Dahl with lime and coriander

The wind and rain have been blowing all day; cold weather food it was. Alas, the fridge was full of salad. "Never fear!" cried my stomach, "We have lentils!" We also had some motley spices that resulted in throwing away the first attempt and wasting half an onion. (Apparently not all spices keep so well after 5 years or so.) The second attempt turned out better, though.

Green lentils
Onion, garlic, ginger root
Madras curry powder, mustard seeds, ground cinnamon
Vegetable stock
Sliced carrot, celery
Green pepper, tomato
Fresh coriander
Lime juice, coconut milk
Pinch of seasalt

Soak and simmer half a cup of green lentils (this is not at all necessary, but I find it makes them more digestible.) Meanwhile heat up some oil in a pan over a medium heat, and add half a chopped onion. Cover pan with a lid. Boil 1 - 2 cups of water in the kettle for use later.

When the onion has softened a bit, sprinkle in 1 - 2 tsp of madras curry powder, a 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds, and a 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon. Stir and let lightly sizzle for a minute or two.

Add 2 - 3 minced cloves of garlic, and a minced 1/2" piece of ginger. Stir for a few minutes, then tip in mostly drained lentils. (At this point I also added a half cup of reconstituted soy mince, as I'm having a cupboard clear-out.) Add hot water to cover, and bring to a simmer.

Slice up two small carrots, and a large half stick of celery. Add to pan, and continue to simmer.

Mix up 1/4 of a vegetable stock cube with some hot water, and stir it in. Add a good few grinds of black pepper too. (Pondered a bay leaf, but didn't add one this time.) Let this simmer for 15 - 20mins, until everything is tender but the carrot and celery are far from mush.

Finely dice a 1/3 of a green pepper, and add this to the pan. Then stir in a handful of chopped fresh coriander, squeeze in a small wedge of lime (to taste), and splash in about a 1/4 cup of thin coconut milk. Stir, and let simmer a few minutes longer.

Shortly before serving, add a tomato cut into 1/8ths and a pinch or two of seasalt. Check seasoning, adding more coconut milk or lime juice as desired.

Serve with an additional bit of fresh coriander and devour in smug delightedness, all vestiges of attempt no.1 quite forgotten. Later discover that fiddling somewhat chaotically with f number settings on the camera made for a far prettier photo than usual, too.