplants!