• Take a large glass bowl and add rice along with red lentils to this bowl. Pour in enough water to soak the rice and lentils. Leave this bowl for 10 minutes then drain the rice and lentils.
• Dice the boneless chicken into medium-sized cubes and finely chop the garlic, ginger, onion, and green chili on a cutting board and keep these ingredients aside, ready for use.
• Place a large-sized cooking pot over medium heat and add butter to melt in it. Add green chili, ginger, garlic, and onion to the melted butter for tempering. Stir in one tomato, and ½ cup chicken cubes then sauté for 1 minute. Add all the diced vegetables to the cooking pot and stir fry them for 2 minutes.
• Stir in the drain lentils, and rice then mix well with the veggies except for the spinach and spring onion. Finally, pour in 600 ml water and allow the lentil rice mixture to boil. Now cover the pot and cook it on low heat for 15 minutes approximately until the rice and lentils are al-dente.
• If the rice mixture gets too dry, add more water if needed and give this mixture a gentle stir twice during the cooking.
• Remove the lid and the mix the khichri well, then add spring onion and spinach to the khichri. Mix well it all until the spinach gets wilted. Add salt to adjust the seasoning, then let it simmer for 4 minutes on low heat.
• Serve warm and fresh.

Tips

• Kalijeera rice is the long-grain white rice; however, if not available, you can use any kind of rice you like for cooking this risotto.
• For a vegetarian treat, skip the use of chicken in the recipe and focus more on the vegetables.
• Since pointed gourds are not commonly available in all parts of the world, it is completely fine to cook this risotto without the use of this gourd.