Bhuni Khichdi | Chana Dal Khichdi Recipe

What Is Khichdi?

Khichdi is a wholesome light and easy to digest one pot Indian dish made with rice and dal.  Any type of khichdi is nutritious, comforting and easy to make. This Dal and rice porridge is tastes best with Curd, raita and papad.

You can make a variety of khichdi recipes. Sabudana khichdi, Dal Khichdi, oats khichdi and recently quinoa khichdi is also quite popular. South Indian style Pongal, Bisibelle bath, sambar Sadam also can be categorized under khichdi recipes. The best thing about these variations is although technically these are khichdi but each one tastes very different from each other, So even if you eat one type of khichdi every day you will have a different taste and never get bored.

I am sharing with you here is Punjabi bhuni khichdi recipe that tastes almost like a pulao.

Why We Love Khichdi?

• An easy to make one pot meal.
• Wholesome and nutritious with dal rice and vegetables all in one dish.
• Gluten-free and vegetarian
• Easy to digest, easy to cook meal.
• Has enough spice that it does not taste bland.

How to Make Punjabi Khichdi?

Ingredients for Khichdi

In India khichdi recipes are made for occasions, but the basic ingredients remains the same. It is always made with Dal and rice. You can add one type one dal or use a mix of dal. Some people add vegetables in khichdi and some make khichdi without vegetables.

I mostly add a good amount of vegetables in any of the khichri I am making. That makes it even more nutritious and wholesome. Earthiness and flavour from whole spices that I add, makes this vegetarian khichdi quite aromatic.

Dal khichdi,  using dal and rice in different proportions. For making dal khichdi, mostly moong dal is used, in some areas arhar/toor dal khichdi is also popular..

Punjabi chana dal Khichdi  is cooked on Makar Sankranti in most Punjabi homes. From as long as I remember, bhuni khichdi and Chawal ki kheer are two Makar sankranti dishes Mom makes for the breakfast. I on the other hand like to make it for lunch. If you like to try plain khichdi recipe you can try this Khichdi Recipe.

Makar sankranti falls on next day to lohri. Makar Sankranti falls on next day of a very popular festival of Lohri (a Punjabi festival), which is celebrated on 13 January every year. Another prominent memory of makar Sankranti is lots of colorful kites in the sky against the blue sky, a colorful sight to behold. Traditionally, this is harvest festival, so grains and fresh produce is the focal point of makar sankranti food in most of the India.

How to make Bhuni Khichdi

Coming back to Punjabi bhuni khichdi, this is made differently from the normal khichdi recipe which is more liquid (gruel) in texture and mushy. This is more like a pulao type of recipe where grains stand separate and whole spices are used. 

How you prepare khichdi is actually a taste preference. I personally prefer mushy texture when making moong dal khichdi but with chana dal this rice pulao like texture actually tastes better.

You can make khichdi in pressure cooker or instant pot, both recipes are easy to make. You can cook it a bit extra and add little more water in this recipe if you like more liquid and gruel like khichdi.

What is not to be missed with any type of khichdi is ghee, Papad, Achar and dahi. Especially the ghee, if you are thinking of skipping the ghee, I would urge you to watch the video recipe.

I mean how gorgeous that melting ghee looks, and ghee is nutritious if consumed in small amount. So unless you are a vegan, a little bit ghee on top of khichdi is a MUST!