A humble khichdi recipe with steel-cut oats and mixed vegetables with frozen masoor dal made in Instant Pot and that’s what I am going to share today with a video! Healthy and comfort food!
Khichdi is one of the signature dishes of Indian cuisine. Every regional cuisine has its version of khichdi, and they are all simple and tastes delicious. Khichdi is a simple rice-lentil dish with minimal spices.
You can see it getting compared with risotto, and they call khichdi as Indian risotto. But I am not sure if we can call it that way as khichdi always have lentils be it green mung beans, yellow mung beans, masoor dal, toor dal, etc. Whereas risotto doesn’t have any lentils and it’s cheesy, you can also find meat-based versions. But that’s not the case with khichdi. Anyways let’s get into the khichdi recipe.
Khichdi with steel-cut oats:
Instead of rice, I have used steel-cut oats for this khichdi. As I mentioned in my oats platter, we started switching grains; steel-cut oats, quinoa, millets, ragi flour, and amaranth flour are now part of our regular meal fare along with wheat and rice.
As I talked about steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and instant oats already in the oats platter, let me talk about quick vs. instant oats.
Quick-cooking oats:
For this recipe, I used quick-cooking steel-cut oats. We love our regular oats, but we couldn’t find the regular steel-cut during the initial lockdown and ended up buying the big bag of quick-cooking steel-cut oats. As always, I did my homework, and yes, quick-cooking oats have less protein (¼ cup has 5 grams) than the regular ones (¼ cup has 7grams)
But during difficult times like these, you need to make some compromise, but definitely, quick-cooking oats are better than instant ones.
I learned that oats are oats as long as it is not flavored and loaded with sugar. Please check the recipe notes for the cooking times for rolled oats and regular oats.
Do we need frozen dal for this khichdi:
Ok, personal preference plays a significant role here. I have Instant Pot moong dal khichdi with rice on my blog already, and I went with the cooking time of 15 minutes. I love my khichdi when the dal is mushy and indistinguishable from the rice. I don’t want to see my dal separately. But because of the longer cooking time, the veggies also integrate well and become mushy. There is nothing wrong, but I prefer the veggies to hold its shape.
If I follow the same timing with oats, especially quick-cooking oats, I will end with a porridge. So precooking the dal helps a lot, especially if you are using moong dal or toor dal. I know masoor dal cooks fast, but I went with that as I had it precooked and frozen.
When you have precooked dal, it is easy to whip up sambar, dal, and this khichdi, rasam quickly. You don’t need to think a lot about what to cook. Meal prepping and planning always helps a lot.
Watch me making the oats khichdi:
I think I wrote a lot. Without any further ado, let’s get straight into the recipe. We do the tempering and saute onions. Then dump everything and let Instant Pot do its magic. Easy right? Here is the video, and check below for the printable recipe.
How to make steel-cut oats khichdi in Instant Pot
- Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and when the display shows “HOT,” add the oil.
- After 30 seconds, add the cumin seeds and the cinnamon piece. Let the cumin seeds sizzle.
- Then add the chopped onion. Mix and then add the chopped green chilies and ginger. Cook until the onions are soft or for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Now add in all the veggies – spinach, carrots, cabbage. Add the turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and turn off the Instant Pot by pressing the cancel button.
- Add the rinsed steel-cut oats, followed by 3 cups of water. Now place the frozen dal and close the Instant Pot.
- Make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Select manual/pressure cook and set the time to 5-minutes at high-pressure mode. When the cooking is complete, naturally release the pressure.
- Carefully open the lid after releasing the pressure and mix the khichdi. It will be in a porridge consistency, and that’s fine. As the khichdi cools down, it thickens.
- Add a dollop of ghee and serve warm with pickle or raita or papad. I served mine with the leftover vathal kuzhambu.
Recipe notes-
- Add veggies of your choice. Two to two and a half cups of mixed vegetables should do.
- Adjust the salt and green chilies as per your preference.
- Instead of masoor dal, you can use toor dal or moong dal. I would recommend pre-cook the dal, especially if you are using toor dal, but then if you are using uncooked masoor or moong dal, increase your time to 7 to 8 minutes.
- You can use rolled oats and, in that case, reduce the cooking time to 3 minutes (assuming that you are using frozen dal). If you are using the regular steel-cut oats (the non-quick-cooking version), cook the khichdi for 8 minutes. I won’t recommend the flavored instant oats for this recipe.
PS – If you try this oats khichdi please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.
📖 Recipe
Steel-Cut Oats Khichdi with Frozen Masoor Dal | Instant Pot Khichdi
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup=240ml; 1tbsp=15ml; 1tsp=5ml;
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ to ½ inch cinnamon piece a small one
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 2 green chilies chopped
- 1 tsp ginger chopped
- 2 cups spinach chopped
- 1 small carrot approx ½ cup when chopped
- ¼ cup cabbage
- ⅛ tsp turmeric powder
- 1.25 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 cup steel-cut oats quick-cooking one (refer notes for the timing for the regular one) (I used the Bob’s Red Mill quick-cooking one.)
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup frozen masoor dal
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and when the display shows “HOT,” add the oil.
- After 30 seconds, add the cumin seeds and the cinnamon piece. Let the cumin seeds sizzle.
- Then add the chopped onion. Mix and then add the chopped green chilies and ginger. Cook until the onions are soft or for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Now add in all the veggies – spinach, carrots, cabbage. Add the turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and turn off the Instant Pot by pressing the cancel button.
- Add the rinsed steel-cut oats, followed by 3 cups of water. Now place the frozen dal and close the Instant Pot.
- Make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Select manual/pressure cook and set the time to 5-minutes at high-pressure mode. When the cooking is complete, naturally release the pressure.
- Carefully open the lid after releasing the pressure and mix the khichdi. It will be in a porridge consistency, and that’s fine. As the khichdi cools down, it thickens.
- Add a dollop of ghee and serve warm with pickle or raita or papad. I served mine with the leftover vathal kuzhambu.
Video
Notes
- Add veggies of your choice. Two to two and a half cups of mixed vegetables should do.
- Adjust the salt and green chilies as per your preference. Instead of masoor dal, you can use toor dal or moong dal. I would recommend pre-cook the dal, especially if you are using toor dal, but then if you are using uncooked masoor or moong dal, increase your time to 7 to 8 minutes.
- You can use rolled oats and, in that case, reduce the cooking time to 3 minutes (assuming that you are using frozen dal). If you are using the regular steel-cut oats (the non-quick-cooking version), cook the khichdi for 8 minutes. I won’t recommend the flavored instant oats for this recipe.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
This was so delicious and tasty way better than using RICE. I made in my Indian pressure cooker with uncooked masoor dhal, steel cut oats and vegetables including frozen beans, butternut squash, frozen block spinach. Added a tsp of sambar powder. My husband and I had two bowls each WITHOUT any chutney or pickles. Bursting with flavours and taste. We are vegan so I used vegan margarine instead of ghee on top. Thankyou for this delicious recipe.
My tummy is very happy.??? Now ready for my 10 km walk ??♀️??♀️??♀️??♀️????
Awesome. Thanks for the feedback. :-)