If you want a quick-cooking, flavorful, comforting dish with great nutrition, and which both makes a huge batch and is just as good (if not better) the next day, you may feel like you're looking for a unicorn. You're not. You're looking for this fresh-as-anything dal.

I’m not known to be much of a fan of leftovers (my husband doesn’t mind taking them to work the next day for lunch, so I’m usually off the hook). However, I don’t like wasting food, so many times I will “refashion” leftovers into something that seems more like a new dish than just a reheat-and-eat situation. Even though I am pretty diligent about making quick use of leftovers that are hanging out in my fridge, sometimes something gets pushed to the back and when I finally find it, it’s a little “iffy” food safety-wise. That leads me to the first rule of leftover food safety: when in doubt, throw it out.