I find many meals a little too stodgy, with lots of bread, flour and meat involved in pretty much all of them. This crust is quite a nice way to lay a foundation without all the stodge

This is a staple dish in India where I grew up, and something you could cook any time of the year since it doesn’t need too many ingredients. It’s just as tasty as the more complicated versions that you can find in recipe books. I eat this with roti, brown rice, or make it more watery for a tasty soup. The advantage to having this outside India is that you don’t have to watch out for the occasional small stone mixed in with the lentils :)