This humble meal has become a source of comfort for many people in India. Each nutrient is vital for your diet and your regular ghee, rice, and dal meal does provide you with most of them. This is how ghee rice dal helps-
1. A Great Fat Burner
Desi cow ghee contains a ton of short-chain fatty acids. In addition to performing the work of regular fats, these fatty acids also help your body burn fat and increase the number of healthy bacteria in your gut, and are good for your overall health.
2. Helps With Indigestion
In addition to ghee, most recipes will use ingredients like hing and cumin to season their ghee rice and dal. These ingredients trigger various enzymes and digestive juices in your body which aid your digestion. Additionally, because these ingredients are high in fibre, they also prevent intestinal gas.
3. A Great Source Of Protein
Proteins tend to come from meats such as chicken and fish, which are out of the dietary limits for vegetarians. But the lentils used in the ghee rice and dal dish are full of proteins which makes it an incredibly important dish for both- vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Proteins help create important body chemicals like hormones and enzymes which are mandatory for completing basic bodily tasks.
4. Helps You Maintain Your Diet
Dal is known for being incredibly heavy, which will help you avoid overeating throughout the day. Additionally, the proteins in the dish will help you build muscles and improve your metabolism so that you can burn fat at a faster pace.
5. Important for Lysine Consumption
Rice is almost the only grain having Lysine, an essential amino acid (one that cannot be produced by the body and has to be consumed from the food). It is a precursor to HGH (Human Growth Hormone).
6. Safe for Diabetics
Mixing any food with ghee lowers its glycemic index (GI) and hence ghee with rice is safe for diabetics. Rice with pulses/legumes topped with ghee has the complete amino acid profile in a specific ratio. Hence, being a rich source of plant protein and easy to digest makes it an excellent food choice.
Easy to Cook Recipe:
Ghee Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Rice
- 2 cups Water
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 2 Cloves
- 1 Cardamon Piece
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Ghee
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Jeera
- Small Cinnamon Stick, Few Cashews and salt
Method:
In a vessel, mix washed rice, cinnamon stick, cardamom, bay leaf, and cloves. In a pressure cooker, pour 2 cups of water and cook the rice. Let it cool. Heat a frying pan with ghee. Add cashews, jeera. As it turns golden brown, turn off the flame. Add it to the cooked rice, add salt and thoroughly mix them.
Dal Tadka:
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup Moong Dal
- Chopped Onion, Tomato, Green Chili and Garlic
- 2 cups water
- 1 Red Chili and pinch of Turmeric Powder
- Garlic, Jeera, Asafoetida
- Curry Leaves and Salt
- Ghee and Coriander
Method:
Clean and wash moong dal. Cook dal with chopped onions, green chili, garlic, and tomato in the pressure cooker. Add turmeric powder and water. Wait for 3 to 4 whistles. After the whistle, turn the flame off and let the pressure ease. Open the cooker, sprinkle salt as per taste, and thoroughly mash the dal. Heat a pan with desi ghee. When heated add cumin seeds, asafoetida, and red chili. As it crackles, add curry leaves and finally add it to the cooked dal. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and desi ghee.
To summarise, ghee rice dal is a great meal to have for diet-conscious people regularly. This meal is not only delicious and nostalgic, but it also contains fibre, carbs, short-chain fatty acids, and other vitamins that can help you improve your health.