Instructions: Yesterday evening, with a friend coming over for dinner, I broke out Madhur Jaffreys "Indian Cooking" and whipped up a dinnerful of subcontinental dishes, which I thought Id share with the list. All three recipes derive from that one book, which I cant recommend highly enough as a good overview of all the various aspects of Indian food. None of these dishes are outrageously (even notably) hot, but could be jacked up however you like. Anyway, heres what we had last night:

Prep time: about 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 1.5 hours

Place lentils and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Cover, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer 1 hour. About 45 minutes into this, heat vegetable oil in a skillet large enough to hold all the ingredients, over medium-high heat. When hot, add the ginger and chiles and saute 10 seconds. Add spinach and coriander and cook, about 10 minutes or spinach is wilted. Add the lentils, lemon juice and salt and mix well; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook another 25 minutes.

Test and adjust seasonings before serving.

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