Rava Khichdi Recipe (Suji/Semolina Khichadi Recipe) | South Indian Breakfast Recipes

Rava Kichadi happens to be one of my favorite breakfast or an evening tiffin to be enjoyed with dollops of ghee. My Grandmother got this recipe from a brahmin man who ran a quaint little hotel in the 60's and its been the most loved recipe in our family ever since that. This recipe also happens to be our family's lucky recipe as its been served to all the grooms who came to see the bride and every time the alliance has always ended up being finalized at the first shot itself. 

As I have grown up used to this recipe, I dislike it when people pass off a humble rava upma with vegetables as rava khichdi. The difference between a rava khichdi and the upma is of course the addition of vegetables plus the the khichdi does not have dals added to the tempering unlike the upma and also it has other whole spices unlike the upma.

For this month first week of Avant Garde Cookies we all decided to rustle up dishes that starts with the first letter of our name and this rava khichdi is the first thing that came to my mind as I had always wanted to share this very favorite dish of mine in the blog with all of you. Hope you all make it too and enjoy it as we all do.

Rava Khichadi Recipe

Prep time: 5 mins  |  Cook time: 15 mins  |  Serves: 3
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian  |  Recipe Category: Breakfast

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Ingredients:

• Rava (semolina/Suji) - 1 cup
• Onion - 1
• Carrot, small - 1
• Potato, small - 1
• Fresh peas - 1/4 cup
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Green chili - 3
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Cardamom - 1
• Cinnamon stick - 1 inch piece
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cashew nuts, halved - 10
• Curry leaf - 1 sprig
• Water - 3 cups
• Salt - to taste
• Ghee (clarified butter) - 1 tbsp (optional)
• Oil - 2 tbsp

Instructions:

1. Chop the onions finely. Thinly slice the potatoes and carrots.
2. Microwave carrots, potatoes, green peas at high for 2 minutes. You can also blanch them. Keep aside.
3. Grind both green chili and ginger without adding any water and keep aside.
4. Heat ghee in a pan, add the cashews and roast till golden brown, drain and keep aside.
5. Add oil to the same pan. Add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf and sauté till you get the aroma.
6. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Now add onions, curry leaves and sauté till the onions turn pink.
7. Add the ground ginger and chili paste, mix well and cook for a minute.
8. Add rava, turmeric powder, salt and keep sautéing over low flame for 2-3 minutes. The rava will get roasted well.
9. Raise the flame to full. Add the blanched vegetables and pour the water with one hand into the rava mixture while mixing with a spatula with the other hand.
10. Mix well. You can see the khichdi thickening while the water starts to bubble around. Simmer the flame now. Close with a lid a let it cook for 4-5 minutes.
11. Switch off stove and keep the khichdi closed with a lid so that the khichdi gets further cooked in the heat and it will become grainy and separate instead of being mushy.
12. You can add another tbsp of ghee, roasted cashews and mix well before serving the hot khichdi with coconut chutney and sambar.

Notes:

1. You can add tomatoes as well but it further makes the khichdi more mushy. So I never add it.
2. If you are calorie conscious, avoid ghee and make it with oil.
3. You can also avoid the cashews but the biting into the crunchiness adds more taste.
4. If you do not wish to bite into the whole spices, grind the spices excepting the bay leaf with the green chili and ginger.

This is off to Avant Garde Cookies.