Whether intentionally or not, I have changed my diet in the past few years. While I will indulge in slow-cooked meats, the best of an Irish barbecue, or a full Irish breakfast every once in a while, I feel the benefits of a diet focused mainly on vegetables and whole grains. I doubt I’ll ever go full vegetarian, but for now, recipes such as the ones I share today are what I rely on to keep my eating light and nutritious.

If I’m honest, I’m often put off when I read recipes for Indian dishes due to the long list of ingredients required to create them. In most cases, one stock-up shop at a specialist food store, which sells spices in large bags at a fraction of the cost of supermarkets, will provide you with all you will need.

By doing this you will more than likely have the required dry ingredients at your fingertips when you most need them, or indeed when the urge to make a dish like dhal, comes calling.

This is a simplified version of the ubiquitous Indian dish, whose core ingredient is lentils. This variation uses the red variety, which get cooked until they turn soft and creamy. The spices are not added at the beginning of the cooking, instead they are shocked in hot oil to temper them and awaken the aromatics, and only then stirred through, once the lentils are cooked, as a seasoning.

I often make this as a virtuous dinner, where comfort is required but nutrition is demanded. On its own, a bowl of dhal is comfort enough, but you can make a meal of it by roasting sweet potatoes, red onions and chickpeas to really add substance.

One of those questions I am asked time and time again is, “what is your favourite dish to eat”? I’m sure I’ve answered it rather predictably the same every time, but from the moment I first tried it, it has always been pad Thai. It epitomises what I love about cooking: finding the balance of flavour through the saltiness of fish sauce, the acidity of lime juice, and the sweet and sour of tamarind, while contrasting that with the textures of silky rice noodles and crunchy peanuts and beansprouts, humming with the freshness of aromatics such as chilli and coriander.

It also just so happens to be an extremely inexpensive dish to make, especially if you forgo the prawns and make this vegetarian variation. I unashamedly suggest using a spiraliser here for your vegetables, regardless of what the purists say. There is more fun to be had turning a carrot into a noodle than to roll your eyes at the idea.

These are two suppers that will remind you of the brilliance of vegetarian eating and which are guaranteed to leave you feeling light and virtuous.

Indian dhal with roast sweet potatoes, red onion and chickpeas

If ever there were a store cupboard supper that delivered on many fronts, dhal would be it. It is a melting pot of all those ingredients that sit in your kitchen cupboard awaiting their moment of glory.

Serves 4

For the roast sweet potatoes:

2 large sweet potatoes, cut in rough chunks

2 large red onions, roots trimmed, sliced in quarters

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp hot curry powder

Sea salt and ground black pepper

For the dhal:

300g red lentils

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

A handful of coriander, stalks finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped

1 x 400ml coconut milk

400g tin chopped tomatoes

3 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

Half tsp ground cumin

Half tsp ground coriander

Half tsp mustard seeds

1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

8 curry leaves (fresh is best, or dried)

100g baby spinach leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

2 spring onions, finely sliced

To serve:

2 spring onions, finely sliced

Natural yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/gas 5.

Place the sweet potato, red onion and chickpeas on a large roasting tray and drizzle generously with olive oil before sprinkling with curry powder, salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables until completely coated.

Place in the oven to roast for 45 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender. If the red onion begins to char, remove it from the tray.

For the dhal, put the lentils into a heavy-based pan, with the ginger, the coriander stalks and a teaspoon of salt, then pour over the coconut milk and 600ml of water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, adding the tomatoes after 10 minutes.

After 30 minutes, the lentils will have broken down and will be thick and creamy. Whisk until the mixture becomes smooth. If it is too thick, then you can add a little more water. Leave to simmer gently while you get the spice mixture ready.

Heat the oil in a small, heavy-based frying pan. Add the turmeric, cumin, ground coriander, mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves. Leave them to temper. The oil should be bubbling and the seeds popping. This will take about 30 seconds to one minute.

Stir this straight into the lentils, reserving one tablespoon. Be careful, as the mixture may spit a little. Whisk until well combined and then stir in the baby spinach, lemon juice and spring onions.

Ladle the dhal into wide bowls, top with the roast vegetables and then garnish with coriander leaves, the reserved spices, spring onions and a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Vegetarian pad Thai

The paste you make for this pad Thai is key, for best results use a pestle and mortar or else blitz in a food processor. Do try and source coriander roots, not just the stems, they have a fresh aromatic taste which will transport you to the streets of Bangkok and sing through this humble noodle dish.

Serves 4

250g flat rice noodles

1 courgette, spiralised or finely julienned

1 green pepper, spiralised or finely sliced

1 large carrot, spiralised or finely julienned

100g bean sprouts

6 spring onions, finely sliced

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp soft light brown sugar

1 tbsp tamarind paste

2 large free range eggs, beaten

A good handful of roughly chopped salted peanuts

A good handful of coriander, Thai basil and Thai mint

2 tbsp of sunflower oil

25g roasted salted peanuts, finely chopped

For the pad Thai paste:

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

A good handful of coriander, leaves and roots or stalks

1 red chilli, deseeded, roughly chopped

2 limes, juice and zest

Soak the noodles in warm water until they are soft, then drain and set aside.

In a pestle and mortar, or food processor, make a paste from the garlic, coriander roots, red chilli and lime zest.

Heat the oil in a wok or a large, non-stick frying pan over a high heat. When the oil is just at smoking point, add the paste and fry for about one minute, until it becomes aromatic. Add the vegetables, half the spring onions and bean sprouts and cook for five minutes, or until just tender, stir frying to coat.

Add the drained noodles and mix through. Add the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar and tamarind and cook for two minutes.

Pour in the beaten egg and mix through the noodles until just cooked – the trick here is to allow the eggs to slightly set before mixing. Using a tongs, twist the noodles onto serving plates and garnish with herbs, lime wedges, chopped salted peanuts, and the remaining spring onions and bean sprouts.