Serves 4

Good for phase 1 but watch your portion size to stay withing the recommendations

2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons water or veg stock
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon tumeric
12 oz (350g) red lentils
2 pints (1.2 litres) water
4ox (125g) sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
salt to season (optional)
Handful of fresh coriander or parsley chopped


Saute the onion in the water or stock for a few minutes. Add the garlic and
spices and cook for a further minute. Add the lentils and water and bring to
the boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 mins. Stir in the sunflower seeds,
olive oil, salt and fresh coriander or parsley.

I have this with quite a lot of fresh parsley, and sometimes have pumpkin
seeds instead of sunflower seeds. I also have a salad with it made from
spring onion, cucumber and whatever else, maybe tomato or avocado. I find
that it does need seasoning with salt, even though I dont often add salt to
my food. You can vary it by stirring in baby spinach leaves at the end until
they are wilted, which makes a sort of spinach dahl and makes it go further
too. If you like that idea you could leave out the cumin and replace it with
a good grate of nutmeg (but I have not tried this).