Rava Kichadi
Mar 19, 2015, Updated Jan 02, 2018
Rava Kichadi is one pot meal made with semolina and lots of veggies. Great with some sambhar and chutney on the side!
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You know what I think is the most challenging part about food blogging? It’s being able to click what you cook before is disappears from the bowl! Seriously I have lost count on the number of dishes that I made, wrote down everything and then we ate it for dinner. I couldn’t click it! But then sometimes you desperately want to share something even if that means clicking pictures of leftovers, yes like this Rava Kichadi.
Kichadi in Hindi means a mix of everything, it’s a one pot meal made usually with rice, lentils and veggies and has a mushy texture. This version of kichadi is made with fine semolina [rava/sooji] and lots of veggies. It’s total comfort food and mom would always make this for me whenever I wanted to eat something light and nice. Actually mom would make rava upma which is very similar to this recipe except that upma is more grainier and has also less oil/ghee. Regardless both are easy to make and very flavorful.
I can eat rava kichadi for breakfast/lunch/dinner in a row, yes that’s how much I love it! Just serve it with some sambhar (lentils) and onion tomato chutney on the side and I wouldn’t ask for anything! There’s this restaurant here which serves really awesome rava khichdi. They use a lot of ginger in their khichdi and trust me that makes a lot of difference. Ginger just goes so well in this dish and that is why I have added lots of it in here, you can in fact add even more.
Rava kichadi is very light on your stomach and I often make it when I feel like having something really comforting. It’s also easy to make and you can make it in around 30 minutes, in fact you can cut down on the time if you already have some roasted rava with you. I didn’t so I had to roast it first. So with a little planning hot rava kichadi can be ready is 15-20 minutes flat which makes it a perfect meal for busy weekday nights! This is also a popular meal given to babies (of course minus the spices) because it’s easily digestible.
PS: The kichadi was prettier than it looks in the pictures, this is all I could manage from the leftovers next day!
Method
Start by soaking urad dal and chana dal in enough water for around 20-30 minutes. This will ensure that the lentils stay soft and nice while cooking.
In a pan on medium heat, add 1/2 tablespoon of ghee. Once hot, add broken cashew nuts to it. Saute till they turn light golden brown, set aside.
In the same pan now add rava/sooji (semolina) and start roasting it stirring continuously.
After few minutes, around 6-7 the rava will change color and you will also get a nice aroma, at this stage remove from pan and set aside. Be very careful while roasting semolina because it can burn quickly once hot.
In another pan on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon ghee and 1 tablespoon oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds and wait till they start popping up.
Then add hing, chana dal, urad dal and curry leaves. Saute till the lentils start turning light golden and then add the chopped ginger. Saute till ginger starts turning golden.
On another stove, put a pan on heat with 4 cups of water.
Add sliced onions and cook till onions turn translucent and there’s no raw smell.
Then add sliced tomatoes, chopped carrots and peas (I used frozen carrot and peas and put them in warm water for 5 minutes before adding to the pan].
Cook the veggies for 2 minutes, you don’t really want tomatoes to turn mushy, they should just turn soft because veggies will cook more once we add the boiling water.
Add salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder and mix till well combined.
Now add 4 cups of boiling water [that we had kept earlier to boil].
Start adding the roasted rava slowly into the mixture, stirring continuously as you mix. There shouldn’t be any lumps.
Keep stirring till rava absorbs all the water.
Now cover with a lid and let it simmer on medium-low heat for 7-8 minutes.
Open the lid, squeeze in the lemon juice and garnish with roasted cashew nuts and chopped cilantro.
Enjoy rava kichadi with some onion tomato chutney on the side.
* Adjust spice levels to taste, add more green chilies for a spicier khichdi.
* Do nut cut down on the amount of ghee and oil used in this recipe, it’s required to get the right texture.
* You can add any veggie of your choice. I used frozen peas and carrots only because they cook very quickly.
* To make this vegan, skip ghee and use only oil.
Rava Kichadi
Ingredients
- 1 cup rava or sooji [fine semolina]
- 4 cups boiling water
- 7-8 cashews broken
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 1 to mato thinly sliced
- ½ cup peas frozen
- ½ cup carrots frozen
- 1.5 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon hing [asafoetida]
- 7-8 curry leaves
- ½ tablespoon urad dal dhuli [split black gram without skin]
- ½ tablespoon chana dal [split bengal gram]
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1.5 tablespoons ghee [clarified butter]
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Start by soaking urad dal and chana dal in enough water for around 20-30 minutes. This will ensure that the lentils stay soft and nice while cooking.
- In a pan on medium heat, add 1/2 tablespoon of ghee. Once hot, add broken cashew nuts to it. Saute till they turn light golden brown, set aside.
- In the same pan now add rava/sooji (semolina) and start roasting it stirring continuously.
- After few minutes, around 6-7 the rava will change color and you will also get a nice aroma, at this stage remove from pan and set aside. Be very careful while roasting semolina because it can burn quickly once hot.
- In another pan on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon ghee and 1 tablespoon oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds and wait till they start popping up.
- Then add hing, chana dal, urad dal and curry leaves. Saute till the lentils start turning light golden and then add the chopped ginger. Saute till ginger starts turning golden.
- Meanwhile on another stove, put a pan on medium-high heat with 4 cups of water. We are going to boil this water and add to the rava later on.
- Add sliced onions and cook till onions turn translucent and there's no raw smell.
- Then add sliced tomatoes, chopped carrots and peas (I used frozen carrot and peas and put them in warm water for 5 minutes before adding to the pan].
- Cook the veggies for 2 minutes, you don't really want tomatoes to turn mushy, they should just turn soft because veggies will cook more once we add the boiling water.
- Add salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder and mix till well combined.
- Now add 4 cups of boiling water [that we had kept earlier to boil].
- Start adding the roasted rava slowly into the mixture, stirring continuously as you mix. There shouldn't be any lumps.
- Keep stirring till rava absorbs all the water.
- Now cover with a lid and let it simmer on medium-low heat for 7-8 minutes.
- Open the lid, squeeze in the lemon juice and garnish with roasted cashew nuts and chopped cilantro.
- Serve hot with sambhar and chutney on the side.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Rava Kichadi
Thanks dear, glad you like it!
Thanks Vanessa! you are so sweet! 🙂 Yes, coconut oil should work well, you can use vegetable oil as well!
Thanks Kelly! I know only we food bloggers can understand these problems!
Thanks Anu! Glad you liked the presentation, I did it in quite a hurry!
Thanks Dannii 🙂
This looks delicious!!! I’ve never tried upma or this. I’ll have to give them a try! Pinned!
Thank you!
I know so many dishes never make it to the blog! annoying! 🙁 Thanks Marcie, you should give it a try, it’s really good! 😀
Thank you! I love upma too Savita! It’s really nice and healthy 🙂
Love the pictures, this looks so brilliant and exotic… 😀
Thank you Lily!