Moong dal khichdi

Khichdi is dal and rice cooked together in one pot, eaten from Gujarat and Rajasthan to Bengal, where bhoger khichuri is offered at Durga Puja. Every region has a version, but the everyday one is this: rice, moong dal, turmeric, salt and a ghee tempering, soft enough to eat with a spoon.

This recipe uses split green moong with the skin (chilka moong dal) rather than dehusked yellow dal. The skin gives a nuttier taste, more texture and more fibre, and it still cooks soft in the pressure cooker; yellow moong dal works the same way with a creamier result. The rice is sona masoori, a medium-grain rice that softens into the dal the way khichdi needs, where basmati stays more separate. Rice and dal together give a better protein than either alone, one of the moong dal benefits that matter to vegetarians.

Consistency is a matter of taste. Five cups of water for one and a quarter cups of grain gives a soft, spoonable khichdi that thickens as it cools; use four cups for a drier one and six for a thin, porridge-like one for a sick day. Add chopped carrot, peas or bottle gourd with the grains for a vegetable khichdi, or a pinch of garam masala at the end for a masala khichdi.