Urad dal porridge (kanji)
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
20 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Breakfast
Serves 2
Key Ingredients
- White urad split (urad dal)
About This Recipe
Urad dal porridge, called kanji in Tamil, is a black gram porridge made not from boiled dal but from roasted dal flour: the urad is dry roasted until fragrant, ground fine, whisked into cold water and cooked until it thickens into a smooth, warming bowl. In Tamil homes it is made either plain with salt and ghee or sweet with jaggery, and this recipe covers both.
For two bowls you need 1/2 cup (100 g) of white urad split, roasted on low for about 6 minutes until it smells nutty and turns a shade darker, then cooled and ground to a fine flour. The flour is whisked into cold water first so it cannot lump, simmered for about 7 minutes, and finished with 3 tbsp of jaggery powder and 1 tbsp of ghee. For the plain version, leave out the jaggery and stir a pinch of salt in with the ghee instead. The dal behind the bowl is on the urad dal hub.
Roast only until fragrant and pale golden; a deeply browned dal tastes bitter and the porridge loses its creaminess. More ways to cook the dal are in the urad dal recipes roundup.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Porridge
- White urad split (urad dal) — 1/2 cup
- Water for cooking — 2 cups
- Jaggery powder — 3 tbsp
- Ghee — 1 tbsp
- Salt (plain version only) — 1 pinch
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Serving Suggestions
Serve the sweet kanji warm in a bowl with the ghee melting on top, as a filling breakfast. The plain, salted version goes well with a spoon of ghee and crisp papad on the side. Both versions should be eaten warm, since the porridge thickens as it cools.
Tips for Cooking Urad dal porridge (kanji)
Roast the dal on low heat and keep it moving; it browns suddenly once it turns fragrant. Cool the roasted dal completely before grinding, or the flour clumps. Whisk the flour into cold water first and only then add the rest of the water and the heat, so the porridge comes together without lumps. Stir while it simmers, or it catches at the bottom.
Chef’s Note
The porridge is done when it thickens enough to leave the sides of the pan and drops off the ladle in a slow ribbon. Sweeten it off the heat, once the porridge is cooked, so the jaggery melts without burning. A bowl from this recipe comes to about 309 kcal with 11.9 g of protein and 6.0 g of fibre, almost all of the protein from the urad flour.
Per serving (approx.): 309 kcal, protein 12 g, carbs 45 g, fat 8.4 g, fibre 6 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
May 11, 2026
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