Vegetable and Lentil Curry



Vegetable and Lentil Curry

Recipe - serves 2-4 depending on if you're serving it with rice or not.

·      1 tablespoon sunflower oil

·      1 large courgette, cut into chunks

·      1 large red onion, chopped into large chunks

·      1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks

·      1 red chilli, finely chopped

·      2 cloves garlic finely chopped

·      1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped

·      1 heaped tablespoon chopped coriander

·      1 can chopped tomatoes

·      1 tablespoon tomato puree

·      1/2 mug peas

·      1/2 mug of red lentils, washed through a sieve for a couple of mins

·      500ml vegetable stock

·      1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

·      1/2 teaspoon cumin

·      2 teaspoons mild curry powder

·      1 teaspoon turmeric

·      Salt and pepper to taste

·      Dollop of greek yoghurt to serve

Method:

1.    Heat the sunflower oil in a pan on a medium to high heat. Add the onions, courgettes and red pepper and fry for a few minutes until they begin to soften.

2.  Add the garlic ginger and chilli and fry for another minute or so. Add all the spices to the pan and stir until all of the vegetables are covered and are a lovely shiny golden colour.

3.   Stir in the lentils, followed by the chopped tomatoes and tomato puree. Half fill the empty tomato can with water and add to the pan and bring to a simmer. Add the stock, season with a little salt and pepper (to taste) and cook on a medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.  If you feel like the curry could do with a little water as it reduces down, just add a little more from the kettle.

5.   After 25 minutes, add the peas, bring back to high simmer and cook for a further 5 minutes. Take off the heat (by which there should be a nice thick curry texture without it being too watery).

6.  Leave the pan off the heat with the lid on for 5 minutes for all of the flavours to come together, then serve in bowls with a nice big dollop of Greek yogurt and some of the chopped fresh coriander.