Rajma khichdi
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
60 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Lunch
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Rajma (Kashmiri red kidney beans)
About This Recipe
Khichdi means rice and dal cooked together in one pot, and rajma khichdi is that idea with red kidney beans in the place of the dal. Rajma needs a long cook that rice would not survive, so the pot works in two stages: the soaked beans are pressure-cooked soft first, and the rice joins them for the finish.
The result sits between a dal khichdi and a rajma chawal: the rice turns soft and porridge-like while the beans stay whole and creamy, so every spoon holds some of each. A ladleful is mashed back into the pot for body, and mashing a portion further gives the smooth, thick paste that works for a small child's bowl.
Basmati keeps some shape through the mash, so the khichdi stays chunky rather than pasty; sona masoori rice works the same way and softens further. More on the beans is on the rajma beans page, and the same soak and first cook lead to a dhaba-style masala in the rajma curry recipe.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Khichdi
- Rajma (Kashmiri red kidney beans) — 1 cup
- Water, for soaking — 4 cups
- Fresh water, for the rajma — 3 cups
- Hot water, for the rice — 3 cups
- Salt (1 tsp with the rajma, 1/2 tsp with the rice) — 1 1/2 tsp
- Basmati Rice — 1 1/2 cups
- Turmeric Powder — 1/2 tsp
Tempering
- Ghee (1 tbsp for the tempering, 1 tbsp to serve) — 2 tbsp
- Cumin Seeds — 1 tsp
- Hing (asafoetida) powder — 1/4 tsp
- Ginger, finely chopped — 1 tsp
- Green chilli, slit — 1 piece
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Serving Suggestions
Ladle it hot with a spoon of the remaining ghee over each bowl, a cup of curd or chaas beside it and a roasted papad, with lime or mango pickle on the side. The khichdi holds up to two days in the fridge, where it sets firm; loosen it with a little water when you reheat. More ways with the beans are collected in the rajma recipe roundup.
Tips for Cooking Rajma khichdi
Give the beans their full 8 to 12 hours; a hurried soak leaves the centres hard while the rice has already turned soft. Check several beans rather than one: each must crush easily between two fingers before the rice goes in. Use hot water for the rice stage so the pot returns to pressure quickly. Mash the beans while the pot is still hot, because the khichdi thickens as it cools.
Chef’s Note
Rajma khichdi counts on both main ingredients: each bowl is built from 50 g of dry rajma and 75 g of raw rice, which comes to about 488 kcal, 16.0 g protein and 10.6 g fibre. COWBERRY's Kashmiri rajma is grown in the hill farms of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu using cow-based farming, and the beans are picked by hand at full maturity and left unpolished.
Per serving (approx.): 488 kcal, protein 16 g, carbs 83 g, fat 8.9 g, fibre 11 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Apr 11, 2026
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