Dal Paratha is a delicious Indian flatbread made with wheat flour (atta), spices, and leftover yellow dal tadka. In Punjabi, we call it missa paratha. It is a family favorite Indian breakfast recipe. Be sure to watch the video!
Story of Leftover Dal Paratha
Dal Paratha or as they say in Punjabi, missa paratha is probably the best way to use leftover cooked yellow dal sitting in the fridge.
In a Punjabi household, if you are left with plenty of yellow dal from dinner or lunch, making paratha dough using the leftover dal is a common practice.
It is one of the easiest Indian breakfast recipes.
With dal dough sitting in the fridge, it takes less than 30 minutes to make delicious parathas for breakfast.
A lentil paratha is packed with protein, fiber, and is a wholesome, healthy breakfast choice.
Ingredients Required
Here are the few pantry staples required to make Punjabi missa paratha at home:
Cooked Yellow Dal: You can use either toor dal, moong dal, chana dal, or pink masoor dal for making missa paratha dough.
Whole Wheat Flour (Atta): A combination of wheat flour and any other flour-like ragi flour, or maize flour also works.
Fresh or Dry Fenugreek (Methi) Leaves: During the winter season I make this dal paratha with fresh fenugreek leaves.
Seasoning: Salt, Red Chilli Powder, Turmeric Powder, Carom Seeds (Ajwain/Omam)
Other Ingredients: Gram Flour (Besan), Onion, Ghee or Refined Oil
Add-On Suggestions: You can add chopped spinach, spring onion, grated boiled potato, crumbled paneer, or finely chopped fresh coriander in the paratha dough to make it tastier.
Which Yellow Dal?
If you are wondering, what kind of yellow dal is ideal for making the paratha, then the answer is – toor/arhar dal, pink masoor dal, yellow moong dal, or the chana dal.
These few basic Indian-style cooked yellow dals are the perfect choice for making the lentil paratha dough.
Apart from the dal suggested above, you can use a combination of 2 – 3 yellow dals as well to make the missa paratha dough.
How To Shape Dal Paratha?
Missa Paratha tastes best when it has flaky and crispy layers within.
You can follow these steps to make a simple layered missa paratha at home:
Similarly, shape all the paratha. At this stage, you can cook the paratha immediately, or freeze them.
Follow these steps to freeze the missa paratha for the next 1 – 2 months:
Make the paratha and only half cook them from both sides on a hot griddle (as shown in video) until brown spots appear.
Once you are done with half cooking the paratha, then place the parchment paper between each paratha stacking it well.
Place the stack in a clean airtight container or ziplock bag and freeze.
Serving Suggestion
You can make a wholesome meal with the missa paratha. Here are a few serving suggestions:
More Paratha Recipes
Watch Paratha Video
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Dal Paratha Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
- ¼ Cup Gram Flour (besan)
- ¼ Cup Chopped Onion
- 1 ½ Cup Leftover Cooked Yellow Dal (see recipe )
- ¼ Cup Dry/Fresh Fenugreek Leaves (methi)
- 1 Tablespoon Carom Seeds (ajwain)
- ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Powder
- Salt to taste
- ¼ Cup Chopped Fresh Coriander
- ¼ Cup Ghee (clarified butter)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine together all the ingredients and 1 tablespoon ghee. Mix nicely using a spatula or your fingers.
- Try to bring together the ingredients to form a dough. If the dough seems dry add more dal and bind the dough. You can use 1 – 2 tablespoon of water also to bind the dough.
- The dough should be non-sticky, soft, and pliable chapati like dough. Knead the dough for 5 – 6 minutes.
- Apply a teaspoon of ghee on the dough. Cover the dough with a muslin cloth and set aside to rest for 10 – 15 minutes. You can store it in the fridge also to use later.
- Meanwhile, heat the griddle (tawa) over medium heat.
- Divide the dough into lemon size equal balls. Take one ball and roll it into a round disk of thickness similar to that of stuffed paratha.
- Smear half a teaspoon ghee on the surface of the paratha.
- Make a cut in the paratha using a knife. And start rolling the paratha into a cone from one side to the other. Once again, gently press the dough into a flat disc (refer video or step-by-step images).
- Roll the paratha into a round disc with a thickness of less than ¼ inch.
- Place the paratha in the hot griddle. Cook from both sides till the surface of the paratha turns dry and charred marks appear.
- Now at this stage, smear the paratha with ghee and cook on the griddle like any other stuffed paratha from both sides till it is crisp.
- Serve Dal Paratha warm with butter and raita.
Recipe Notes:
- You can use cooked toor/arhar dal, chana dal, masoor dal, or moong dal for making the paratha dough.
- Adding gram flour in the dough is optional. Instead of gram flour, you can use sattu (roasted chana flour) as well.
- Any variety of seasonal green leafy vegetables can be combined in the paratha dough.
- Try to avoid adding water to bind the dough. If required, use one to two tablespoon water.
- Paratha dough should be non-sticky, soft, and easy to handle. If the dough seems too sticky, add more wheat flour.
- Paratha dough can be stored in the fridge for 5 – 6 days easily.
- You can use regular refined oil also to cook the paratha.
Praveen Kumar says
Lovely dish. One of our favs.
Shumaila | The Novice Housewife says
Love leftover dal ka paranthas and can have them any time of the day. Never added besan to them to make missi paranthas. Love this.
Gillian DidierSerre says
Hi Hina please upload a recipe for Dal Tadka thanks
Hina Gujral says
Your request noted. Will surely share a recipe soon!
arijit says
Such a fab idea to use leftover dal. Thanks you!
Hina Gujral says
Thank you so much!
Susan R says
Delicious and easy to make. I used palak moong dal but had to omit the methi as is was unavailable locally. Thank you!
Hina Gujral says
So happy that the recipe worked out well for you.