Red Lentil and Potato Risotto with Spinach, Paneer, and Chapatis

Red Lentil and Potato Risotto with Spinach, Paneer, and Chapatis

2026 August 10

Ingredients for 4 people

350 g mainly waxy potatoes
a handful of fresh baby spinach
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cm cinnamon stick
1 tsp raw cane sugar
tbsp ghee
1 litre milk
1 tsp salt
warm water

100 g red lentils
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
1 pinch of asafoetida
1 clove
350 ml vegetable stock or water
1 tsp lemon zest and fresh lemon juice
Panir
1 lemon
Chapatis
100 g Dinkelvollkornmehl
1 EL Ghee

Preparation

Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1 cm cubes. Wash the lentils and drain them in a sieve. Finely crush the fenugreek seeds in a mortar. Heat the ghee in a saucepan. Gently roast the potato cubes and spices in the ghee for a few minutes. Add the lentils and raw cane sugar and continue roasting gently for another two minutes. Now pour in the vegetable stock or water and bring to a vigorous boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer gently for 15–20 minutes. Once the potatoes and lentils are tender, add the washed spinach. Season with lemon juice, lemon zest and salt. If you like your food spicy, you can add a pinch of chilli.

Preparation of Paneer (mild fresh cheese)

Squeeze the juice from the lemon. Rinse a saucepan with water. Heat the milk and salt in the saucepan and, just before it comes to the boil, slowly stir in the lemon juice. This causes the protein and whey to separate and the milk to curdle. Place a cloth over a sieve and position it over a bowl. Then pour the contents of the saucepan into the sieve so that the fresh cheese collects in the cloth and the whey drains into the bowl. Leave the paneer to drain in the sieve for at least half an hour. The mild fresh cheese is now ready.

Preparation of Chapatis (Ayurvedic flatbread)

Knead the ingredients into a smooth dough that can be rolled out easily. Leave to rest for half an hour. Then, on a floured work surface, divide the dough into walnut-sized pieces and roll them into balls. Cover with a damp cloth and heat a frying pan. (Heat setting 7 to 9.) A heavy cast-iron frying pan is ideal, as the dough is cooked in the pan without fat. Roll out the dough into a thin flatbread (feel free to use plenty of flour) and place it in the hot pan. The next step requires your full attention so that the flatbreads do not burn. As with many things, practice makes perfect. Once the dough is in the hot pan, it should puff up and form bubbles. Press these down gently with a cloth. Turn the flatbread after about one minute and press it down gently again. The more the flatbreads puff up, the softer and lighter the chapatis will be. Place the flatbreads on a plate, cover with a damp cloth and keep warm. Bake the pieces of dough one after another. It is important to wipe the flour out of the pan with a cloth between each flatbread.