Traditional confinement foods: Recipe for Khichdi

One of the most popular and consistently made traditional confinement foods in the Indian households is the vegetable khichdi. This popular dish is rich in fibre, protein, carbohydrates and folic acid. It also helps a new mum to recover faster and heal better, plus it is very good for digestion and is traditionally made in case of indigestion.

Let's not forget, it's the go-to traditional confinement food in India, since it's easy to prepare and can be made in lesser time than other traditional confinement foods.

Ingredients

• Rice 1 cup
• Yellow gram (moong dal)
• Ghee
• Water 3½ cups
• Cumin seeds (jeera)
• Finely chopped carrot ¼
• Tumeric powder ½ tsp
• Asafeotida (hing)
• Finely chopped bottle gourd (lauki)- optional
• Cloves 4
• Peppercorns (kali mirch) 4
• Bay leaf (tej patta) 1

Method

• Keep the washed rice and dal ready and mix them together and soak in water for about 20 minutes.
• Heat some ghee in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. Let the seeds crackle. Then add hing, bay leaf, kali mirch and cloves and sauté them together.
• Follow this up by adding rice, dal, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix this for about two minutes and then add water.
• Cook the khichdi until the rice is cooked well. You can serve hot with mint (pudina) chutney or fresh curd and coriander (dhania) and enjoy one of the most popular Indian traditional confinement foods.

Do you know any more traditional confinement foods? Please share in the Comment box below.

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