Palak Daal Khichdi| Spinach Khichdi With Popular Essentials

This Palak Daal Khichdi is a great way to sneak in some of those gorgeous (not to forget highly nutritious) spinach leaves into one’s diet. The khichdi is super simple to put together, yet highly flavourful and satisfying. The pretty green of this Palak Daal Khichdi will make it alluring to kids and adults alike!

I have used Rozana Sona Masouri rice from Popular Essentials to make this khichdi, which cooked beautifully and easily. Instead of sticking to just moong daal to make the palak daal khichdi, I used Popular Essentials‘ Pancharatna Daal (a blend of 5 different types of lentils) to make it even more nutritious. The tomato puree and home-made garam masala I used added a whole lot of flavour to the khichdi, as did the garlic-dry red chillies-cumin-mustard-asafoetida tempering. You have to try this recipe out!

Not only is this Spinach Khichdi quite healthy, but it is also super easy to make. It is perfect for busy week days or lazy weekends when you want to eat a hearty meal, but want to make just one dish. Serve it piping hot, maybe with a dollop of ghee on top, with plain curd or any raita of your choice!

Here is how to make Palak Daal Khichdi or Spinach Khichdi.

Ingredients (serves 5-6):

Major ingredients:

1. 1 cup Popular Essentials Rozana Sona Masouri rice
2. 1/2 cup Popular Essentials Pancharatna Daal
3. Salt, to taste
4. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
5. 1 tablespoon garam masala, or to taste
6. Red chilli powder, to taste (optional)
7. 1 tablespoon oil

Veggies:

1. 1 small carrot
2. 1 medium-sized onion
3. 1/4 cup shelled green peas
4. 1/4 cup shelled fresh pigeon peas
5. A few big florets of cauliflower
6. 1 small capsicum
7. 4-5 pieces of baby corn

For the tempering:

1. 1 tablespoon oil
2. 1 tablespoon ghee
3. 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
5. 2 pinches of asafoetida (hing)
6. 3 dry red chillies
7. 5-6 cloves garlic

To grind into a paste:

1. A generous fistful of spinach (palak) leaves
2. 2 green chillies
3. A 1-inch piece of ginger
4. 2 medium-sized tomatoes

Method:

Let us first grind the paste that we will use in making the khichdi.

1. Chop the tomatoes into cubes.
2. Peel the ginger and chop into small pieces.
3. Clean and wash the spinach thoroughly, and chop it roughly.
4. Chop the green chillies finely.
5. Grind the chopped tomatoes, ginger, spinach and green chillies into a paste, in a mixer, using a little water. Keep aside. You should get roughly 2 cups of this paste.

Now, prepare the veggies that we will use.

1. Peel the carrot and chop into batons.
2. Chop the onion length-wise.
3. Keep the shelled pigeon peas and green peas handy.
4. Chop the cauliflower florets into medium-sized pieces.
5. Chop the capsicum into medium-sized pieces.
6. Chop the baby corn into medium-sized pieces.
7. Keep the onion as is. Pressure cook the carrot, shelled pigeon peas and green peas, baby corn, capsicum and cauliflower florets with very little water, for 2 whistles. Let the pressure release naturally.

Now, we will cook the rice and pancharatna daal.

1. Wash the rice and pancharatna daal a couple of times in running water.
2. Drain out all the excess water.
3. Pressure cook the rice and pancharatna daal with 2 cups of the spinach and tomato paste we prepared earlier + 2 cups of water. Give it 5 whistles. Let the pressure release naturally.

Then, we will proceed to make the khichdi.

1. Mash the cooked rice and pancharatna daal slightly. Keep aside.
2. In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil, and add in the finely chopped onions. Saute on medium flame till they start turning brown.
3. Now, add in the cooked veggies, rice and pancharatna daal.
4. Add 1 cup of water (or as needed), salt to taste, garam masala, red chilli powder (if needed) and turmeric powder. Mix well.
5. Let everything cook on medium flame for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, we will prepare the tempering.

1. Peel the garlic and chop it finely. Keep aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. Add in the mustard seeds, and let them pop.
3. Add in the cumin and the asafoetida. Let them stay in for a couple of seconds.
4. Now, add in the chopped garlic and the dry red chillies. Let them stay in for a couple of seconds, on low flame. Switch off gas.

Now, we are ready to serve the khichdi.

1. Mix in the tempering with the cooked khichdi, gently but thoroughly.
2. Serve hot, with raita of your choice or plain curd.

Notes:

1. If you don’t have pancharatna daal, you can substitute it with moong daal.
2. I cooked the rice and pancharatna daal separately, the veggies separately too, and then proceeded to make the khichdi. This helps in avoiding over-cooking of the veggies. If you want to, you can cook all of it together in a pressure cooker.
3. Adding the tempering at the end adds a beautiful depth of flavour to the Palak Daal Khichdi. I would totally recommend this.
4. I have used home-made garam masala in making this khichdi, just 1 tablespoon since it is quite fresh and more fragrant than store-bought versions. If you are using store-bought garam masala, you might want to use slightly more.
5. This post is brought to you in collaboration with Popular Essentials, a brand which has a number of grocery essentials under its belt. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own, not influenced by anything or anyone. I really liked the samples of Popular Essentials’ Rozana Sona Masouri Rice and Pancharatna Daal that I was sent – the packaging of both products was well done, they cooked well and tasted lovely too. I think the prices of these products is pretty reasonable, too, considering their good quality – 5 kg of the rice costs INR 305 and 500 grams of the daal costs INR 65. Popular Essentials’ products are currently available on most major online platforms like Amazon.
6. I’m sending this post to Fiesta Friday – 221, co-hosted this week by Jenny @ Dragonfly Home Recipes.

Did you like the recipe? I hope you will try this Palak Daal Khichdi out, and that you will love it as much as we did!

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