Curried Lentils
Good ole Carpo knocked me upside the head and said she would do it again if I didn’t quit blaming her for wrath of Boreas. Fair enough but she’s not completely innocent. It is Carpo’s grand exit of the fall party that allows Boreas to take over. Carpo, what do you need to stick around longer? Naps? Better food? Endurance training? Apple cider?
I grudgingly admit she does have a point and I now embrace, quite possibly enjoy fall (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). While I will happily leave 424 million PSL for others to drink, I long for the other fall food and drinks.
Here’s our first fall meal of 2021. Curried Lentils is not fall in the sense of apples and squash, it is most definitely fall in terms of warmth and heartiness. Curl up on the couch with a giant bowl of stew with roti on the side to shake that first fall chill right off.
This recipe (directions minimally modified) comes from the Jambo Café cookbook. If you make your way to Santa Fe, be sure to pop in the restaurant (and imports store next door) and stay for awhile – you won’t be sorry.
Make sure you use the correct coconut milk – see the notes at the bottom of the directions.
Curried Lentils Ingredients
½ c olive oil
1 Tbl ground cumin
1 Tbl ground turmeric
2.5 Tbl ground coriander
2.5 Tbl curry powder
1.5 Tbl ginger powder
1 large yellow onion
4 ribs celery
2 medium carrots
3 Tbl tomato paste
2 c dried green lentils
5 c water
2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp chicken baste
1 Tbl garlic
20 ounces coconut milk
Curried Lentils Directions
Heat oil in a Dutch oven until it shimmers. Add the spices and stir until they become fragrant and slightly darker in color.
Slice of the ends of the onion. Cut it in half pole to pole and peel off the dry layers. Slice it pole to pole then cross ways to create a small dice. Take a knife and cut celery ribs in about ¼” strips then cut it in the opposite direction to have small pieces. Cut the carrot into long, flat strips, then ¼’ strips. Finally, cut them across so they’re diced. Add them to the spices.
When they’re soft, add the tomato paste and stir it for a couple of minutes. You want the paste to take on the slightest bit of color. Add the lentils, water, salt, and chicken baste. Bring it up to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot.
Every 20 minutes or so give the pot a quick stir. If the lentils are sticking, lower the heat. If your heat is low and they’re still sticking, your pot is too thin. You’ll need to bring up the heat to a simmer so the lentils cook, but you’ll need to stir them fairly often.
When the lentils are soft to the bite, turn off the heat, add minced garlic (chop off the dry end of the clove, smash the clove, remove the skin, and mince) to the pot. Taste the stew now because you want to experience the magic that’s about to happen. Stir in the coconut milk and taste again. Transformation? Yes! Add more water to get it to the desired consistency. I like it to be thick but I still eat it in a bowl with a spoon. Taste again and add salt as needed.
Notes
I don’t keep curry powder on hand. I make my own with 2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp funugreek, 2.5 tsp chile powder. If you don’t have funugreek, just adjust the amounts of other spices to equal 2.5 Tbl total.
Make sure you use coconut milk (full fat – no light) in the can (often found by Asian condiments/food in the grocery). I’m not sure what “coconut milk” sold in boxes next to almond milk is, but it is not the right stuff nor do I know when you would ever want to use that.
This makes a large pot of stew. So go ahead and freeze some right away if you know you won’t eat it all. It’s better to freeze food fresh then let it sit in the fridge a few days before freezing.
