Lucky Lentil Pasta, Any Time Meal with Corn and Lentils

I came to know that lentils are served in Italy for good luck on New Year. That is it, I had to blog about this pasta dish I make regularly, for DelMonte cooking contest.  I could use all the luck I can get for winning this one, what with all the amazing cooks across the world wide web.

Lentils are power houses of nutrition. Especially if you are a vegetarian or a vegan or want to have a meat free meal with good quality protein, then lentils are the way to go. Lentils in some shape or form appears daily on our plates. My blog has a good collection of recipes with lentils, whole and split and sprouts.

I have substituted whole organic masoor dal as we do not get the Italian (Puy or Umbrian varieties) here in Bangalore. The picture and the description matched that of  whole masoor. We also like the delicate nutty taste of whole masoor when cooked, in addition to the fact that it gets cooked very fast.

Here I have lentils for the protein, corn for the vegetable and a favorite with kids and of course, the star of the dish - the pasta. Butter, salt, pepper and lemon juice add all the oomph. I generally use my pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time and save on the fuel. All the ingredients in the pressure cooker, 2 whistles on medium high. Voila, you have an easy, tasty and a healthy dish that goes on the serving table in 15 minutes with minimal preparation. In fact, taking the pictures for boasting take more time than cooking and eating.

Serve it as breakfast, as an evening snack or in the lunch box, which ever way you want. Get back the cleanly licked box/bowl as a bonus.

Cooked pasta in the pressure cooker before adding butter, pepper powder and lemon juice.

Buttery, lemony, nutty pasta ready to dig in for the kids. I have taken a close up to focus on the lentils and corn.

Final dish for the adults served with sauteed baby tomatoes and chilli flakes.

Recipe for the Lucky Lentil Pasta

One medium serving

Delmonte Pasta	½ cup (Spriali/Penne/Rigatoni)
Frozen or fresh corn kernels	¼ cup
Organic Whole masoor	¼ cup
Pepper powder	2 pinches
Butter	1 tablespoon
Salt	1/8 tsp or to taste
Lemon juice	1 tsp

Directions

• In a pressure cooker add the washed whole masoor, pasta, corn kernels, salt and 1 cup of water. The water should barely submerge the pata.
• Close the lid, put the whistle and cook on high for 2 whistles. I have a small 2 liter cooker which works ideal for small servings like this.
• Whole masoor cooks extremely fast, especially the organic variety that I source locally.
• Once the pressure subsides, add the butter, pepper powder and the lemon juice. Mix it all up and serve.
• The lemony buttery pasta and corn and the nutty whole masoor taste just awesome as is.
• For the adults sauté a few baby tomatoes in olive oil on high heat for 2 minutes, sprinkle salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with chilli flakes.

Mom can mentally tick off all the nutrition checklists in her mind and watch the kids gulp the guilt free pasta meal.