Masoor Dal Pulao (Red Lentil Rice)

Masoor Dal Pulao (Red Lentil Rice)

For almost two weeks now, I have barely had the energy to cook even a basic meal leave alone anything new or special. Unfortunately this time the road to recovery seems so far off that I am not there yet. For the same reason my appetite has come down and the only thing I am able to enjoy is the traditional ‘paruppu sadam’ (pigeon peas mixed with rice and ghee). I was pretty sure I would not get any better staying away from vegetables and hence today I had to drag myself into the kitchen and make an easy and quick recipe which would have dal and vegetables in it. Before gathering the energy I had to send some important emails and then looked for some dal rice recipes. As with most dishes many people have posted many different varieties of recipes and I am just going to add one more to the list! I made it with barely any energy in my body so you can imagine how simple it must be!

¼ cup red lentil (masoor dal), rinsed
¾ cup basmati rice, rinsed and drained
1 red onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup green peas
½ teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
½ teaspoon sambar powder (or use a mixture of coriander powder and red chilly powder)
½ -1 teaspoon red chilly flakes
Cooking oil
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder
A piece of whole spices like bay leaf, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves

Heat a tablespoon oil in a wok or skillet and add the whole spices. Once the spices heat up, add the rice and fry until it turns colour.

Add a few drops oil to the rinsed dal, add the rice and a cup of water and pressure cook (note that quantity of water may vary depending on the quality of rice. Usually people go with adding two portions of water to one portion of rice but for me, that does not work)

In the wok, heat some oil and add cumin seeds. Once it splutters add the red onion and fry until it changes colour

Add the tomato and peas and cook until done

Add turmeric powder, sambar powder and red chilly flakes and salt and cook for about 3 minutes then add the rice and mix well and remove the whole spices if you prefer

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with a raita or if you have more, make a nice side dish!

This way of frying the rice and pressure cooking helps me keep the grains separate as I am wary of the dal-rice mixture become mushy like a kichdi if I cook it in the saucepan itself. I am going to try this recipe with brown rice next time.