One of the challenge one faces whilst cooking is not only making the dish but also decide what shall go with the dish, e.g. when making a dal, shall you made rice or chapati or if making a curry what should you combine with?! This made me decide to write this combination which is somewhat new and somewhat unique and super delicious. It is based on traditional paratha (roti), dal and rice combination.
Best part is that it’s gluten free meal combination. The combination is having Amrantha flour paratha, with Masoor Dahl and Navratan Pulao.
Why choose paratha, dahl and rice
Traditionally, a good Indian meal comprises of roti (paratha), dal and rice. The same is replicated here in the form of Amaratha Paratha, Red Lentils dal and Pulao (rice)
Here I specifically choose “Masoor” or Red Lentils. I believe this dal (or dhal as some may call) goes superbly well with Amarantha flour paratha.
I used paratha instead of chappati. The reason is that making chappati of Amaranth flour can be massive challenge. The amranth flour chappati will tend to get crumbled while rolling and cooking.
Preparation of this meal takes a couple of hours. However rest assured that you will be getting one of the nicest and tastiest meals. You can make this whole combination to treat yourself or your special ones. The meal will be a memorable experience.
Below is the detailed step by step recipes of each of these (Amaranth paratha, Red Lentils and Navratan Pulao)
Lets first commence with making Amaranth flour paratha.
Amaranth Flour Paratha
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Amaranth Flour (Buy Now)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 4 Tablespoon Oil
- Water As required
Instructions
- In a wide pan, take amaranth flour and add salt. Mix well. Now with the help of lukewarm water, knead it into a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into 5 parts and make balls of it. Take one ball and flatten it in between your palm. Apply little dry flour and roll it into a circle of 4 cm diameter.
- Heat a flat pan/tava over medium heat and put this rolled parantha over it. Turn over in 2-3 minutes and apply oil to this side. Turn over again and apply oil to this side as well. Now roast it for 2-3 minutes with few turning over in between.
- Take it out and keep it in a pan. Make rest of the parantha similarly. Once all done, Serve them hot.
Notes
- Don’t make the dough too soft otherwise you won’t be able to roll them.
- Don’t make the parantha too thin as it will break while transferring them on to pan.
- Knead the dough for few good minutes as that will help in rolling them nicely.
Nutrition
Detail on how to make tempered red lentil/ Masoor Dal is below.
Tadka Masoor dal/ Tempered Red Lentil
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Red Lentils (Buy Now)
- 2 Tomatoes Medium, Finely Chopped
- 1 Onion Medium, Finely Chopped
- Tablespoon Ginger Grated
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic Finely Chopped
- 1 Teaspoon Salt (Buy from WholeFoodsOnline)
- 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder (Buy Now)
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder (Buy Now)
- 1/3 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala (Buy Now)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Asafoetida (Buy Now)
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds (Buy Now)
- 2-3 Dry Red Chillies
- 3 Tablespoon Ghee / Clarified Butter
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Coriander Leaves Chopped
Instructions
- Wash and soak lentil for 10 minutes. Now transfer it to a pressure cooker and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and turmeric powder. Add 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
- In a pan heat 2 tablespoon of ghee/oil and add asafoetida and half of cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add onions and sauté till they are golden. Add grated ginger and garlic and sauté again for 2 minutes. Now add all the spices listed above and sauté again. Add chopped tomatoes and sauté till they are cooked and start leaving oil.
- Pour the boiled dal into the pan and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes and switch off the heat. Transfer the dal into a serving bowl. For tempering, heat rest of one tablespoon ghee/oil in a tadka pan and add dry red chillies, and rest of cumin seeds. Once fried, pour it over the dal. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Notes
- Cooking time varies with different pressure cookers so adjust the timings accordingly.
- Adjust the amount of water according to your desired consistency.
- Dal tastes best when cooked in desi ghee/ clarified butter.
Nutrition
Lastly the best part of the combo, navratan pulao (which can be served on its own too) is detailed below.
Navratan Pulao
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Long Grain Basmati Rice
- 1/2 Cup Carrot Diced
- 1/2 Cup Potato Diced
- 1/2 Cup Green Beans Chopped
- 1 Cup Cauliflower Flotets
- 1 Tomato Chopped
- 1/3 Cup Capsicum Chopped
- 1/3 Cup Asparagus Chopped (Optional)
- 1 Cup Green Peas I have used frozen
- 1/3 Cup Sweetcorn I have used Canned
- 100 Grams Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese
- 1 Onion Large, thinly sliced
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger Grated
- 2 Green chillies Fresh
- 2 Bayleaves
- 2 Green Cardamom (Buy Now)
- 2 Black Cardamoms (Buy Now)
- 1 Tablespoon Cumin Seeds (Buy Now)
- 1 Inch Cinnamon stick
- 2-3 Cloves (Click to buy from WholeFoodsOnline)
- 3-4 Peppercorns (Click to get from WholeFoodsOnline)
- 15 Almonds (Buy Now)
- 15-17 Golden Raisins (Buy Now)
- 20 Cashew Nuts (Click to get from WholeFoodsOnline)
- 1.5 Teaspoon Salt
- 4 Tablespoon Ghee / Clarified Butter
- Few Saffron strands soaked in warm milk
Instructions
- Wash and soak rice for 20 minutes. After that boil 4 cup of water in a big pot and add half teaspoon salt and rice to it. Once they are 80 percent cooked, strain them in a colander and keep aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoon of ghee in a big pan and fry cashews, almonds and raisins till they are golden brown. Take them out and keep aside.
- To the same pan, add rest 2 tablespoon ghee. Keep the heat to medium. Add bay leaves, green and black cardamom, cumin seeds, peppercorns, Cloves and cinnamon stick. Sauté for a minute and then add onions to it.
- Once the onion are golden add grated ginger, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, beans and asparagus. Sauté for a minute and cover the pan for 3-4 minutes. Now add capsicum, tomatoes, chillies, green peas and sauté these vegetables till they are soft and tender.
- Add paneer, sweetcorn, fried cashews, almonds, raisins and salt and mix. Now add cooked rice to the pan and mix gently so that rice don’t break. Pour saffron milk and cover the pan with lid. Cook it over low heat for 7-8 minutes and switch off the heat.
- Transfer the navratan pulao on a serving plate and enjoy it hot.
Notes
- You can also use any easy cooking vegetable of your choice in this recipe like broccoli etc.
- I have used Desi Ghee/Clarified butter in my recipe however you can alternate it with olive oil/ refined Oil.
- Don’t overcook the vegetables while sautéing as we want them to be soft and crunchy together.
Nutrition
I hope to share more of such meal combos in future. You can certainly modify this combination by swapping red lentil with yellow lentil or swapping amaranth paratha with laccha paratha
In case you have doubts on what food pairing to use, you can ask me in comments.
Serving suggestion
Serve all these three hot along side some cold beverage.
This looks delicious! What do you do with the chickpea in the paratha? It’s on the ingredient list but not mentioned in the instructions. Do you mash it up and incorporate into the dough? Thank you
Hi Lee, Thanks for asking this question. It was a typo and has been fixed now. Basically the template I use picks up values from dropdown automatically and it picked chickpea by mistake. Sorry for this confusion.