Mark's Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of red lentils
• 5-6 avg. size red new potatoes
• 2 large cans of stewed diced tomatoes
• 1 large yellow cooking onion
• 2 bunches of scallions
• 1 bunch of Dill
• 2-3 tbl sp of black pepper
• 1 garlic (avg size)
• Optional spices:

  1 tbl sp of ginger

  1 tbl sp of cumin

  (these will give it a more Indian flavour)

Instructions:

• Chop up the potatoes (after washing etc) into bits (1 cm x 1 cm x 2 cm pieces do nicely).
• Thoroughly rise the red lentils in a strainer under the tap and remove black rocks which may sometimes be found amongst the red lentils.
• Boil these in a big pot for about 30-40 minutes in enough water so that the lentils can expand to roughly 4 times their original size (before exploding).
• brown the chopped yellow onion and chopped garlic in a skillet Once the potatoes are soft, add the drained tomoatoes with everything else (scallions and dill are finely chopped). Let the herbs and spices "stew" by allowing the mixture to bubble on low-medium heat for 10-20 minutes (stir frequently if your stew is thick by now).