Instant Pot Carrot & Beets Masala Khichdi Recipe

Looking for a healthy wholesome one pot meal? Then try this Carrot & Beets Masala Khichdi in an Instant Pot! This yummy rice & lentils combo is comfort food!

One pot meals are so damn convenient! Especially on a weeknight when nothing seems to be going your way and all you need at the end of the day is to enjoy a comfort meal with your family. Everyone is on the lookout for a simple home-cooked meal that requires less chopping, has easy to follow steps and is non complicated or elaborate, especially on a weeknight. One-Pot meals fit this requirement fully! Instant Pot has become an important gadget in the modern kitchen today. The craze for pressure cooking is here to stay and it surely has its reasons! Ever since I got mine, I seem to have gone berserk! Every recipe I conceive, I want to see if I can make it on the Instant Pot. KR agrees I have become obsessed with this pot but he ain’t complaining as he is getting to eat all these delicious dishes that come out of that pot. So he is happy and has been encouraging me to keep experimenting with recipes in the Instant pot. If it is so useful for a working from home person like me, I cannot even imagine how convenient it will be for all you working folks out there! 

Best investment I made ever. Lookout for Black Friday deals and get yours soon. You will not regret it! While I have shared some Instant pot recipes here, this time I prepared this yummy Carrot & Beets Masala Khichdi in it. Khichdi for an Indian is comfort food. Made with mashed lentils and rice, this simple dish is loaded with flavors. You can use any lentils to make this Indian rice dish. Infact a milder version of khichdi is given to infants/toddlers/elderly. Basically anyone having a difficulty to chew can consume khichdi. It’s very soft and easy to digest. My mom would make this on days when she would have exhausted her pantry. She would quickly put together a couple of ingredients and serve us this lip smacking meal in the end. She would always serve it with a dollop of ghee on top and just thinking about it now makes my mouth to water. While everyone at home would enjoy it with homemade mango pickle, I would prefer to eat it with roasted papad. Even today, I always serve khichdi with papad on the side. KR too prefers this combination.

I wanted to create a new flavored khichdi this time and thereby decided to use some different veggies instead of the regular ones. Beets and carrots came to my rescue. Let’s get down to the recipe now. Turn on the Instant pot in ‘Saute’ mode. Add ghee and once its hot, temper mustard seeds. Once it begins to crackle, add asafoetida, cumin seeds, curry leaves, minced ginger, minced garlic and part of chopped cilantro. Fry for a minute or two till the garlic gets cooked. It’s then time to add the veggies. Add grated/shredded beets, carrots and spinach to the pot. Saute the veggies for 3-4 minutes or until they turn soft. Then add the masala like turmeric powder, coriander cumin powder, garam masala, chilly powder and salt. Fry the masala for a minute and then add the soaked and drained lentils and rice along with fresh water. Give everything a quick stir and close IP lid with pressure valve to sealing. Press the rice button (10-12 mins) followed by natural pressure release. 

Meanwhile prepare the tadka. Now, I tried a different tadka in this recipe and I am loving this style. In a pan add ghee. Once its hot enough, fry sliced onions that’s rubbed with lemon juice. Do not over cook the onions, they must still have a crunch, then add green peas and saute till its cooked. Add chilly powder, open the IP and pour the tadka over it. Carrot & Beets Masala Khichdi is now ready. Best enjoyed warm along with some papad, pickle and Maharashtrian Koshimbir | Indian Veggie & Yogurt Salad on the side and a dollop of ghee on top. You can call it Khichdi, Khichadi or Kitchari, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that this nourishing porridge-like dish cooked with lentils and rice is one nourishing meal. The root vegetables in it make it even more nutritious and the lentils add to the protein content in the dish. A comforting vegetarian meal that you will want to come home to at the end of the day. Simple recipes like these make it worthwhile for us to take on the long week! 

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Some other rice based dishes that you can try are Vegan Tomato Basil Rice Recipe, Burnt Garlic Fried Rice, Mint & Pistachio Vegetable Rice, Vegan South Indian Lemon & Chickpea Rice, Vegan Pistachios & Dill flavored Turmeric Brown Rice, Roasted Peanut Rice, Soya Methi Pulav | Soy Fenugreek Rice, Lahsuni Palak Rice | Spinach & Garlic Rice, Lebanese Rice With Vermicelli, South Indian Style Tomato Rice, Eggplant Fried Rice | Vangi Bhaat | Brinjal Rice, Aromatic Turmeric Pilaf with Black Chana and Simple & Easy Vegan Vegetable Pulao in an Instant Pot!