Black Bean and Rice Khichri Recipe

Black beans Basmati Rice Bell pepper Onions. The beans are cooked to tender but the skin should not come off.

This is my personal favorite and very easy to fix. You may chose any type of beans to make  Khichri.

Ingredients

Precook beans

1. Black beans: 1 cup
2. Water: 6 cups

3. Salt: ½ teaspoon

Rice

4. Basmati Rice: 2 Cups 

Sautee

5.Ghee: ½ cup 
6. Fajita cut onions about ¼" wide strips: 1 cups
7. One large bell pepper fajita cut about ¼" wide strips
8. Whole cumin seeds: 1 Tablespoon 
9. Crushed garlic cloves: 4

10. Salt: ½ teaspoon 
11. Boiling Water:  5 Cups 

Method

Step 1: Precook beans

Boil six cups of water. Add beans, cook till beans are tender but not burst open. It will take about 90 minutes to cook black beans. Remove from heat. Rinse the beans in cold water. This is done to minimize the color transfer of beans to Khichri.

Step 2 Wash Rinse

While the beans are being cooked, wash and rinse rice to remove dirt and starchy powder. I repeat it three times.

Step 3 Presoak Rice

Presoak rice in 3 cups plain water about 30 minutes at room temperature.

Step 4: Sauté

Heat Ghee in a pan. Add Items 6 through 10. Sauté on medium heat till the onions start to turn brown. Drain and add pre-soaked rice. Toss it around so every thing mixed nicely. The Rice is covered with oil.

Step 5 Cooking Rice.

Add Boiling water. Heat to boil again. Boil 5 cups of water. Add sauté from Step 4 and beans from step 1. Bring it to a boil. Turn down heat. Cover it with a lid. Let simmer 14 minutes on medium heat. Remove from heat, let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Note
In Step 4, try adding cauliflower, sliced new potatoes.... even strips of chicken breast. It is the cumin seeds that give it the flavor. Try adding a Tablespoon of mustard seeds also in step 4.