Disclaimer: I make up recipes as I go along, and I've made this one loads of times but it's different every time! It's a good recipe to make your own as it is quite forgiving and you can swop a lot of the ingredients around.
You can adapt pretty much anything about this curry to make it your own. I've previously made it with cauliflower, mushrooms, peppers, potatoes, spinach, etc, and any type of beans (not baked beans!) instead of chickpeas. Quorn also works well, and it would work with chicken too. In the past I've often fried the veg and spices in coconut oil, but this is going to add to the calories (and the taste isn't much different). You can tweak the spices to suit yourself too.
If you are making it just for yourself, or for two of you, freeze the leftovers in portion size containers. It will also keep for a good few days in the fridge.
Don't be put off by the ingredients list - it is quite quick and easy to make.
You'll need (for about 6 servings):
4 smallish sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped)
1 onion
A few cloves of garlic (chopped or minced) (I use 4 cloves, chopped small)
About a cupful or so of red lentils
An inch or two of fresh ginger root (peeled and chopped)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of full fat coconut milk (you could use low fat if you prefer, but there is no other fat in this, so it may be OK calorie-wise)
1 tin of chickpeas
I added some frozen edamame into this one, but that is totally optional.
Spices (play around with these to your preferred taste):
1 tablespoon of medium curry powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons of garam masala
About a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
If you like it hot, you can add some fresh or dried chili peppers too. It blows Dave's head off when I do this, which is sometimes fun for me but not so much for him.
To make the curry:
Boil your kettle!
In a medium pan, add hot water to lentils, stir and simmer. You can skim off the foam that occurs on the top if you prefer (not necessary but might reduce flatulence after eating!).
Allow to cook for a few minutes, leave to absorb some more water after cooking.
Meanwhile, put hot water from the kettle into a large pan - about an inch or so deep is enough.
Place the chopped sweet potato in the hot water, cook for a few minutes, stir regularly but put the lid on to help steam cook, then when starting to soften add the chopped ginger root, onion and garlic. Put a lid on and allow the steam to help with the cooking. Stir occasionally.
Add all the spices and black pepper, stirring into the water. Allow to cook slowly for a few minutes.
Add the cooked lentils (drain first if needed, but they may have absorbed all the water).
Add tinned tomatoes, coconut milk and tinned chickpeas (drained). Cook a little bit longer, then leave to cool slowly with the lid still in place.
Taste it and adjust spices if needed. It should need no salt, but you can add if you prefer. It is also nice with some fresh chopped coriander stirred in at the last minute or just placed on top (it would have looked nicer in the photos too 😂)
Serve with your choice of rice, buckwheat or quinoa. My favourite is buckwheat (shown above) cooked with turmeric and a little vegetable bouillon, with some chopped mushrooms put in towards the end of cooking.
If you are thinking of reducing your meat intake, it is worth knowing that this is high protein (lentils, chickpeas, coconut milk) and more so if you serve with buckwheat or quinoa which are both higher protein than white rice and are cooked in exactly the same way. I like them both much better than either white or brown rice. I googled the protein content, just in case you are interested:
The other advantage is that buckwheat, quinoa and brown rice are far more filling than white rice (potentially less snacking later on!).100g of each provides as a percentage of the RDA of protein:
White rice: 4%
Brown rice: 14%
Quinoa: 14%
Buckwheat: 20%
If you get round to making (and eating!) this, let us all know how you go on. It's pretty much all vegetables so the calorie count must be very low, but it is also very filling and tasty! Enjoy!
