Vegetable Dhal Curry

With the credit crunch snapping at our heals I decided to go on “frugal” shopping spree and as well as half price chicken I came home with 5kg of Basmati rice for £4 and 2kg of red lentils for £2 which is a huge saving on the usual smaller packs I buy! My husband is always saying how much he loves Dhal and I think I have only cooked it once for him so I decided that this situation had to be rectified. I didn’t want to cook just a side dish, I wanted this to be a vegetarian main course and so I researched several recipes. I decided to use Delia’s Dhal Curry as a starting point and took it further by tweaking the spices, using fresh ginger, adding more garlic, cumin seeds, sweetcorn and a coriander yogurt dressing. Her recipe stated that it served 2 so I doubled everything only to find that I made enough for us to eat the following night as well! Hence the photos will show more ingredients than you will have if you make this as below.

I wasn’t sure if my daughter was going to like this dish as it’s the men of the house that like curry best, but after a few negative comments she started to help me cook so by the time it was served she’d completely come round and loved it! It is a mild curry so if you like yours hotter do add more Madras powder.

I am entering my Vegetable Dhal Curry into Javelin Warrior’s “Made with Love Mondays” challenge as it fits with the theme of making everything from scratch.

First you add you water and spices to a pan and bring to the boil.

Then you add your lentils, simmer for 5 minutes and then add diced potato & continue to simmer.

Meanwhile fry you cumin seeds for 2 minutes.

Add the sliced onion & pepper and fry until browned.

Add the curry powder, garlic and chopped tomatoes cooking for 1 minute.

Add the fried vegetables & sweetcorn to the dhal and cook for 5 – 10 minutes stirring occassionaly.

Dinner is ready!

4.41 from 5 votes

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Vegetable Dhal Curry

This nutritious and delicious Vegetable Dhal Curry with its coriander yoghurt dressing will satisfy most hearty appetites!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4

Author Camilla

Ingredients

• 225 g / 8oz Red lentils
• 10 g / 0.5oz Ginger grated to a paste
• ½ tsp Ground cumin
• ½ tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 2 potatoes peeled and diced
• 2 tbsp Sunflower oil
• 1 Onion large, peeled and sliced
• 1 Green pepper small, deseeded and chopped
• 1 tsp Madras curry powder
• 3 Cloves garlic crushed
• 4 Tomatoes chopped
• 75 g / 3oz Sweetcorn frozen
• Salt
• For Yogurt Dressing:
• 100 g Fat free Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp Fresh or frozen chopped coriander

Instructions

1. Put 850ml (1 ½ pints) of water in a saucepan or wok and add ginger paste, ground cumin, turmeric and 1tsp of salt then bring to the boil.
2. Add washed lentils (agitate in a sieve with running water) and bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Then add the diced potato and cook until the lentils turn mushy, about 25 minutes (stirring at intervals to stop the mixture sticking).
4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and fry the cumin seeds for 2 minutes until browned and fragrant.
5. Add onion and pepper and fry over a fairly high heat until the onion has browned.
6. Lower the heat and add the Madras curry powder, garlic and the chopped tomatoes.
7. Cook for a minute and then add to the lentil mixture, taste, season with more salt and add the sweetcorn.
8. Cook gently for a further 5-10 minutes until the sweetcorn is cooked.
9. Mix the yogurt and chopped coriander together to make the dressing.
10. Serve this with rice and the yogurt dressing.

Recipe Notes

For a hotter curry add more Madras curry powder. Try ringing in the changes with other vegetables from the freezer such as spinach, peas etc.
You could also have this as a side dish to a meat curry, why not make a portion and a half and have with your favourite curry the next day!