Lentil Dahl

I always used to follow recipes I found to the letter, but lately I've taken to either finding a recipe and making changes to it, or even just making something up from scratch. I've never had the self confidence to even consider trying to do this, but it's actually been going surprisingly well so far! This Lentil Dahl was one of the first times I tried doing this. I've also then taken inspiration from this to make a Rogan Josh, and I'll post the recipe for that separately. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: (this made 3 servings but I think if you up the lentils and water if you were serving for 4 you shouldn't need to adjust the other ingredients.)

2 cups red lentils
5 cups of water
1 veg stock cube
2 tablespoons curry paste
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Juice of 3/4 of a lime.

I've not included rice instructions but this is best with pilau rice, we did a 250g microwave pouch for 2 people (so if in a pan about 125g per person). We shared a naan bread with the meal.

Instructions:

Boil a near full kettle, add the 5 cups boiled water to a large saucepan on a high heat, crumble and stir in a vegetable stock cube and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Once dissolved add the lentils and boil until most of the water has soaked up (takes about 10-15 mins)

Turn down slightly and add the coconut milk. The contents will be like a soup, boil until it's starting to get close to a milky porridge, again stir regularly. Meanwhile cut the lime in half and squeeze roughly 3/4 of it into a cup, removing pips.

Then turn the heat down a little more and get ready to add the paste and spices. Start by stirring in the curry paste, once fully stirred in add and stir in all the herbs and spices and finish up by stirring in the lime juice. Cook for a couple more minutes, stirring continually, then serve on rice immediately.