Ginger Coconut Dahl Made Easy

I'm not going to pretend I've been making a lot of incredible dinners lately because I haven't. I mean I've been busy doing things, clearly, but I've been very, very lazy in the kitchen. One reason why I have been able to essentially make nothing for dinner for two weeks and still eat well is because of this company from the Cowichan Valley: Mitchell's Soup Co.

They're a family-run food company that make gorgeous mixes of soups, stews, chilies, a rice pilaf and even a chai spice pudding. A few years ago, co-workers at my previous job gave me a beautiful food basket as a parting gift - and in this basket was Mitchell's Louisiana Texan Chili Mix. It's truly embarrassing how long it took me to make it (three years!) but this past spring during my great pantry purge, I finally did. And wow, was it ever mind-blowingly good. I'm not even tempted to try to replicate the combination herbs and spices, because it was so well done. Of course that may actually be a good reason why I should try to recreate the flavours for myself... but certainly not in my current lazy condition. Instead, I found out where I could buy more and bought as many as I could carry. The good news for those of you in the Victoria area, you can find them at the Sidney summer market every Thursday evening, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Driving out to Sidney, I headed straight for their stand and stocked up on soups, chilies and this amazing package of ginger coconut dahl. It's one of their best-selling products and it's easy to see why. Red lentils, yellow split peas, shredded coconut, candied ginger simmered together with veggie flakes, tomatoes, herbs and spices. Serve over rice and you have yourself a meal. You could add chicken or prawns and top with fresh mango and have an even better meal. Go out, track this product down and buy an armful, I can't recommend it enough!