Dalia Recipe | Daliya Khichdi

Cracked or broken wheat, also known as Dalia or Daliya is a healthy ingredient that is often used in Indian homes. It is used for making many sweet as well as savory dishes. In this post, I have shared a one pot Dalia Recipe, a Dalia Khichdi which is a savory dish made with mixed vegetables, cracked wheat, herbs and spices. The recipe is easy, tasty, nutritious and easy to customize.

About Daliya Khichdi Recipe

Whether or not you’re a khichdi lover, I’d say that you must give this Dalia Recipe a definite try. This Dalia Khichdi is one of the most wholesome ways of making this dish and also gets done in a quite fuss-free manner.

It has minimal ingredients and also makes for a really filling breakfast, brunch or even lunch meal.

Basically, ‘dalia’ is the Hindi term for broken cereals. However, more precisely, this term is used to refer to ‘broken wheat’ in North India.

This Dalia Khichdi recipe is a healthy and delicious one-pot savory meal made with broken/cracked wheat, spices and an array of vegetables. If you’re looking for the sweet version, you can try this recipe of Milk Dalia made with milk and cracked wheat.

This Dalia Recipe has a porridge-like consistency. But some people make it slightly thick too. At home, we generally have it accompanied with curd (yogurt) but it can be had plain too. You can have this dish as a breakfast meal too.

The vegetables that I usually add in this Daliya Khichdi are carrots, green peas, potatoes, onions, cauliflower, French beans and tomatoes.

For a punch, you can also add some capsicum. Peas and potatoes are often used in most of the dalia-veggie based dishes in Indian cuisine.

You can also add some moong lentils in this lovely Daliya Khichdi made with broken wheat. Add the moong lentils when you add the broken wheat.

I usually make one pot meals like this Dalia recipe, khichdi, Veg Pulao when I have less time to cook.

Why Dalia

Broken wheat or dalia is considered to be one of the simplest nutrition-dense foods, low in fats and cholesterol, high in iron and fiber, and good in carbs. Often recommended to growing up kids or people recovering from illnesses.

Cracked wheat is very easy to digest. In case your stomach is upset then this simple Daliya Khichdi and a comforting Moong Dal Khichdi are two dishes that are often recommended.

Many of us do have memories of having Dalia and khichdi when recovering from different illnesses.

Some people don’t like the bland taste of broken wheat, as it is usually prepared for people recovering from sickness.

Otherwise, if you plan to serve it to a healthy person, then you can make this particular recipe a little spicy as well as more flavorful.

How to make Dalia Recipe

1. Chop all the vegetables. Measure and keep all the ingredients ready for making Dalia recipe.

Sauté Onion Tomatoes

2. In a 3-litre stovetop pressure cooker, heat 1 tablespoon oil or ghee. Keep heat to medium-low, add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and let them crackle.

3. Add ⅓ cup finely chopped onions.

4. Sauté onions until they soften and become translucent.

5. Then, add 1 teaspoon of finely chopped ginger and ½ to 1 teaspoon of finely chopped green chilies.

6. Sauté on low heat for some seconds or until the raw aroma of ginger goes away.

7. Add ½ cup of finely chopped tomatoes.

8. Sauté for 1 minute.

Sauté Vegetables

9. Next, add ½ cup chopped potatoes, ½ cup chopped carrots and ½ cup green peas (fresh or frozen).

10. Sauté on low to medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Stir at intervals.

Prep & Add Dalia

11. Meanwhile, rinse 1 cup broken wheat (dalia) in water using a fine strainer.

12. Drain the water and keep aside. You can rinse it before preparing but it hardly takes time to rinse and strain the water.

13. Add the rinsed broken wheat to the vegetables. Sauté on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

14. Add 4 cups water and salt as required.

15. Stir and mix well.

Make Daliya Khichdi

16. On medium heat, pressure cook for 10 to 12 whistles (11 to 13 minutes) or until the broken wheat is cooked well and nicely softened.

Timing will depend on the quality of the broken wheat. So, the cooking time will vary.

17. Once the pressure drops naturally in the cooker, open the lid and check whether the daliya has softened and cooked well.

If the broken wheat has not cooked completely, then add some more water and pressure cook for a few more whistles or cook without the lid until the dalia has softened and you get a porridge-like consistency.

18. Transfer the prepared Dalia to serving bowls. Garnish Dalia Khichdi with coriander leaves and serve hot or warm.

You could drizzle a bit of ghee on the Dalia when serving. Additionally add lemon juice to get a lovely bright and tangy taste.

Serve Dalia as is or with a side of Mango Pickle or lemon pickle, Curd (yogurt), a simple raita or roasted papad.

Note that on cooling the consistency will thicken, so add some water to thin the consistency while reheating.

Expert Tips

1. Type of Dalia: Use a finer or medium-fine variety of Dalia. It should not be too coarse. The recipe can also be made with millet dalia like jowar dalia. Only you will need to adjust the water accordingly when making the recipe with varietiies of millet dalia. Bulgur wheat can be used instead of broken wheat.
2. Rinsing: Always rinse the dalia to remove any chaff, dust or impurities. The broken wheat can be rinsed just before preparing the dish as it hardly takes any time to rinse and strain it. But you can prep by rinsing it earlier.
3. Vegetables: You can add your choice of vegetables in this khichdi for more nutrition. Also, you can use either fresh or frozen green peas. Feel free to include veggies like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, bottle gourd, potatoes, peas, green beans and pumpkin. Make a note that yegetables when chopped in small cubes cook easily and give a better cohesive consistency.
4. Adjusting Spices: Whenever you are making this khichdi for people who are not recovering from any illness or sickness, you can amp it up by adding more spices, herbs and seasonings.
5. Fats: If you want to make a vegetarian version of this khichdi, use ghee (clarified butter) instead of oil .
6. Liquids: You can use a more flavorful vegetable stock in place of water to cook this khichdi.
7. Dalia & Water Proportions: For a softer consistency, add 3.5 to 4 cups water for 1 cup of dalia. For a more thinner and loose consistency, add more water.
8. Pressure Cooking: Daliya cooks the best in a pressure cooker. You could a stovetop pressure cooker like I have done or use an Instant Pot. To cook in the Instant Pot, pressure cook for 8 to 10 minutes and then do a natural release.

Dalia recipe was from the archives was first published on July 2013.