My mom makes dal rice or paruppu sadham often but that is completely different from Dal Kichadi. This is one of Arun’s favourites and is his comfort food. The rice and lentils are well cooked–almost mushy. It can be prepared with Basmati rice or regular Ponni or Sona Masuri rice. Here I have used Ponni Rice. Serve it up with any stir fry and pappad.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Rice
- 1/2 cup Toor dal
- 1/4 cup Moong dal
- 5 tablespoons Ghee
- 1 Onion
- 6-8 Garlic cloves
- 2 inches Ginger
- 1 Green Chilli
- 2 Tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Red chilli powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 4 1/2 cup Water
- 1 cup Coriander leaves
- 2 teaspoons Cumin
- 6-8 Red Chillies
Preparation:
Take rice, toor dal and moong dal in a bowl. Wash and soak them for 30 minutes. While it is soaking, chop the onion and tomatoes and make a paste out of ginger, garlic and green chilli.
Heat about 3 tablespoons of ghee in an instant pot in Sauté mode. Add onion and fry till translucent. Next add in the ginger, garlic and green chilli paste. Sauté till the raw smell of the paste leaves.
Add in tomatoes and mix through. Add salt and the spice powders.
Drain the water and add the soaked rice and dal along with water. Close the lid and change the mode to Pressure cook and set the timer to 10 minutes. Once it’s done allow the steam to settle itself.
Open the lid. The kichadi will be soft and a bit mushy in texture. Add in the coriander leaves. Mix them through the rice.
While the steam is settling, heat the remaining ghee in a small pan and temper cumin seeds and red chillies. Pour it on the kichadi and mix.
Serve hot with any stir fry, pickle and papad.
