Recipe: Rava Khichdi

Savoury mildly spiced Upma enriched with Carrots, Beans, Tomato and delicious roasted Cashewnuts. An ideal all day snack!

The Everyday Cooking

1. Soak 1 tbsp chana dal / bengal gram and 1 tbsp urad dal / black gram split for an hour(optional).

2. In a big kadai / pressure pan, heat 3 tbsp oil and ghee. then add 1 tsp mustard seeds, the soaked chana dal and urad dal, few curry leaves, 5 green chillies, 2 tsp chopped ginger. fry for a minute.

3. Then add 1 finely chopped onion. saute until onion turns transparent. side by side, boil 4 cups of water.

4. Roast 1 cup rava / sooji / semolina well in a tsp of oil without changing colour. you may also use roasted rava.

5. Next add 1 finely chopped tomato, 1.5 cups of chopped carrots, beans, potato and capsicum. mix for 2 minutes on medium flame. add ghee while frying.

6. Add roasted rava and mix well. add 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and salt as needed .

7. Mix well and add the boiling water carefully to this, with flame lowered. check for salt.

8. Mix well, wait until the water gets absorbed by the sooji. once it gets thick, cook covered in low flame for 8-10 minutes. give it a mix.

Tips

1. You can add 4 cups water for 1 cup kichadi if you want the kichadi on firmer side.

2. Best when had hot or warm. as it cools down, it will get thicker.

3. Add extra ghee or oil at the end, if you feel the kichadi is sticky. it should not be sticky, it should be non sticky like kesari sweet.

4. For me, the finely chopped ginger is a must in my kichadi as it makes it smell great and also helps in digesting the oil and ghee in the kichadi. if you finely chop the ginger, it will not be coming in mouth as it gets soft while cooking.

5. Ghee also adds a great flavour, so don't forget to add.

6. If you reduce oil and ghee in the recipe, the kichadi may not have the same texture as in the video.

7. Boiling water side by side reduces cooking time, so i do that.