Maharashtrian Dal Palak Khichdi Recipe | How To Make Restaurant Style Green Palak Dal Khichdi

Green Palak Khichdi is an appetizing nutritious vegetarian meal prepared with yellow lentils and rice. Ingrained with spinach, onion, tomato, and aromatic flavorsome Indian spices it's a fusion dish of Maharashtrian masale bhat and is popular in Maharashtrian cuisines. Palak khichdi has thick porridge consistency, somewhere in between Pulao and khichdi.  

I am presently residing in Maharasthra. Once I visited a fine dine-in restaurant with my family to relish a Maharashtrian cuisine. My husband surprised us by showing his interest on Palak khichdi. We were perplexed and taken aback with a thought as to  "Who orders Khichdi in a restaurant!?". Instead, he was reluctant and firm on his decision. We ordered it but that scrumptious palak khichdi  that was served, amused all of us. It was eye-pleasing and tempting. Truly, eyes eat before our stomach. It tempted our taste buds. My husband deserved an applaud for requisitioning such an appealing meal.

I adored it so much that I decided to try my hand on it. After few trials and errors, I could finally come up with that original taste. I am delighted to share the recipe in my blog. 

Overview

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Course: Lunch/dinner

Cuisine: Indian

Serve: 4

Ingredients

Main

• Yellow Moong Dal/lentil- 1cup
• Rice- 1 cup

Veggies

• Crushed Garlic Cloves- 2-3
• Chopped Ginger- 1teaspoon
• Chopped Onion-1(big size)
• Chopped Tomato- 1
• Chopped Green Chili-2
• Blanched Spinach- 1 cup

Spices & Others

• Asafoetida- 2 pinch
• Bayleaf / tej patta- 1(small)
• Green Cardamon-1
• Javitri/Mace- some small flakes for flavoring
• Dalchini/cinnamon stick- 1/4'' inch
• Shahi Jeera-1 teaspoon
• Salt- 1 and 1/ 2 teaspoon (as per taste)
• Red chili powder-1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder- 1 teaspoon
• Dried Red chili-2
• Oil/Ghee-2 tablespoon
• Kaju/Cashew paste-2 tablespoon (To prepare cashew paste, soak cashew in little quantity of water for 15 minutes and grind it into a fine paste. You can store the same in a refrigerator for a week or more)

Process of preparing Healthy Dal Palak Khichdi

Step-1

Wash the dal and rice in water thoroughly in a big bowl in order to remove all impurities.

Step-2

In a big pressure cooker add dal and rice. If you'll use a small cooker then the chances of spilling water from dal and rice are higher. 

Step-3

Pour 4-5 cups of water into the rice and dal.

Step-4

Add a teaspoon of salt and turmeric powder into the mix.

Step-5

Pressure cook the rice and dal mix for about 5-10 minutes on medium flame till cooker release 3-4 whistle. Turn off the flame and wait till it releases the pressure.

Step-6

Meanwhile, take a pan/Kadhai and add a tablespoon of oil/ghee, Hing, crushed garlic, and ginger. Saute.

Step-7

Add bay leaf, jeera. cardamom, cinnamon, and Javitri. Toss them once.

Step-8

Add chopped onion and saute for a minute.

Step-9

Once the onion is cooked add tomato and green chili and cook for a minute.

Step-10

Season it with red chili powder and a little salt.

Step-11

In the last add our star ingredient, blanched Spinach, and toss well.

Step-12

Turn off the flame and keep the mix aside to cool down. once the mix is cool grind it to a fine puree in a grinder.

Step-13

Open and check the cooked dal and rice. Mash them with a masher or ladle and add water if required for the pouring consistency. I'm adding 3 cups of water to mine.

Step-14

Heat the pan/kadhai on a low flame, drop a tablespoon of oil/ghee, and a 1/2 teaspoon of jeera with dry chilies. 

Step-15

Pour the prepared spinach/palak puree into the hot oil and mix.

Step-16

Add cooked dal and rice to the puree.

Step-17

Mix and combine the khichdi uniformly for the best taste. 

Step-18

Add prepared cashew paste and little salt if required and then cook while stirring for another five minutes.

Final serve

Tasty Healthy Dal Palak Khichdi topped with ghee is ready to relish for high hunger.

Note: It's advisable to serve khichdi hot as it starts getting thicker with time. In such a situation, you can add hot water again to adjust the pouring consistency.

Video Recipe