Quinoa Khichdi or Khichri is an easy, popular one-pot quinoa-lentil dish. I have given a healthier spin to traditional Indian Khichdi and made this dal khichdi with quinoa.
This Khichdi recipe is actually tasty, wholesome and made under 30 minutes. Make this comfort food the traditional way in a pressure cooker with these simple step by step pictures and videos.
Quinoa Khichdi is an incredibly delicious, protein-packed comfort meal that is easy to digest. Khichdi is the comfort food that’s most commonly eaten all over India. This nutrition-packed khichdi is lightly spiced and has a good amount of protein and fiber.
How to Make Quinoa Khichdi - step by step video
I highly recommend watching the above video for correct procedure. Also if you like it or find it useful do leave me a comment on my youtube channel. Do Subscribe it for more videos.
You can serve it with papad, dahi/ curd. Add some pickle/achar to spice up your khichdi.
Every house in India has their own version of making this comfort food. Khichdi has been a favorite one-pot comfort meal of mine since childhood, and I make it quite often. Mom used to make and still make it when I make a surprise visit and it still becomes a happy meal to bond over.
If you ask me, personally this is the easiest and nourishing meal! Especially after travel or a busy day and when you want a light filling meal. Nothing comforts you like a warm bowl of khichdi when you are not feeling well. I like to make it with moong dal and quinoa to make a traditional khichdi recipe with a healthier twist.
Ingredients to Make Quinoa Khichdi in Instant pot or pressure cooker
Basically, for making any khichdi recipe, you need dal or lentils and rice along with very basic spices and ghee (optional). In this recipe I use quinoa in place of rice as these days I try to pick lower GI options.
You can use yellow moong dal or split skinned green moong dal in this recipe as it takes the same time as quinoa to cook. There are many other dals that can be used for making this recipe. I have discussed them in detail here.
You can use vegetables like zucchini, bottle gourd, carrots, peas, beans and pumpkin and all taste delicious.
Water is an important component in cooking any recipe right. In this pressure cooker quinoa khichdi recipe, I keep water to grain ratio as 1: 3.5 if I want grains to remain slightly separated. For making mushy khichdi the way we prefer in our home I use 4cups of water per 1 cup of quinoa+dal used.
As I said I make quinoa khichdi to make it low GI recipe because I am trying to use a lot of quinoa to substitute for rice in many recipes. So I skip potatoes most of the time. In this recipe, however, I have used potatoes.
WeightLoss Khichdi Recipe
This recipe can easily be adapted if you want to make what is popularly known as a weight loss khichdi recipe. Make a complete recipe as it just does not add cashews and tadka/tempering on the top.
You can use any of the two different varieties of lentils- moong dal and arhar/toor dal.
Ayurvedic Recipe of Khichdi
Traditionally as per Ayurveda khichdi is made with rice along with moong lentils. I have that khichdi recipe (link) previously You can make a similar recipe of khichdi with quinoa too.
I have made Dal khichdi with quinoa. For extra health benefits, I added vegetables. I added potatoes, beans, and carrots. However, you can always add your favorite veggies like peas, cauliflower, brinjal as per taste and availability. It can be made in less than 30 minutes and you can cook it in either a pressure cooker or an instant pot.
How To make Quinoa Khichdi in Pressure Cooker
To make quinoa khichdi in a pressure cooker, you have to do is to pressure cook quinoa, lentils with salt, turmeric powder, chili powder in a pressure cooker. And add cooked vegetables along with tadka. You can make the traditional khichdi recipe with rice too.
Quinoa Khichdi in Instant Pot
To make quinoa khichdi in instant pot. First, saute chopped vegetables in ghee on saute mode. (The part is shown in the pan in the video) After that, add washed quinoa, moong dal, turmeric powder, salt, and red powder.
Add 4.5 cups of water. Pressure cook on low pressure for 12 minutes and add tadka.
Quinoa Khichdi Recipe Vs Rice Khichdi
The texture of the khichdi is slightly different from the regular dal chawal khichdi. Quinoa is slight crunchy as compared to soft rice in a good way.
Khichdi Recipe for Diabetics
Diabetics usually do not eat Rice khichdi as rice is not considered low GI food unless it is brown rice or dalia. So either you can make brown rice khichdi, Dalia khichdi or quinoa khichdi. All of these are good diabetics khichdi recipes.
Cooking the traditional khichdi with quinoa gives it a nice crunch. It also gives the khichdi a nice nutty flavor. So, even if you plan on making plain khichdi, quinoa will give it a nice nutty flavor.
Customize This Quinoa Khichdi Recipe
Like any other recipe, I believe most of the recipes are just a rough sketch. You can personalize and customize as per your and family’s taste preferences and make it yours.
When we make the traditional rice and lentil khichdi, the proportion of rice and dal are in ratio 2:1. You can keep the same ratio 2:1 for quinoa and dal when making Quinoa Masala Khichdi too. But, if you want less quinoa and more dal then the proportion of quinoa and dal for masala khichdi can be changed to 1.5:1.
Quinoa Masala Khichdi can be easily customised as per your preference. I have cooked Quinoa khichdi with yellow moong dal, you can use both yellow moong dal ( dhuli moong ) and masoor dal (red lentils) or Arhar dal( toor dal).
However, if you cook with either masoor dal or toor dal cooking time changes. Cook it for one more whistle in a pressure cooker or add 3 more minutes if you are cooking quinoa khichdi in Instant pot.
You can add your favorite vegetables and skip the ones you don’t like. In this Masala quinoa recipe, I have added carrots, potatoes, beans, and onions. For a smoky flavor, I tempered it with ghee, cumin seeds, and red chilies. I have used homemade ghee, you can use the store-bought ones as well.
I like to serve Quinoa Masala Khichdi in the traditional way with papad, some pickles and loads of ghee! Even some roasted cashews and peanuts on top will give an extra crunch and flavor to it.
Other Quinoa Recipes
You can try many quinoa recipes for lunch. Quinoa salads like Paneer Tikka Quinoa Salad Mizuna Quinoa Salad, Roasted Pumpkin, and Quinoa Salad, Grilled Paneer Quinoa and Cranberry Salad and my other favorite quinoa salad recipes. This quinoa pulao is an excellent quinoa recipe for dinner. If you like quinoa for breakfast this south Indian quinoa upma recipe is a must-try.
For breakfast, I use cooked upma prepared and kept in the refrigerator as part of my meal prep. Meal prep always comes in handy to make easy healthy breakfast recipes.
Quinoa Khichdi Recipe in Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- ½ cup Yellow moong dal/dhuli moong dal
- ¾ cup Quinoa
- Salt
- 1 teaspoon Red Chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- Pinch of hing
- ½ cup Carrot chopped
- ½ cup Beans chopped
- ¼ Onions chopped
- 1 Potato medium-sized
- 1-2 green chili chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 2 Red Chilies Whole
- 1 teaspoon Crushed peppercorns and cloves
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- Salt to taste
- Water
- 1 teaspoon ghee
- 10-12 Cashews
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2-3 Red chilies whole
Instructions
- To prepare quinoa khichdi, start with preparing the ingredients. In a bowl add half a cup of yellow moong dal and wash it
- In another bowl wash a ¾ cup of quinoa. Wash the quinoa too until the water comes out clean. When done, keep it aside.
- In a cooker add quinoa, yellow moong dal, salt, turmeric powder, and red chili powder.
- Add 3 and a half (3 ½) cup water and mix them well.
- Now, pressure cooks the khichdi till 2 whistles. After 2 whistle turn off the heat and allow the pressure cooker to cool naturally.
- In another pan heat tablespoon of ghee. Reduce the heat.
- Add cumin seeds in the ghee and cook for a minute.
- When cumin seeds to crackle and then add chopped onions in it.
- After that add chopped green chilies, chopped ginger and saute them until the onion is golden brown.
- Add 2 whole red chilies, chopped potatoes, beans and carrots in the pan.
- With a mortar and pestle, crush 4 peppercorns and 6 cloves and add them to the pan.
- Now, cook the vegetables covered for 5-6 minutes till they are tender enough. You can add a tablespoon or two of water if required.
- After cooking vegetables add a teaspoon of coriander powder.
- Add salt to taste and mix well.
- Now, add pressure cooked quinoa khichdi (that we cooked earlieand mix all the ingredients well.
- Add water to adjust the consistency of khichdi as per your preference and allow the khichdi to cook well.
- Cover and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- When the khichdi is cooked, turn off the heat and prepare the tempering.
For Making Khichdi Tadka
- For tempering, heat a tablespoon of ghee and add few cashews in it.
- Fry the cashews/kaju and keep aside.
- Now, in the same tempering pan add a teaspoon of cumin, asafoetida and whole red chilies.
- Add this tempering/tadka in the khichdi and top it with fried cashews.
- Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee in the khichdi and serve with papad, pickles and fresh dahi/curd.
Notes
Recipe Notes- Quinoa Masala Khichdi
- To make the healthy quinoa khichdi, it is important to wash the yellow moong dal perfectly. You should wash the dal(lentil) 3-4 times until the water runs out clear.
- At the time of tempering keep the heat to medium otherwise, the cumin may burn.
I have brought a packet of quinoa, it is actually my first packet. I was looking for Indian recipe with quinoa and found this. I am so excited to try Quinoa Khichdi. It looks delicious!
Another easy recipe, I just love all your recipes and will definitely try this khichdi.
I m looking out for diabetes and low cholesterol receipes please upload them thanks