Heya there...
It's  Ghosty writing and today this little cub has some Indian food for you.
A creamy, slightly piquante brown lentil Dal, full of spices that will warm you right up...and it's just waiting to be soaked up with some rice or Naan.
Indian food doesn't look so fancy, but it's really tasty :3

Ingredients:
(Makes for a big pot)
~200-220g brown lentils (soak overnight or at least a couple of hours in cold water in the fridge)
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
1 finger thick piece of ginger
1 can chopped tomatoes
150-200ml cream
~300-400 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt, pepper, spices to your taste. (for e.g. turmeric (~1tsp), cumin (~1-2tsp), ground coriander seeds (~2tsp), Garam Masal (1-2tsp), a good curry powder (1-2tsp; I used Ingo Holland "Maharadscha Curry" and "Curry Anarpurna"). Adjust amounts to your taste)
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 star anise
3-4 cardamom pods
1 can Greek Yoghurt
fresh coriander
Basmati rice
Clarified butter/Ghee or butter & some neutral vegetable oil

Preparations:
Rinse the brown lentils, then soak them in cold water in the fridge overnight. A couple of hours will do as well, but the longer you soak them, the bigger they'll get.
Drain them before use.
Peel onion, garlic and ginger. Dice the onion and grind the ginger and garlic with a bit of course salt into a paste. Best way to do this would be a stone mortar.
Wash the coriander and tap it dry. Pick the leaves and chop them. Lightly crush the cardamom pods.

In a large Pot heat up of some clarified butter or Ghee, put the diced onions, star anise, cardamom pods and cinnamon stick into the pot and gently sweat them until they turn translucent.
Add the garlic & ginger paste, continue to fry carefully so it doesn't burn.
Now add spices, mix them in in and after a minute add the tomato paste.
Continue to fry for another bit, then deglaze with a bit of stock or water.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock and let it simmer.
During that time, cook the lentils for about 10 minutes in lightly salted water, then drain them and put them into the tomato mixture.
Let it simmer on low heat for another hour or longer. Longer is always better.
If you want your Dal to be even thicker, take a little of your stew and blend it with a hand held blender.
Pour in about 150-200ml of cream or cremefine, make sure the sauce doesn't cook violently afterwards, or the cream will curdle.
Remove the cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamom pods before serving

Mix together chopped coriander leaves, yoghurt, salt, pepper, ground coriander seed and cumin.
If you like you can add a few drops of lime juice to the yoghurt.

Serve the finished Dal in small bowls, together with Basmati rice, coriander yoghurt or some Naan bread, for everybody at the table to share.
Please enjoy your meal. :)