Colourful Khichri

This Khichri is based on the recipe of Sindhi Makhni Dal. I’ve grown up on this Makhni Dal that uses only yellow moong dal and it’s called Makhni not because it has butter but that it emulates butter. Sindhis enjoy eating this Makhni Dal with pooris over breakfast but of late, deep frying is scoffed at so it’s eaten with rotis for lunch or dinner. It’s considered a quick dish to put together when one is in a hurry to put food on the table.

Khichri used to be a dish I’d cook often when we didn’t have a cook assisting us. In our early married years, Kishore suggested that I cook the Khichri of yellow moong dal and rice just like Sindhi Makhni Dal to lend it colour, crunch and enhanced taste. Since then, I’ve usually cooked Khichri this way—like Sindhi Makhni  Dal.

Ingredients

• Yellow moong dal and rice in approximately equal proportion
• 1-2 finely chopped onions
• 1 finely chopped tomato
• 1-2 finely chopped green chilly
• Some chopped green dhaniya (coriander leaves)
• Dry masala: salt+haldi+dhaniya powder+red chilly powder+black pepper+amchoor+whole jeera

How to go about it:

1. Wash dal and rice together, soak them for 30 min if there’s time
2. Put them in a pressure cooker and add enough water to leave it soft after cooking (about the depth of a forefinger)
3. Add salt and haldi
4. Pressure cook to  1 whistle and switch off after another minute
5. Open once pressure is out
6. Bring the Khichri to the consistency of thick porridge by adding water, stirring a bit and heating for 5 min
7. Pour it in a large serving bowl while steaming hot and spread it
8. Arrange chopped onion on the Khichri as the first layer, followed by tomato and green chilly
9. Generously sprinkle dhaniya powder, red chilly powder, black pepper and amchoor
10. Add chopped green dhaniya
11. Heat about 1-1/2 tablespoons of cooking oil for tempering
12. As it warms up, add jeera to it
13. Pour this tempering on the dressed up Khichri evenly so all the masala sort of gets covered
14. Cover it quickly to trap the steam

Serve it with achar and sukha aaloo (masala fried potatoes)

This Khichri has low tolerance for storage so it’s best eaten immediately.