Not Your Dad's Red Lentil Curry

I have never cooked lentils before and never had them growing up. We recently received a big sack of red lentils and I had absolutely no idea what to do with them. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything came to the rescue (Every home should have this book!). I went with what looked like the easiest lentil recipe: lentils with curry or dal. Bittman had a basic recipe and a variation and because I couldn't decide which one to do, I combined them and used whatever spices I had and omitted some that I didn't. The result was so good my husband who didn't like lentils before* said he's now converted and can eat this everyday, twice a day even.  I don't think that big sack of red lentils will last us very long.  (*His dad used to cook lentil soup which they dreaded, thus, Not Your Dad's).

1½ cups red lentils, washed 
4 cups stock (if making this vegetarian, use vegetable stock; I like chicken stock though)
salt and pepper to taste (some stocks already contain enough salt)
1 T curry powder (Mark Bittman has a curry powder recipe but I just used ready-to-use curry powder)
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground cinnamon
¼ t ground cardamom
½ t ground cumin
2 T butter
1 T minced garlic
1 T grated ginger
cilantro, chopped for garnish

Put everything except the last four ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat cooking gently and stirring occassionally until lentils are soft and mixture thickens. Heat butter in a separate skillet and add the garlic and the ginger and cook until they almost begin to brown but not quite. Remove from heat and pour everything including the butter into the lentils and mix. Top with chopped cilantro.

My husband also likes to top this with shredded cheese.


Excited to try this recipe? Get red lentils from iherb now here.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

She did a great job it was super yummy and I don't like lentils . i was impressed . just right amount of spice everything. cooked with love the best spice of all . in law tony