Kill a Cold Lentil Curry with Kale & Red Peppers
CT has a cold and I can feel a sore throat coming. In a bid to alleviate CT’s symptoms and stop myself from developing the cold, I’m turning to my all time favourite comfort food, dhal. In this instance it’s made with split red lentils, but pretty much any pulse will do. So for National Curry Week, I give you this Kill a Cold Lentil Curry with Kale & Red Peppers. Whether it will stop a cold in its tracks remains to be seen, but it’s a killer for flavour and full on satisfaction.
Lentil curry is such a versatile dish. I make it a lot and it’s different each time. Fry the onions and spices first, then add the lentils and cook. Cook the lentils first then add the fried onions at the end. Throw in your favourite spices. Use coconut milk or not. You can also include whichever vegetables you have to hand or just cook it plain.
One of the most memorable lentil dhals I ever had was back in my student days. I was an active member of the local Friends of the Earth group and some of us used to meet at a lovely Indian gentleman’s house. Back in the day, he had accompanied Satish Kumar on part of his 8,000 mile Peace Walk around India and then on to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington in a bid to rid the world of nuclear weapons. He always cooked us a lentil curry and chucked in what ever vegetables happened to be in season, including Brussels sprouts. It was always delicious.
My mother has been a big curry fan ever since her student days in Edinburgh. When I was young, it was always lentil curry with plenty of garlic she turned to at the slightest sign of a sniffle. I loved it then and love it now.
For this kill a cold lentil curry, I’ve included lots of garlic, ginger, chilli and turmeric, all of which strengthen the immune system. Nutrient rich kale and red peppers can only make things better. I served the dhal with brown basmati rice and some yoghurt. Everything was organic for additional nutrition and mineral content. Two of the ingredients we grew ourselves. Our gardening endeavours this year have been highly unsuccessful. Pretty much everything we planted has been eaten by wildlife of one sort or another. Our garlic crop, which we’ve kept going for over ten years now was thankfully untouched. Another stalwart is our tree kale, but any kale would be good.
As well as this being National Curry Week, it’s also National Rice Week and International Year of Pulses. So my lentil curry served with brown basmati rice hits all three. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s also National Chocolate Week and you’ll find my post to celebrate this event coming very soon.
- 8oz red split lentils - soaked in water if possible
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 large cloves garlic - peeled and finely chopped
- 1 3cm sq lump of root ginger - peeled and finely chopped
- 1 red chilli - deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp curry powder (I used Steenburg's)
- ½-1 tsp sea salt according to taste
- a good grinding of black pepper
- 1 400g tin coconut milk
- 1 red pepper - desseeded and roughly chopped
- handful of kale - washed and roughly chopped.
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 large onion - peeled and finely sliced
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp nigella seeds (also known as kalonji) or black mustard seeds
- Rinse the lentils well. Place in a large pan with the bay leaf and just cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and have collapsed.
- After ten minutes add the garlic, spices, salt, pepper and vegetables. You may need to add a little more water at this stage if the lentils are looking dry. Stir and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk and simmer for a further few minutes until everything is cooked to perfection.
- Meanwhile fry the onions gently in the coconut oil for 15 minutes or so until they have caramelised.
- Add the cumin and kalonji seeds after the first 5 minutes and stir from time to time.
- Just before serving, stir half of the onions into the dhal, then scatter the rest over the top.
- Soaking the lentils and rice for at least an hour prior to cooking reduces the cooking time. The longer they soak, the less cooking is required.
- Cooking lentils with a bay leaf is meant to make them more digestible.
- Serve with rice or flat breads and yoghurt if liked.
I’m sending my kill a cold lentil curry to Jac at Tinned Tomatoes for Meat Free Mondays
As I made enough for two nights running, I’m also sending my dhal to Corina at Searching for Spice for Cook Once Eat Twice.
Other recipes for vegan curries you might like
- Aubergine, mushroom & sweet potato massaman curry via Planet Veggie
- Cauliflower rice & jerk sweet potatoes in coconut via Tin & Thyme
- Easy baked bean curry via Thinly Spread
- Pumpkin Thai red curry via Recipes from a Pantry
- Thai green curry via Tin & Thyme
If you like my lentil curry recipe, why not pin it for later?
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Imam Bayildi at Daddio’s, Liskeard. Food to faint for.
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Today, I harvested the first tomatoes we’ve grown for a few years. So excited. Latah is the red one growing outdoors, Indigo Rose and Ildi are in the conservatory.
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Candy cane bindweed looking pretty as a picture up on the salt marshes the other morning.
Our Monthly Chocolate Challenge
Cathy @ Planet Veggie
13th October 2016
I always eat spicy food when I’ve got a cold – I’m a firm believer that it cures it. Although, my main go-to is a chilli pizza with a can of Coke, so possibly a tad unhealthier than your curry 😉
Choclette
14th October 2016
Thanks Cathy, you’ve really made me giggle. Just what I need at the moment.
Chris @thinlyspread
13th October 2016
A good, spicy, warm you to the bones curry is very hard to beat and I too always turn to dahl when someone is under the weather! Thanks so much for linking to my baked bean curry – your student stories made me smile, baked bean curry was the first thing H cooked for me when we were students!
Choclette
14th October 2016
Oh, I can see the attachment to baked bean curry now. Although it sounds very good in its own right. Dahl is an excellent story teller, so a great writer to turn to when feeling ill 😉
Eb Gargano / easypeasyfoodie.com
13th October 2016
YUM! Love a good lentil curry, and this one certainly does look like a good one 🙂 Eb x
Choclette
14th October 2016
Thanks Eb. I can’t resist lentil curry!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
13th October 2016
Warming, comforting and delicious! I love this lentil curry.
Choclette
14th October 2016
Thank you Angie. Thankfully, so did I as we had it two evenings on the trot.
Corina
13th October 2016
This looks like the perfect curry for when you’re feeling a little under the weather and it’s making me hungry for my own vegetable curry tonight which is sitting in the slow cooker as I write! I do love all the colours in this one too. Thank you so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Choclette
14th October 2016
Thanks Corina. Great minds and all that or maybe it’s just the curry season 🙂
Helen @ family-friends-food.com
13th October 2016
It looks incredible! I love lentils, especially now it’s getting colder, they’re so filling and warming. Yum.
Choclette
14th October 2016
Thanks Helen. Lentils are just brilliant and they make for a nice cheap meal too.
Janice
13th October 2016
That certainly should warm you up and hopefully keep the cold away!
Choclette
14th October 2016
Thanks Janice – feeling OK so far *searches desperately for some wood*.
Charlie @ The Kitchen Shed
13th October 2016
Love the name of this. I used to make a ‘cure a cold soup’ so I shall have to try this curry too!
Choclette
14th October 2016
Ooh, what was in your cure a cold soup Charlie?
Camilla Hawkins
13th October 2016
Love the ingredients in this curry and perfect for autumn going into winter. Crossing fingers I don’t catch a cold any time soon!
Choclette
14th October 2016
Indeed not Camilla, colds are horrid things and flu a lot worse. Crossing fingers, but this seems to have worked.
Katie
14th October 2016
I love lentil curry! I first made it from a red lentil curry recipe in Food 52’s “Genius Recipes” cookbook. Looks like it would certainly take out a cold.
Choclette
14th October 2016
It’s amazing stuff Katie. Crossing fingers, but it looks as though it might have worked.
Dom
15th October 2016
I’m sorry CT isn’t feel well, I too am on the brink, I can just tell! This curry would be a perfect cure. I love Dhal. I love the way it’s heady aroma hits you in the back of the throat. I need some of this now… right, off to the shops!
Choclette
15th October 2016
Make some quick Dom. CT’s cold didn’t hit him nearly as bad as it often does and I have managed to stave it off – so far! Lots of finger crossing going on.
Jacqueline Meldrum
16th October 2016
I love dal, we eat it a lot. This is quite similar to my spinach and coconut dal but I use cumin, ginger and coriander instead of curry powder. I love all your toppings. Hope it worked. My tip, try taking zinc tablets every day. It builds your immune system. It’s a good top up.
Choclette
18th October 2016
Dhal is such a brilliant vegetarian standby with the added bonus of it being vegan too. Thanks of the zinc tip. i’m not too keen on taking tablets, but will research what I can eat to get more zinc into our diets.
Kate - gluten free alchemist
19th October 2016
Most definitely the perfect comfort food and even if it doesn’t cure the cold, it will certainly make you feel loved!
I can confirm Jacqueline’s tip about zinc above. I usually take it through the winter and it definitely cuts down the number of infections….. Unfortunately this year I managed to have the most hideous flu-type bug which lasted the best part of the month and started in September (before the time when I usually hit the zinc)! x
Choclette
20th October 2016
Ah that’s interesting Kate. Maybe I should get CT onto the Zinc. He’s the one that tends to suffer more than me. I’ve managed to avoid the cold, but CT has had his for nearly 2 weeks ago. However, he’s not suffering with it nearly as badly as he often does. We’ve upped our intake of turmeric and other spices a lot in the last few weeks. Sorry to hear you had nearly a month of it. We were both completely knocked out with flue a couple of years ago and it lasted a month – horrible.
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
31st October 2016
Oh wow this curry looks and sounds amazing! This is going on my to try list! x #cookonceeattwice
Choclette
31st October 2016
Thanks Kirsty, it’s one of my go to dishes 🙂
Monika Dabrowski
14th November 2016
This dish looks so delicious and is full of goodness, which for me is an ideal combination when it comes to food:)
Choclette
15th November 2016
I’m with you there Monika, there’s nothing quite like good food cooked well. Thank you 🙂