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Instant Pot Masala Khichdi - Gujarati Vaghareli Khichdi

This Instant Pot Masala Khichdi - Gujarati Vaghareli Khichdi recipe is easy and delivers awesome results. Don’t settle for a bland Khichdi! Make it right and you’ll have everyone requesting for seconds. No Indian food blog would be complete without a Khichdi recipe, and so I perfected this one. Khichdi is one of my all-time favorites and I hope it becomes prominent in your kitchen as well.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 3
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Gujarati, Indian

Ingredients
  

Method
 

Prep
  1. Rinse the lentils and rice a few times and set it aside.
  2. Rinse and peel the potato. Chop it into 1-inch cubes. Also rinse and chop the baby Indian eggplant to 1-inch cubes and set aside.
  3. Rinse and chop the onions finely.
  4. Split the dried red chili pepper into 2 halves horizontally and slit each serrano peppers lengthwise into 2 halves.
Cook
  1. Select sauté on the instant pot and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the split dried red chili pepper to the oil.
  2. Add in the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add in the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
  3. Add in the serrano peppers and curry leaves. Moreover, add in the chopped onions. Stir well. We will not brown the onions.
  4. Add in the chopped potato, chopped eggplant and stir well. Next add in the Tuvar lilva and stir well. Let it sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes. Also, stir intermittently.
  5. Add in the water, dal, rice and stir well. Additionally, add in salt, garam masala, red chili powder, and ground turmeric.
  6. Give it a good stir. Close the lid with the pressure valve sealed. Select manual for 12 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes. Then quick release the pressure and open the lid.
  7. Serve khichdi with yogurt, pickle, papad, or ghee.

Notes

  • You can reduce the red chili powder if you can't handle heat. This dish is a level 3 spice on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being low and 5 being the highest. 
  • If you like the khichdi mushy add 1/2 cup more water, and if you like it slightly firm reduce 1/2 cup water.  For this recipe, the texture is just right and is slightly mushy.
  • Traditionally this recipe is made with Tuvar lilva, however if you don't have it you can eliminate it.