dal on a rainy night

We're having kind of gross weather in the Twin Cities today -- grey, drizzly, rainy, and cool -- in the 40s. Don't get me wrong . . . I'm delighted that it's not SNOWING, but still, it's been kind of a blah day. I did force myself out and run some errands today, but have been home since about 3:00, twiddling my thumbs and wondering what to do to occupy myself! Now, I caught up on my reading for yoga class, did a load of laundry, talked to a friend on the phone . . . and then decided a medium-scale cooking project was in order. :)

I have mountains and mountains of "staples" on hand right now, and I'm trying very hard not to buy new stuff, and just use up what I have. (Produce and cold items like tofu, cheese, and eggs are still requirements, and coffee is always a must, but in general, I'm trying to avoid adding more rice, more lentils, more dry goods to my already packed cupboards!) My freezer is also pretty loaded, so anything I can pull out of there and incorporate into a meal is a bonus, too!

Looking around, my jar of red lentils caught my eye . . . and I remembered I had frozen samosas left! Dal on a rainy night it was:

Spinach and tomato dal, (I loosely follow the recipe in Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, although I add WAY more spices than they call for,) over brown Basmati rice, with some samosas and mint chutney on the side. Mmmmmmmmm!

I really didn't NEED to buy brown Basmati rice, since I have the hugest sack of white Basmati rice in the closet, but I feel like I haven't been doing so well with the whole grains lately, so I picked some up today. Silly me. :)