Malaysian Lentil and Squash Curry

This curry is adapted from Jasmine & Melissa Hemsley’s The Art of Eating Well. Yes, they are the ladies leading the health craze and responsible for making ‘spiralizer‘ and ‘bone broth’ the buzz words of 2015. I’m sorry, but bone broth is just a fancy word for stock! Do click on that link to have a look at their website though, their recipes are stunning and you will feel healthier just looking at it.

This is the first recipe I’ve chosen to blog from their book. Probably because it is one of the least healthy recipes in it! I don’t know what that says about me. Also because I love nothing better than a good curry. It is absolutely delicious, so warming and comforting! The spice mix is just amazing and smells so good when it is being toasted. Don’t be daunted by the long list of ingredients, if you make curries it’s likely you have all of them in your cupboard already.

I have tinkered with the recipe a little bit. I had carrots and sugar snap peas in the fridge so I added them to it. Maybe this changes the authenticity but I don’t mind, they taste good. The original recipe calls for double the coconut milk but I just used one tin and upped the amount of stock instead. I was trying to be healthy after all!

This curry is so filling, a bowl on it’s own makes for a very satisfying meal. Lentils are great like that to fill you up. The recipe said it serves 4 but I got 6 generous portions with it. If you serve it with rice it will stretch even further. It also freezes perfectly, I have several individual portions in the freezer ready for a quick meal. Just for me though, I’m the only one in my place that will touch lentils!

Serves 6

 

Ingredients:

For the spice mix:

• ¼ tsp ground green cardamom
• ½ tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp. ground cumin
• 2 tbsp. ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• ¼ tsp ground cloves

For the curry:

• 1 tbsp of coconut or sunflower oil
• 1 tin of full fat coconut milk
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 100g of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
• 1 medium butternut squash peeled and diced into 2.5cm chunks
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 900ml stock, chicken or vegetable
• 450g red split lentils
• 300g fresh spinach
• 100g sugar snap peas, sliced
• Juice of 1 small lime
• Salt and black pepper to season
• 75g fresh coriander

Ignore the beige-ness, it is delicious!

Method:

• Start by making your spice mix. Add all of the spices in the list to a large dry saucepan over a medium heat and gently toast until they start to release their fragrances. Stir to prevent them burning.
• Add the oil and the chopped onion. Fry it for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft.
• Add the ginger and garlic and fry for another couple of minutes.
• Add the coconut milk, squash, carrots and stock. (I chopped my squash quite small because I’m impatient and like things to cook faster). Bring it to a medium simmer and cover the saucepan with a lid.
• After 10 minutes add the red lentils and stir them through. Allow it to simmer for another 20 minutes. After this time the lentils should be cooked and the squash and carrots soft. It will thicken quite a bit so feel free to add some water if you want to loosen the sauce.
• About 5 minutes before serving add the sugar snap peas. I like these to still have a bit of crunch when eating it.
• When you are ready to serve, turn off the heat and add the spinach. It will wilt in the heat of the curry so you don’t need to actually cook it. Add salt and pepper and the juice of a lime. The lime makes such a difference to the final taste. Check for seasoning and adjust as needed.
• Stir through the chopped coriander. Leave it out if you are one of the many coriander haters out there!
• Garnish with some slices of red chilli purely to add some colour to the dish!