Lentils with Tomatoes and Spinach

A dish which is very easy to prepare in almost no time at all. I know that I've said that about all the other dishes but this really is the case.

Since large parts of India are vegetarian, this is a very typical dish and each region will probably have some similar dish with a local variant in terms of ingredient or way it is prepared.

In fact, this wasn't even the dish I had set out to cook. It was supposed to be a thakkali payaru curry with black eyed peas but I couldn't find them so I went with lentils instead. I reckon it's a pretty good substitute though.

Because it's a vegetarian dish, there's no time-consuming marinating with this dish.

Ingredients:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- a dozen curry leaves
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 green chillies, sliced lengthways
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground tumeric
- 200g of fresh tomatoes, diced
- 100g spinach, chopped loosely
- 100g tin of lentils
- 300g plain yoghurt

Method:
- Heat some oil in a large pan and add the mustard seeds, frying them until they start to pop
- Add the garlic, curry leaves, onion, chilli and fry for a few more minutes
- Add the chilli powder, tumeric, tomatoes, spinach and lentils. Mix well and cook for a few more minutes
- Season with salt and then turn off the heat before mixing in the yoghurt
- Serve while hot

So, as promised, a really quick and simple dish and actually one of the most popular on the night - although that may just be a tragic indictment of the other dishes!

Last up, my effort to make flatbreads which didn't quite go to plan...