I wondered today about adding lentils as DH and I had some dahl from the freezer too which Olly turned his nose up at! Would need to google how to do that though.
I add canned lentils to curry (canned in water, no salt, no sugar, just makes life easier than using dried), just drain and rinse the lentils then add towards the end remembering they only need to warm through rather than cook...but they are ok if you leave them a bit longer too, it isn't that critical, well not for us.
With curry I use the paste to marinade the chicken for a while, just dollop and stir, even DS can do it. It's cool to do it a bit in advance but we will also do it just for a few mins whilst we chop and cook an onion, then add the meat and the paste spices fry off which really releases flavour. I add all sorts to curry depending on what we have in and what needs eating. A handful of sultanas or raisins is nice too, makes it all very sweet. canned pinapple is good (the stuff in juice not syrup) or lychees is you like them. Fresh aubergine and courgette, mange toute, green beans, spinach. I tend not to put it all in at once.
I tend to have in two different pastes too, like a korma and a rogan josh for instance and that way things taste a bit different each time or I can make it hotter for DP and myself, or make two dishes (one being super easy like onion curry paste and canned lentils) so it feels like a special meal. mango chutney and mint sauce are great with it, for mint sauce I just use Total greek yoghurt (fat and sugar free) and stir in a spoon of mint sauce from a jar, what a cheat I am, everyone says it's nice though. Packet of popadoms, a naan....ooh I'm hungry now wish we were having this tonight.