Sometimes you don’t want to cook two different dishes, one for yourself and one for your baby. Or if you have two kids and one of them is a baby, you want to make something that both will enjoy. Khichdis come in handy at such times. You just need to spice up the khichdi slightly, not too much though. After the khichdi is cooked, you can make it more runny for the baby by cooking it for a minute longer after adding some water. If your baby is not big enough to chew properly, you should mash it finely before feeding it to him/her. I spiced up this khichdi by adding khada masalas to it. If your baby’s not used to spicy food, you can omit adding clove and peppercorns. Devansh usually likes rice dishes and he liked this khichdi too. The consistency of the green moong dal khichdi in the pic you see is how we ate it. I had to make it runny for Devansh by adding some more water.
Green Moong Dal Khichdi Recipe
Wholesome green moong dal khichdi recipe, useful when you don't want to cook two different dishes, one for yourself and one for your child.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp rice
- 1 tbsp green moong dal split green gram
- 1 medium-size carrot finely chopped
- 1/4 th cup green peas
- 1 small bay leaf
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 1 clove optional
- 2-3 peppercorns coarsely crushed (optional)
- Half tsp cumin seeds/ jeera powder
- 1 tbsp ghee
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash dal and rice. (If I am not using organic grains, I soak them in water for about 10-15 minutes so that at least the water soluble pesticides can be taken out.) The proportion of rice:dal should be 2:1. Since I made this khichdi for us as well as Devansh I used more dal and rice than the quantity written above. But when I make any khichdi only for Devansh 3-4 tbsp of grains are sufficient for him.
- Heat a pan and add ghee.
- When the ghee melts, add cumin seeds.
- When the cumin seeds splutter, add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, clove, and crushed peppercorns. (If you are making this khichdi for babies, use jeera powder instead of cumin seeds. Also, don't add clove and peppercorns as they will make the khichdi slightly spicy.)
- Add carrots and green peas and sauté for a minute.
- Add washed dal and rice and sauté for another minute.
- Add salt, mix it well with dal and rice, and then add about one and half cup of water. (Decide on the quantity of water depending on the desired consistency of the khichdi.)
- Cook in a pressure cooker for 10-15 minutes on medium flame. (Approximately 7-8 whistles.) This time again will depend on your child's age. For babies, you may need to cook the khichdi for a longer time.
- Take out the bay leaf, clove, and cinnamon stick. Before feeding the khichdi to your baby, mash it finely or coarsely depending on the baby's age.
