How about squeezing this healthy quick lentil curry with coconut milk in one of your meals this week? It's packed with veggies, super healthy, super easy and fast and yes, it's totally vegan!
Let's kick a self-care eating habits with this beautiful delicious bowl of goodness, shall we?
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Recipe Highlights
Diet - Vegan, high in protein.
Size - Easily for 4 to 6, depending on what you have it with. It freezes great!
Level - Super easy, just some chopping and stirring and then it cooks itself.
Texture and flavour - Semi thick creamy coconut curry with hint of wonderful spices. Not spicy.
Lets Talk Ingredients
Lentils - I use dry peeled yellow split lentils. They cook way faster and no pre-soaking needed.
SHORT CUT: Use already cooked canned lentils instead. Use 2 ½ cup (500 g) drained lentils and cook for about 10 minutes.
Ras el hanout - It's a mixed of spices and I love to blend my own ras el hanout.
SUBSTITUTION: Use the same amount of garam masala or 2 tbsp curry powder, they work fine also. My homemade garam masala is just perfect for it.
Spinach - Both fresh and frozen work best in this recipe. Add frozen spinach a bit earlier to that they defrost and cook together with the lentils. Use 2-3 oz (70 g) of frozen spinach.
Can I Freeze It?
Yes, you absolutely can!
This meal freezes great. Since it's just the two of us, I always freeze the balance in portions whenever I make this lentil curry. I leave it to thaw in the fridge or simply defrost in microwave. Depends on how fast I need it.
Really handy whenever I don't have the time (or lazy) to cook. Yep!
Hungry For More?
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Recipe Video
📖 Recipe
Quick Lentil Coconut Curry (Vegan & Ready In 30 Minutes)
Ingredients
The Base & Veggies
- some coconut oil
- 1 celery stick , chopped
- ½ yellow onion , cut into cubes
- 1 medium sized carrot , cut into cubes
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- some salt
Spices & Flavour
- ½ tbsp ras el hanout powder
- 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika powder
The Rest & More Veggies
- 1 cup dry peeled split yellow lentils (200 g)
- 1 cup tomato passata (250 ml)
- 4 cup water (1 liter)
- ½ cup coconut milk (125 ml)
- 2 cup spinach leaves (70 g)
- some lemon juice , to taste
Instructions
- Heat some coconut oil in a casserole pan on medium high heat. Then add in all the base and veggies ingredients. Saute until the onion is translucent.
- Now add in all the spices to bring out the flavour. Mix well and cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the lentils, tomato passata, water and mix everything together. Bring it to a simmer and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and fully cooked. Stir now and then.
- Remove the lid and give the curry a stir. Add in coconut milk, spinach leaves and mix well. Continue cooking just until the leaves are wilted. Turn the heat off and add in some lemon juice. Adjust the salt if needed and black pepper to taste. Give it one last stir and serve!
How To Serve
- Serve as is. You can also serve it together with some rice, toasted baguette or flatbreads.
Originally published on Jan 11, 2020. Updated with improved text, recipe and pictures on Feb 3, 2021.
Thank you for this very easy and fast recipe Bea. My husband loves it with some basmati rice. I like to add some chilie powder to make it spicy.
Ahh yes, I love spicy also! Glad that you both liked it, thank you Venny!