Three foods can be the whole meal
A familiar food, a fruit or vegetable they have seen before, and one new bite. That is a complete toddler plate.
Three is a full plate
More dishes do not make the meal more nutritious in the moment. They make the table harder to face.
Rice, a soft vegetable they know, and a teaspoon of something new is enough to call dinner done in the planning.
How to set the three
Put the familiar food closest to them. Put the known vegetable next. Put the new bite at the edge, not piled on top.
Foods that touch can be a problem for some children. Separate piles on the same plate are a fair compromise.
Stop adding
A fourth little dish, then a fifth, is how the counter fills and the child stalls. Cook the three. Sit down.
If they ignore one of the three, leave it. You do not replace it with a search through the fridge.
A sentence you can say
“Rice, peas, and a little of the new one.”