Just found these! Red lentils and a last box of chopped tomatoes.
And I have this! THE MIGHTY SPICE DRAWER.
I also have this: an inch or so of ginger and a green chilli. Powdered chili and ginger would do too, but I have fresh, which is ideal.
Chop that nice and fine...
I'll be needing these babies, too: cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric, and hing aka asafoetida.
As always, dry spices, then wet, then powdered. So a tablespoon each of cumin and mustard seeds, and the mustard seeds start cracking like tiny popcorn.
Wet spices next: ginger and chilli.
The lentils have a magical way stopping things sticking, so I add a cup of those first, then 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric and hing aka asafotida. (I lie; I actually defy the recipe and add close to a teaspoon of hing.)
In goes the box of tomatoes. It's meant to be half a box, but hey. The other half would only moulder in the fridge.
3 cups of boiling water so far, I'll let you know if it needs more. Red lentils cook quickly, it won't need too long. Maybe 15-20 mins and I'll check. (It took about 30.)
The typed recipe, for those who like that sort of thing. You will notice the absence of a courgette in my preparations, because I wasn't privileged to own a courgette at the time of preparation. And wait - do I have fresh coriander??
Do I have fresh coriander! Yesterday's impulse buy. But totally fine if you don't. (Okay, I lied about the salad drawers being totally empty, because I wanted to set the scene, but having them stuffed to the gills with coriander and only coriander doesn't instantly create a salad. Or if it does, it's an odd one.)
We have achieved lunch. Also lunch for several other days. (Actually, I made this at the end of August, and have only just finished the last of it, because I cunningly froze it in lunch-sized portions.)
Om nom nom nom nom.