It might seem more fitting to talk about lentils in the preamble to a lentil and coriander cutlet recipe, but in this one I'm going to blether on about coriander. I have more to say on that subject. One interesting point about coriander, which may not be true for many other people other than me, but which nonetheless, I feel might be generalised to provide an insight into how our tastes develop over time and might indeed encourage us to experiment with new culinary experiences, is the fact that the first time I tasted fresh coriander leaves, I thought they were horrible.
The same happened with olives too, and now both are among my favourite foods.
Ingredients
1 cup of raw lentils
2-and-a little-bit cups of water
About 1.5 cups of breadcrumbs
A good bunch of green coriander
2 teaspoons of tomato paste
A third of a teaspoon each of cumin, ginger and chilli powder
A little plain flour
Salt
Oil
Put the lentils in a pot with the water, bring to the boil, then simmer gently. The lentils will absorb the water quickly and soften, but you might need to add just a splash more water as they are cooking. After about twenty minutes the lentils will be cooked. Leave them to cool a little before making the cutlet mixture.
Mix all the ingredients together to form a fairly stiff paste. If your lentils were too wet, you might need to add a few more bread crumbs. Mould pieces of the mixture into cutlet shapes and dust with flour, then fry for about four minutes on each side on a medium heat.