Rice, dhal and tomato chokka

Simple, cheap, filling and very tasty.  The tomato chokka is really garlicky and it gives the dinner an enormous boost.

Brown rice
Red lentils
Olive oil
Tomatoes
Chilli flakes
Garlic (a lot)
Fennel seeds
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
coriander seeds

This dinner is really a minimum effort, maximum return event.  It takes about 5 minutes to gather things, then you just let it cook away for about 40 minutes, checking the water level on the lentils until you make the tarka just before serving.

1.  Start the rice - I do it in a heavy casserole - 1 inch filled over the level of the rice with water - bring to the boil and shove into a medium oven.
2.  For the tomatoes - put then in an oven dish, stab them a bit so that they can burst, add a good pinch of salted, quite a lot of crushed garlic, a pinch of chilli flakes and a slug of olive oil, bake.  Squish and mix together when they come out of the oven.
3.  Dhal - boil lentils in plenty of water - add more when it looks like they're going dry - once - then carry on simmering until they turn into a nice thick gloop.
4.  Now you don't have t do much, except keep an eye on the lentils and give them a stir now and again until you're just about to serve (about 30 minutes).
5.  Tarka - in a small frying pan heat a spoonful of olive oil, add spices and sizzle - then chuck on top of the dhal.
6.  Serve, scoff.