Too many ideas but what do I cook?

Tonight my mind was jumping from one recipe to another, what should I make and what do I fancy eating. I was thinking maybe risotto, potato cakes and focaccia but then I opened one of the few cupboards I have in the kitchen and there was the light bulb moment! So in the end I cooked coriander and cumin flatbreads with green lentils. I ate them with some lemon and chilli pickle I had made last week and cucumber raita.

Recipe for the easy to make flatbreads:

• 2.5 cups plain flour
• A pinch each of dried cumin, coriander, salt and sugar
• Quarter teaspoon dried yeast
• Warm milk

1. Mix the dry ingredients together.
2. Add enough warm milk to make a sticky dough.
3. Knead for five minutes. 
4. Place it in a bowl, cover and place somewhere warm to rise.
5. Once the dough has proved, lightly grease a baking sheet and turn on your grill to medium/high heat.
6. Take a tennis ball sized chunk of the sticky dough. Place it on the baking sheet and stretch it out with your fingers. The diameter will depend on how thick you like your flatbread. I normally stretch the dough into a naan shape which is around 5mm deep.
7. Place the flatbread under the grill and after a couple of minutes you will see golden spots appearing on the top of the bread. Turn it over and grill for another two minutes.
8. Remove and lightly brush with butter but you can eat it without the butter.

While the bread is rising you can make the green lentils and cucumber raita.

Recipe for the green lentils or my version of masar sabath dhal:

• 1 cup green lentils
• 3-4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon of ginger
• Half a teaspoon of turmeric
• Chilli flakes (quantity depends on how spicy you like your food!)
• For tempering - 1 tablespoon butter, half a teaspoon cumin and mustard seeds, pinch garam masala, 2 teaspoons chopped coriander
• Salt to taste

1. Place the washed lentils, water, ginger, turmeric and chilli flakes in a pan. Bring to the boil then simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.
2. Once the lentils are cooked add salt to taste.
3. If the lentils are too dry add some boiled water to reach the consistency you prefer.
4. Heat a frying, toast the cumin and mustard seeds for a minute, add the butter. 
5. Once the seeds start to pop (be careful as they fly all over the place) add the garam masala and then take off the heat and stir into the lentils.
6. Finish with the coriander.

To make the cucumber raita, grate a 10cm piece of cucumber making sure you squeeze out the excess water from the grated cucumber. Mix the grated cucumber with 3-4 tablespoons of Greek or plain yoghurt, some mint and dill.