This mildly sweet Beetroot Kichadi or Onam Sadya (not to confuse with upma kichadi or North Indian style kichadi) is a vibrant, healthy and easy to make yogurt relish that is a must on Onam Sadya feast. Check out how I prepared it with the beets!
Kichadi and Pachadi form an integral part of Kerala sadya thali. I posted vellarikai pachadi/cucumber pachadi a couple of years ago, but it took me this long to post the kichadi though. I know, like vellarikai pachadi (again, not to confuse with the sweet ones), vellarikai kichadi is also equally famous. Wondering what exactly the difference between kichadi and pachadi?
Honestly, I could not find the exact answer. I have mentioned in my posts before that we have a lot of friends from Kerala. What I learned was every family has their traditional kichadi and pachadi recipe.
One of our friends mentioned that the main difference between pachadi and kichadi is the inclusion of mustard seeds while grinding. We grind mustard seeds for pachadi along with coconut but not for kichadi. Also, not all kichadi recipe uses coconut.
So far my vellarikai pachadi, I included mustard seeds powder instead of grinding it along with coconut. When I was further researching about the difference, I stumbled upon this blog, and they mentioned about the same thing (mustard seeds inclusion) as well.
For this kichadi, I did not use any coconut. I kept it very simple. I just cooked my beets and mixed it with yogurt. And, finally tempered it with mustard seeds, chili and few curry leaves in coconut oil.
Here is my beetroot kichadi recipe,
Beetroot Kichadi | Onam Sadya
Beetroot Kichadi – A vibrant, healthy and easy to make Kerala style Kichadi / Mildly sweet yogurt relish with beets.
Ingredients:
- Grated Beetroot – 1 cup
- Water – ½ cup
- Salt – ¾ tsp
- Sugar – ½ tsp (optional)
- Yogurt – ½ cup
- Coconut Oil – 1 tsp
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Red chilies – 2
- Curry leaves- 4 to 5 leaves
Steps:
-
- In a pan, (as you can see, I used my clay pot) add the grated beets and ½ cup of water.
- Cover and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Then remove the lid and add the salt.
- Let it cook until ¾ of the water evaporates.
- Turn off the heat and allow it to cool completely.
- Once it is cooled, add the yogurt, sugar (if using) to the cooked beets.
- Mix well and in a separate tadka pan, heat coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, red chilies, and curry leaves.
- When the mustard seeds splutter, add them to the kichadi.
That’s it. Kichadi is ready!
Notes:
- I did not include any coconut in this. But you can grind coconut, green chilies and ¼ tsp of cumin seeds and add it to the kichadi before adding yogurt.
- Sugar is entirely optional.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
Beetroot Kichadi | Onam Sadya Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Grated Beetroot
- ½ cup Water
- ¾ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Sugar optional
- ½ cup Yogurt
- 1 tsp Coconut Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 2 Red chilies
- 4-5 Curry leaves
Instructions
- In a pan, (as you can see, I used my clay pot) add the grated beets and ½ cup of water.
- Cover and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Then remove the lid and add the salt.
- Let it cook until ¾ of the water evaporates.
- Turn off the heat and allow it to cool completely.
- Once it is cooled, add the yogurt, sugar (if using) to the cooked beets.
- Mix well and in a separate tadka pan, heat coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, red chilies, and curry leaves.
- When the mustard seeds splutter, add it to the kichadi.
- That's it. Kichadi is ready.
Notes
- I did not include any coconut in this. But you can grind coconut, green chilies and ¼ tsp of cumin seeds and add it to the kichadi before adding yogurt.
- Sugar is entirely optional.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
In traditional, authentic Kerala kichadi the vegetable (beets in this case) is cooked with a coconut paste, ground with small amount of mustard seeds and green chilis.
Your recipe is more of the classical raitha (some call it salad in Kerala) served with vegetable boriyani.
I hope you read my post completely. I did check with my friends and have mentioned not all kichadi call for coconut. I have a pachadi recipe for which I use coconut. There are so many variations and each and every family makes it in their own way.
what a gorgeous color and beautiful recipe
:-) Thank you.
I do Beet pachadi the same way..What a vibrant colour it has got..Just yumm.
Thanks :-)
What a colorful kichadi! We love this beets one, especially my lil one, it is his favorite beets more(buttermilk)!
Love the name beets more… :-) Thanks Priya.
That’s an interesting way to cook beetroots, I love the color beets gave to this dish.
Thank you.
Cant say how much i like this kichadi, anytime favourite and love that serving bowl, looks cute.
Thanks, Priya.
For a minute I was confused , I thought of the North Indian Khichadi , till you cleared my doubts . This khichadi has a beautiful vibrant color and looks pretty as well .
:-) Thanks, Vaishali.
Love the vibrant color of kichadi.
Thanks, Usha.
Wow lip smacking dish ?Gonna give it a try
Please do. Thanks much. :-) Welcome to my space.