Palak Khichdi Recipe : Nutritious Spinach Khichdi!

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The most popular traditional south Indian preparation of food from rice is Khichdi. It is a great food to prepare on lazy weekends. It is the most comfort dishes in the chilled winter days. This healthy and nutrient rich Palak Khichdi tastes delicious and instantly satisfies our hunger. Though Khichdi seems to be a small food entity, but this variation with Palak makes a big twist. The addition of fresh and seasonal green colour Palak makes Khichdi healthful, colourful and flavorful. The Palak Khichdi Recipe is easy to make and healthy to eat.

Palak Khichdi

Author: Vishal Agrawal
Recipe Category: Rice Dish
Cuisine: Indian

Description: The Palak Khichdi Recipe is easy to make and healthy to eat. The ingredients used are commonly available in every house. It gets prepared in less time.

Palak Khichdi Recipe

Ingredients for Palak Khichdi Recipe :

Basmati Rice – ½ cup
Palak/Spinach (Finely Chopped) – 2 cups
Moong Dal – ½ cup
Moongphali/ Peanuts (Raw) – 1/3 cup
Onion (Finely Chopped) – 1 medium size
Potato (Chopped) – 1 medium size
Tomato (Chopped) – 1 medium size
Cloves – 2 units
Turmeric Powder (Haldi) – ¼ tsp.
Green Elaichi – 2 units
Cinnamon (Dalchini) – 1 inch
Tej Patta (Bay Leaf) – 1 leaf
Jeera (Cumin seeds) – ½ tsp.
Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tsp
Asafoetida (Hing) – 1 small pinch
Green Chilli – 1 unit
Ghee – 2 tbsp.
Salt – As per Taste

Note: You can vary the proportion of peanuts between the ¼ cup and 1/3 cup. You may use any other type rice with long grains. For the extras spicy zest, you can add Garam Masala Powder.

If you do not have ginger-garlic paste ready, then you can make it at home. You would require ½ inch ginger and 3 garlic pieces.
You can use patanjali cow ghee.

Instructions for Palak Khichdi Recipe:

Both the Dal and the Rice used for the recipe needs to be soaked before you can start cooking with them. It is a very easy to make recipe, simply follow the steps and prepare the Palak Khichdi.

Pre-Preparation:

Properly clean the basmati rice under the running water. Take them to a colander and wash them thoroughly.
Similarly, transfer the moon dal to the strainer and wash it. Properly clean the Moong dal.
Now in a medium sized bowl, mix basmati rice and Moong dal together.
Pour enough water into the bowl and soak them for 30 mins.
Meanwhile, rinse and clean the Palak leaves properly.
One they are washed, keep them on a chopping board and roughly chop them.
Now, transfer these roughly chopped Palak into the mixer-grinder jar.
Add very little water to the jar and grind to make a smooth Palak puree.
Take it out to a small bowl and keep this puree aside. Now, proceed further.
Prepare the ginger-garlic paste by crushing the ginger and garlic in the mortar pestle.

Note: Cleaning the Palak can be little time-consuming and boring process. But do not skip it. When you clean Palak, check each leaf separately and ensure there is no insect or worm. If you find any beaten leaf, then throw that portion. Once you have checked, then rinse each leaf properly under the running water.

Preparation:

Take Pressure Cooker. Add ghee in the cooker and start the flame.
After few seconds as the ghee is heated, add Jeera (cumin), Dalchini (cinnamon), Tej Patta (bay leaf), Elaichi (cardamoms) & cloves (laving) in the cooker.
Fry these spices for few seconds in the cooker. Let them become fragrant and they should start to release the aroma.
Add finely chopped onion to this mixture and sauté till onion turn golden brownish colour.
Now, add the chopped green chillies as well as the ginger-garlic paste in the cooker.
Sauté it for 20-25 seconds to remove garlic’s aroma. Wait till the smell goes away.
Add chopped tomatoes to the mixture. Sauté till these tomatoes become soft.
Now, add Haldi (turmeric powder) & Hing (asafoetida) in the cooker and mix it well.
Add Potatoes and sauté for about 2 minutes.
Also, add the peanuts too.
Now, add the Palak (spinach) puree into the cooker and mix everything well. Sauté for around 3 minutes.
Take the bowl of soaked moong dal and rice. Strain the rice and dal. Add them to the cooker and mix them well.
Now, add 4 cups of water to the mixture.
Add Salt. Taste the mixture and adjust the salt then stir properly.
Close the cooker’s lid. Pressure cook this mix for 5 minutes on a medium flame.
After 5 minutes. Turn off the flame and wait for the pressure to settle down. (Don’t remove the pressure manually)
As pressure is settled, remove the lid and check khichdi’s consistency.
If it is too thick then add some water to it and simmer it.
Transfer Khichdi from the pressure cooker into the plate.

And the healthy Palak Khichdi is ready. Serve it Hot!

Note: When you add the peanuts, take care that does not get extra boiled. Otherwise, they would become too soft. You can also boil peanuts separately and then mix them in the Khichdi. This will help peanuts from not getting too soft while pressure cooking the Khichdi.

Additional Information:

Calories: 580 calories
Total Time: PT40M
Serves: 4
Date Published: 2017-01-25

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This not so fancy Palak Khichdi is the best one pot meal dish one can prepare in minutes. The kids may not appreciate it but the working ladies would prefer to make it often. It requires less work, less time and fewer efforts to make the nutrient rich Palak Khichdi. The Spinach is a powerhouse of proteins, nutrients and vitamins which are essential for our body.

This delicious, tasty, tummy-filling and hunger satisfying Palak Khichdi is a good way to consume Palak. The Palak puree gives its own colour to the Khichdi, whereas the spices add their own taste to the boring Khichdi.

Remarks:

If you do not have the ginger-garlic paste, then you can make it easily. (Check ginger-garlic paste recipe)
You can add Chana dal too along with moong dal. It will also taste good.
You can use Packed Spinach puree if you don’t like to make the puree at home.
You can grind the puree using the hand blender as well.
While pressure cooking, do not add excess water otherwise khichdi will be too thin.
To make this Khichdi gluten free, skip the addition of Hing.
If you want to use any other vegetables apart from onions, tomatoes and potatoes in this Khichdi, then you can. You are free to add any fresh or seasonal veggies of your choice.
As soon as you wash the rice and dal, you can dry roast them and then add to Khichdi. This will help Khichdi to remain mushy.
The quantity of water is adjusted as per your preference. Always use more water than what you would require for cooking rice.
The recipe can be doubled or tripled as per the number of servings.

Garnish:

Take out Khichdi from the cooker to the serving dish. You can serve it with the spicy or tangy pickle. Pair it with the chilled crunchy Salad and the crispy Papad. To make the Khichdi moist you can have any vegetable curry to pour over it or any type of Raita to dip. Below mentioned are the few interesting ideas to serve the Khichdi:

Add 1/2 tsp ghee over hot Palak Khichdi. It will enhance the taste.
Serve hot Palak Khichdi with Salted curd or Plain curd as you like.
People in Gujarat likes Khichdi with salted buttermilk.
Hot Khichdi drizzled with melted Ghee along with mango pickle and fried Masala Papad is the most delicious and healthy food you can ever have.

The Khichdi alone makes a complete meal with just a cup of plain curd. This delicious Khichdi is extremely hearty to have. But at times, kids may avoid eating it. So, make it look more attractive and tempt their taste buds. Garnish the Palak Khichdi with:

Chopped Coriander Leaves
Fried Onion Rings
Dry Red Chilli
Circular Chopped Radish

Quick Tip:

For the Palak Khichdi to taste best, always serve it hot.
If you do not want your Palak Khichdi to be tangy, skip the addition of tomatoes.
You can add a pinch of sugar in the spinach puree if you want.
You can substitute Toor Dal with Chana Dal.
If there is some leftover Palak Khichdi, then you can store it. This Khichdi can be reused to make Paratha.

This mouth-watering Palak Khichdi can be a good lunch box recipe. This combination of pulses with Spinach makes it highly nutritious. Though a one dish meal, you can have it with the hot Palak Soup in the winter to warm yourself. It is best to make on the days you are looking for a light meal without much of cooking. It is healthy, hearty and low in calorie. The green texture makes is appealing and its flavours are appetizing.

There are many ways you can prepare Palak Khichdi Recipe. You can tweak the original recipe and use any other Dal. To make it quickly, roughly chop spinach and sauté in cooker. Then add soaked rice and lentil, pressure cook and finally add tempering. This is the quicker version where you mix the chopped spinach with the cooked rice and Dal. Lastly, do the tempering and season with fresh herbs. The simple version from the collection of various Khichdi recipe is Chana Dal Khichdi. You can also prepare Vegetable Khichdi with the mixed vegetables.