Food for a busy day

Happy International Women's Day!  I wonder if there is a men's day as well...if not, I think there should be! :-)  A friend of mine is organising a fundraising event for Oxfam nearby, so I will go over there at lunchtime with a batch of jam doughnut muffins.  I hope it will be really successful as she has put a lot of work into it.

I've started having a good sort out at home.  Unbelievable just how much stuff we have :-(  It's not all our fault though because we basically inherited a house full of stuff and then had to move the contents of my flat into it.  Bursting at the seams comes to mind and I can just see some stuff ending up on Freecycle where you give things away for free.  What a great invention that website is - if you haven't come across Freecycle before, why not have a look if there is one in your area?

So, it's busy busy at the moment and food will have to be quick today.  I will have one of my favourite things: red lentil stew.  Well, this can be a soup or a stew really and you can have it on its own, on top of rice or with roti flatbreads.  I use red lentils for this as they don't need soaking beforehand which makes it a lot quicker.  I love the warming curry flavours in this and the bits of sweetcorn and I usually top it with a dollop of plain yogurt (although the stew is not overly spicy - I just find it adds an extra dimension to it).  I can't wait to tuck in... :-)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Red Lentil Soup / Stew (serves 2)


Ingredients:
1 tsp oil
100g red lentils
225ml water
1/2 vegetable stock cube
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 small can of sweetcorn, drained
1/2 onion, chopped
1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp curry powder (or more, depending on taste)
a little salt & pepper to taste


Method:

1. In a saucepan, heat 1 tsp oil and gently fry the onions and garlic until transparent.
2. Add the lentils, curry powder, water, stock cube, tomato puree and bring to the boil.
3. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the lentils are soft.
4. Add the sweetcorn kernels and heat through.

Serve with rice, roti bread or on its own and top with a dollop of plain yogurt.

Adjust the consistency by adding more water if you want this to be a soup rather than a stew.