This creamy pink lentil curry is flavored with coconut milk and pink curry paste and completed with a brilliant cilantro chutney. It’s a comfy, plant-based weeknight dinner!
Some recipes earn their spot within the rotation the very first time you make them. That’s what occurred with this pink lentil curry! I created this curry for my first cookbook, Fairly Easy Cooking and it shortly grew to become a reader favourite. So, I made a decision so as to add a model of it on this web site, with a number of tweaks from testing it over time!
The lentils are all about cozy creaminess, simmered with coconut milk, tomatoes, and a spoonful of pink curry paste. However then you definately add the cilantro chutney: tangy, brilliant, somewhat candy from golden raisins — and it’s really magic (I’m unsure how else to explain it!) It’s grow to be one among my high plant primarily based recipes and vegan dinner recipes to suggest when individuals want dinnertime inspiration.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Unbelievable taste: The tangy cilantro chutney balances the wealthy heat of the coconut curry to make one among my favourite meals ever.
- A 30 minute meal: With a prep time of simply 10 minutes and a cook dinner time of 20 minutes, you must have the ability to end this in half-hour (should you make the chutney whereas the lentils simmer).
- Naturally wholesome. Purple lentils are loaded with plant-based protein, and your complete meal is vegan and gluten free
- Meal prep pleasant. This curry is deal for packing lunches all week!
5-Star Reader Critiques
“That is fabulous! The cilantro chutney is tremendous tasty! It was such a improbable addition to the curry. So cozy and like a hug. We’ll be making this again and again.” -Tanvee
“This recipe got here collectively so shortly! Excellent for a midweek meal. The cilantro raisin chutney added an ideal tangy pop of taste, don’t skip making it. SO good!!” — Renata & Steve
What You’ll Want
There are numerous methods to make a pink lentil curry. In actual fact, the phrase “curry” is a Western invention used broadly to explain any dish with a spiced sauce and meat or greens (examine curry historical past right here). It’s made in lots of international locations with various taste profiles, together with India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, England and extra. Listed here are the important thing elements you’ll want for this spin on pink lentil curry:
- Onion, garlic, and contemporary ginger: These fragrant greens present the flavour base.
- Purple lentils: Often known as masoor dal, pink lentils cook dinner quicker than different varieties and meld right into a creamy, velvety texture. Keep away from substituting one other sort of lentil on this recipe.
- Crushed tomatoes and tomato paste: The tomatoes add a tangy base right here.
- Purple curry paste: This jar is a jarred paste that takes all the flavour of a Thai curry and concentrates it! Curry paste is made with chili peppers, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, cumin, coriander, and extra. It brings a large quantity of taste and lasts for months within the fridge.
- Coconut milk: This curry makes use of coconut milk for a silky, clean taste.
Ideas for Utilizing Curry Paste
Listed here are a number of notes for utilizing pink curry paste on this recipe:
- The warmth degree varies primarily based on the model. I usually use Thai kitchen curry paste as a result of it’s very gentle (and goes over effectively with our youngsters!). There are numerous nice manufacturers to strive: simply make certain to style your curry paste earlier than utilizing it. If it’s very spicy, use rather less than the recipe specifies.
- Discover it close to the Thai merchandise in most grocery shops. It retains for months within the fridge. You can too purchase it on-line: Thai Kitchen pink curry paste.
The right way to Make Purple Lentil Curry
This pink lentil curry is fast to make! Listed here are a number of notes for the method (or bounce to the recipe for portions):
- Step 1: Sauté the greens. Warmth olive oil in a big skillet over medium warmth. Add the diced yellow onion and cook dinner till translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and contemporary ginger and sauté for 1 minute extra till aromatic.
- Step 2: Simmer the lentils. Add the pink lentils, crushed tomatoes, coconut milk, water, pink curry paste, tomato paste, and kosher salt. Convey to a simmer, then scale back to a really light bubble. Prepare dinner for 10 to fifteen minutes, stirring usually, till the lentils are fully mushy and have melted right into a creamy consistency. Stir in a number of tablespoons extra coconut milk.
- Step 3: In the meantime, make the chutney. Whereas the lentils simmer, mix collectively the cilantro, golden raisins, white wine vinegar, olive oil, water, and salt till a clean sauce kinds.
- Step 4: Serve. Spoon the pink lentil curry over rice, high generously with the cilantro chutney, and garnish with further cilantro leaves should you’d like.
Methods to Serve It
Purple lentil curry is an entire meal over a scoop of rice, however the appropriate pairing makes it even higher. Listed here are my favourite methods to serve it:
- Jasmine rice: This meal is finest served with white rice. I particularly like jasmine for its aromatic taste. (Right here’s tips on how to cook dinner jasmine rice.)
- Basmati rice: Fluffy and lightweight, basmati rice is one other wonderful choice, particularly should you’re leaning into Indian-style flavors.
- Brown rice: A nuttier, extra healthful base with further fiber. Right here’s tips on how to cook dinner brown rice.
- Naan or flatbread: Heat garlic naan bread is nice for sopping up this curry.
- Easy sides: A fast cucumber salad is a refreshing pairing.
Storing Leftovers
Preserve leftovers in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 1 week. The curry will thicken because it chills. To reheat, heat it gently on the stovetop over medium warmth, stirring to forestall scorching and including a splash of water, vegetable broth, or coconut milk to skinny it again out to the specified consistency.
The cilantro chutney additionally retains for as much as 1 week refrigerated. To reheat rice, add it to a pot with a splash of water, cowl, and heat it over low warmth till heated by.
This curry additionally works effectively for meal prep: you possibly can portion it into containers with rice for straightforward weeknight dinners all week.
Dietary Notes
This pink lentil curry is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free. It additionally works as a Mediterranean food plan recipe.
Incessantly Requested Questions
Undoubtedly! Spinach and peas are nice additions that don’t require further cook dinner time. Add them in the course of the simmer time.
Cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes are different good choices, however require sauteing first (which provides prep time to this recipe).
Sure! Purple lentils are one of the nutritious legumes you possibly can eat: they’re excessive in plant-based protein, fiber, and B nutritional vitamins. (See Advantages of Lentils.) Mixed with coconut milk and tomatoes, this curry delivers a balanced meal with wholesome fat. It’s naturally vegan and gluten-free.
I don’t suggest it for this recipe. Purple lentils (additionally referred to as break up lentils or masoor dal) break down as they cook dinner, creating the creamy texture that’s excellent for curries. Brown and inexperienced lentils maintain their form, which provides a really totally different consequence. For those who’d like a recipe with brown or inexperienced lentils, strive my seasoned brown lentils or curry lentil soup as an alternative.
Completely. Italian parsley offers the chutney a contemporary, herby taste with out the polarizing style of cilantro. (My dad and mom are cilantro haters, so I get it in case you are too!) The general taste of the chutney can be somewhat extra gentle, nevertheless it nonetheless works as a brilliant distinction to the curry.
In principle sure, although I haven’t examined this. You could possibly use the Sauté operate to cook dinner the onion, garlic, and ginger first. Then you possibly can add the lentils, tomatoes, curry paste, tomato paste, salt, and water (maintain again a lot of the coconut milk). Prepare dinner on excessive strain for 10 minutes, then enable a pure strain launch. Stir within the coconut milk after opening. The feel could also be barely totally different from stovetop, so proceed at your individual threat.
Purple Lentil Curry
This creamy pink lentil curry is flavored with coconut milk and pink curry paste and completed with a brilliant cilantro chutney. It’s a comfy, plant-based weeknight dinner!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Prepare dinner Time: 20 minutes
- Whole Time: half-hour
- Yield: 4 to six 1x
- Class: Primary Dish
- Technique: Stovetop
- Delicacies: Curry
- Food plan: Vegan
Elements
- 1 cup dry white rice, for serving
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons peeled and minced ginger
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
- 1 cup pink lentils
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes (from 1 15-ounce can)
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons full-fat canned coconut milk, divided
- 2 to 4 tablespoons pink curry paste (see Notes)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 bunch cilantro leaves and tender stems (about 1 ½ cups packed; see Notes)
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Directions
- Begin the rice, in line with the bundle directions.
- In a big skillet, warmth 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium excessive warmth, then add the onion and sauté till translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add the lentils, tomatoes, 1 cup coconut milk, 2 cups water, pink curry paste, tomato paste, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Convey to a simmer then simmer very gently, simply barely effervescent, for 10 to fifteen minutes till the lentils are mushy, stirring usually (if not, cook dinner a couple of minutes extra till tender). Stir in 2 tablespoons extra coconut milk; style, then add extra kosher salt or coconut milk to style.
- In the meantime, make the chutney utilizing an immersion blender (or common blender) to mix the cilantro, golden raisins, white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, ¼ cup water, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Mix right into a thick, clean sauce.
- To serve, high lentils with chutney and serve over rice.
Notes
- Curry paste warmth ranges differ: Style somewhat and in case your model of pink curry paste may be very spicy, begin with 2 tablespoons and add extra to style. The model we use most frequently (Thai Kitchen) provides taste with out extreme warmth, however different manufacturers we’ve used are spicier.
- Cilantro prep: For the cilantro, merely pull the leaves and tender stems off of the bunch (don’t use the thicker components of the stem on the backside). Italian parsley works as an alternative in case you are cilantro averse!
- Storage: Refrigerate in an hermetic container for as much as 1 week. Reheat on the stovetop with a splash of water or vegetable broth.