What's cooking?

Instead of just rustling up some veggie dish for Martin, I asked him to look through the (many) vegetarian cookbooks he has but rarely opens. The result is I am trying a new recipe today. Of course, there always is one ingredient that you think you have, then find you dont and today that was cumin seeds. But Martin went out and got some, so now its all ready to go.
So what am I cooking today? It's a new version of something I do quite often and it is usually very easy - this recipe however is fiddly with lots of do this, then this, rather than throw everything in. Grr!
Anyone want to guess what it is? There are plenty of clues. And there are also butter beans!