This week Juli stepped up to the plate and picked the recipe for all of us. Without missing a beat, she new exactly what we where going to make, one of her favorites…anything with coconut curry. She looked and looked and found this amazing recipe on theendlessmeal.com of Coconut Lentil Curry. It was yummy and easy to make but with such specific flavor, there where some very different opinions.
Ana
Andrea
Bere
Cori
Juli
Click on any of the pictures for more details
Original recipe:
Have you done this recipe before? No
Tools for the recipe: Standard pots and utensils
Ingredient substitute: I used ¼ tbs for all spices, skipped the ginger, only ½ cup of lentils, 4 oz of tomato sauce instead of canned tomatoes, 1 cup of Coconut Milk, Olive oil
Experience doing the recipe: Not a curry fan. However, this recipe proved me wrong. I cut the ingredients to what I believe to be half or reasonable reductions to make it a one serving recipe. I honestly did not have ginger so that is the reason I skipped it. My garlic was pre-minced, and it was one of these bottles you buy at the supermarket. My garlic was water based so my fat came from olive oil. Somehow, I do not like the taste of coconut oil in my food unless is something baked. I had issues with the cooking time since my lentils cooked so quickly under 20 min, they were soft and went right to simmer. I incorporated the coconut milk and at first it seemed to be falling apart but it turned very thick on the first boil. I did not pair the lentils with any side dishes. To me this is a stir and forget sort of recipe. It tasted really good and it felt like a hearty meal.
Would you try the recipe again? I do not know. It will be only for me as my husband and daughter do not like any of the ingredients in this recipe and I hate cooking 3 different meals.
Have you done this before? Nope
Tools for the recipe: measuring cups, big pot, wooden spoon.
Ingredient substitute: I only substituted the cilantro for green onion and didn’t use cherry tomatoes as they are not my favorite.
Experience doing the recipe: I wasn’t very excited to make these lentils just because curry is not really my thing but If I never try I’ll never know. So I separated all the ingredients I put on my worship music and started making the lentils. It’s actually very quick to put together before you let it simmer the 40 minutes. I added 7 minutes and brought it up to 4 because the lentils were a bit hard but after the 7 minutes it was perfect. On the side I made some Basmati rice with a bit of chopped onion and butter. The 1 cup makes a lot of lentils so if you don’t want to have much I’d suggest making half.
Would you try doing the recipe again? Yes I would totally make it again it was delicious with white rice. The hubby was surprised and wanted more.
Have you done this recipe before? Nope! Not really a fan of curry…..
Tools for the recipe: Blender, pot, utensils and measuring things
Ingredient substitute: I didn’t have a can of crushed tomatoes but I had a can of diced tomatoes so I just blended everything up. I also didn’t have the spices required so I use curry mix I had instead. I didn’t have ginger so I used ground ginger I had.
Experience doing the recipe: Well….where do I start. I was not a fan of this week because I am not a fan of anything curry. I’ll eat it if I have to, but I wont ask for it or cook it myself. So my initial thought was “I’m going to substitute it all!” but then I realize I did have some curry mixture in my spice rack and a can of coconut milk, so I decided to try to stick to the recipe as much as I could and give it a try. Since I live by myself, and was skeptical of the curry, I did the recipe in half so I didn’t have much left overs if I didn’t really like it.
I cooked the garlic with the curry spices, added the tomatoes and the other spices and the lentils, covered it up, let it cook, it took 35 minutes. Then added the coconut milk and I think I added more than I was supposed to because everything became very watery, soupy almost. I let it simmer a little bit with the lit off so it would dry up but I think I over cooked everything and it was somewhat mushy.
I made some white rice with cilantro and served it in a bowl. I will say, it was very yummy. I might have gone light with the spices but that’s okay, I liked it. The 1/2 cut of lentils gave me three very good portions (just enough). I am glad I decided to stick with the original recipe.
Would you try the recipe again? Although the recipe actually came out pretty good, there is a 98% chance I will not try this again. I mean, a least its a 98% instead of a 100% which is how it was before…I call that improvement
Have you done this recipe before? No
Tools for the recipe: Cutting board, knives, can opener, pot, measuring cups
Ingredient substitute: I used a regular chopped tomato with a little tomato paste instead of the dices can tomatoes
Experience doing the recipe: I loved it… I was the one proposing the recipe and all of those ingredients are things that are always in my kitchen.
I have done a similar recipe but with canned garbanzo beans instead of lentils.
However, loved every second of this one, I did play a little more with the spices because when I went to make it I realized that my favorite curry power mix had less than a tbs left. Added a little more cumin and turmeric.
I did half the recipe but I did not held back on the coconut milk, I am obsessed with salty/spiced & sweet flavors and it was so worth it, it taste just like that: Spiced (not spicy) from the ginger and spices and sweet from the coconut.
I accompanied it with a simple Jasmine rice and had some middle eastern flatbread that again, you will always find in my kitchen
Would you try the recipe again? YES! 100% easy to make and for me, it’s comfort food. Also, probably by tomorrow with the leftovers… I will probably make some sort of Middle Eastern version of lentils with rice and cinnamon recipe…
