Frugal Meatless Meals: Red Lentil Curry

I’ve had two cooking goals recently: 1) Use more lentils and 2) Learn to cook Indian food. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try, but I altered the original so much during the cooking process that I feel free to claim it as my own. Not only did Jason and I both really like this, but it was super filling. It made six servings, so I put two away in the freezer for later and we had it for dinner two nights.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups red lentils, stones picked out
1 large onion, diced
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
2-3 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can coconut milk
2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
2 tsp salt
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp red pepper
1/8 tsp Indian chili powder (if you’re using regular chili powder, use 1 tsp)
Shredded coconut to taste (Optional- I had a little bit on hand that I needed to use up, and when I added a little bit too much salt, I figured adding shredded coconut would be a good way to sweeten the dish while adding to the coconut flavor)
Rice (I used Jasmine)

Directions:
In a large pot, saute the onion in oil until soft and translucent. Add the tomato, ginger, and garlic and allow the tomato to soften. Add lentils, coconut milk, tomato sauce, and spices. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until lentils are soft. With this dish, it’s very important to taste as you go! I dipped a spoon into this probably about 10 times to determine whether it was the right consistency, whether the lentils were soft, whether I needed to add more spices…it’s a very flexible recipe and can easily be made milder or spicier. Serve over rice.

For more meatless meals, please check out the rest of my Frugal Meatless Meals series. You should also visit Meatless Monday’s recipe archive.

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.