Julia Turshen’s Curried Lentils with Coconut Milk are creamy, perfectly spiced, rich and ideal for mopping up with soft buttery naan! An easy healthy meatless weeknight meal for the whole family!
Let me start off my saying we are not a lentil loving family! Yet mysteriously we have been a lentil kick lately. Sounds weird, since I was the only person in my house that actually liked lentils, but that goes to show how delicious this recipe is!!!
The thing about this recipe is that is transforms plain simple lentils into a dreamy creamy silky curry that is intoxicating! If you sat down to eat a bowl of these coconut curried lentils served over a bit of rice alongside some naan, you would honestly have no idea you are even eating lentils.
This recipe can be made with just red lentils. Combined with the coconut milk and spices, red lentils are ideal for this recipe because they break down into a soft mushy creamy consistency. However a fun variation to this recipe via AlexandraCooks is to substitute in a bit of green or brown lentils to give the curry a bit of texture since these lentils are a bit firmer.
You can do it either way. Use just red lentils or mix in a little of the green/brown. Totally up to you and no wrong way to go! From there, all you need are some essential spices like turmeric, cumin and ginger, and of course the star ingredient, coconut milk.
I’ve made this recipe with both light and full fat coconut milk and they are both delicious! I’d say if you are trying to watch calories go with the lighter coconut milk. The difference in taste in very subtle.
Serve it all over your favorite rice (ours is brown basmati from Trader Joe’s) and alongside some good naan bread! I can’t stress this enough, you need good naan bread! If you have the time, make it yourself. I promise it’s worth the extra effort.
Aside from that, we top ours with a little plain yogurt and maybe some cilantro. Done and done!
As a bonus, this recipe is amazing to give to friends or as a freezer meal. So if you make a lot leftover simple freeze it for a rainy day.
Thanks Julia for the recipe that finally got my family eating lentils!!!! HURRAYY! Now I need to figure out a way to get them to eat eggplants!
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Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced (or grated)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 onion, thinly diced
- 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1cup red lentils (or ¾ cup red lentils and ¼ cup green lentils)
- 1- 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (light or full fall)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Cooked rice, plain yogurt, chopped fresh cilantro, and naan for serving
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, cumin and turmeric. Stir and cook until onions are soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and ginger. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Sir in the lentils, coconut milk and salt.
- Fill the empty coconut-milk can with water and add that to the saucepan. It might look like a lot of liquid, but the lentils will absorb it.
- Stir everything together and increase the heat to high. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are completely soft, 20 to 25 minutes. If you are using a combination of red and green lentils, you will need to cook then for 30-40 minutes or until they are all soft.
- Serve the lentils over rice with a little yogurt, cilantro and some warm naan.
Notes
This recipe can be made with both full fat or light coconut milk. Also for more texture, add 1/4 cup of green/brown lentils in with the red lentils. Otherwise this is delicious with just red lentils.
Recipe slightly adapted from [amazon text=Julia Turshen’s Small Victories&asin=1452143099].
Originally posted 2018-05-15 06:23:00.
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