My favorite dinner would be rice, lentils and some vegetables. And it would usually take somewhere between 45 mins to an hour. But I guess that is because rice takes some time to cook. Contrary to popular belief, Indian meals are not always labor-intensive or slow cooked.

We have some easy stir fried vegetables with a tempering of spices that hardly take 10 minutes, that I love. Lentil soup (not pureed) with spices is always a favorite, with regional variations around the country. One of the most comforting Bengali dinners I can think of is pretty straight forward and easy to make. The time needed for the cooking is not proportional to the work you have to do, and the results are fabulous.

Cook rice to your liking. Add halved potatoes into the same pot to cook simultaneously. Sometimes the lentils (red or moong) are also packed into a little metal container and added to the same pot to cook through, but nowadays we just boil it separately in another pot. When lentils are mushy (yep mushy), just whisk them well to make the soup creamy. In a separate pan, add oil and temper with a dried bay leaf, tomatoes, cumin seeds and tomatoes. Add turmeric powder and salt to the lentils and throw in the tempering. Add loads of chopped cilantro. The boiled potatoes must now be ready to be peeled. Mash them and mix with onions and a dried red chilli crispened up in oil, and crushed with salt.

Enjoy your Dal (lentils), bhaat (rice), and alu seddo (mashed potatoes). God, it is comfort food at it's best.