Thai Lentil Curry Stew

Ingredients

1C dried green lentils
2C dried brown lentils
1T coconut oil
2 diced yellow onions
15 chopped mushrooms
1 peeled and cubed Beauregard sweet potato
1 inch of coined galangal
1 lemon grass
1/2T minced garlic
1 can coconut milk
2C water
2T kosher salt
2T turmeric powder
1T garam masala
1/2t cayenne
1/2t dried red chili flakes
2t cumin
2t ground cinnamon
1/2T ground coriander
1/4t cardamon
1/2t white pepper
1t crushed fennel seeds
1t crushed dried basil
1/4t smoked paprika
1T garlic powder
1T zested ginger
2T red Thai curry paste
1 zested and juiced lemon
Rice
1 bunch cilantro

Nutrition

Counts from OneGreenPlant
6 Servings ~1C stew
Per Serving: 198c, 60k, 20p
Per 1/2C cooked white rice: 106.5c, 21.83k, 2.08p, .3f

Directions

First, prepare your spices and veggie work station. Dice onions, and chop mushrooms. Peel the Sweet potato and cut into cubes. Mince garlic and zest ginger. Lemon grass: (see below right) cut the lemon grass into thirds, slightly pounding the bulb with the back of your knife so that it releases its flavor. Galangal: (see below left) slice off ~1″ of the root, then slice thin coins to add to the stew.

3) Spice Prep: Gather all your powder spice and measure out into a single bowl. Measure salt, turmeric, garam masala, cayenne, coriander, dried red chili flakes, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, garlic powder. Crush dried basil with your hands so they are nearly powder like. Crush the fennel seeds with mortar and pestle. If you have cardamon seeds crush those as well and remove the outer seed layer and dump only the insides of the seeds into the dish. Get all the spices into that bowl ready to use.

2) Cooking lentils is 3:1 water to lentils ratio. Cook the two lentils separately as they have different cooking ties. Rinse the lentils under running water in your sink. Then place in a pot of water, bring to a boil, and lower heat to simmer for ~20-30 minutes for the brown, and ~35-45 min for the green. Once cooked, dump the lentils and any remaining water through a sieve, and the lentils should go into the soup pot.

3) Cook the sweet potatoes by adding them to boiling water until soft, ~25 min depending upon the size of the cubes. Once cooked, set aside to add to the stew at the end.

Drained the sweet potatoes just waiting to add to the stew. Photo by PattyCooks.

4) Skillet: Add coconut oil and diced onions to a skillet and saute until the onions are translucent. Add zested ginger, minced garlic, and all the powdered spices. Saute until fragrant. Then add mushrooms to the pan until the juices have evaporated out.

5) Soup Pot: It should have the lentils already, so scrape the skillet items into the pot being sure to get all the remains in the skillet. Then add 2T water to the hot skillet to release all the spices and add that liquid too. Add the galangal and lemon grass. Turn the heat on under the soup pot and add 2C water and the coconut milk.

The stew has reduced a bit, you can see the mushrooms and lemon grass in the pot. It actually is ready for the removal of the lemon grass and galangal. Photo by PattyCooks.

6) While stew is cooking, put white basmati rice on and add finely cut cilantro stems to the rice water to infuse the rice with the cilantro flavor.

Cooking basmati white rice with cilantro stems (and some leaves as you can tell). Photo by PattyCooks.

7) Once the soup pot is at a boil, stir in salt, pepper, and curry paste. Turn down heat and simmer ~45 minutes or until the liquids have reduced and thickened a bit. Remove the lemon grass and galangal, and add in the sweet potato. When ready add the zest from one lemon, then taste and season if required.

8) Serve with cilantro rice with a squirt of lemon juice and fresh cilantro.

Diet

[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[x] Vegetarian + Pescatarian
[x] Vegan
[x] Gluten free
[x] Weight Maint
[O] Keto
[x] Mediterranean
[O] Lectin Avoidance: lentils
[O] Oxalate Avoidance: sweet potatoes
[x] Purine Avoidance
[x] Allergies: LEGUMES

Comments

I ran across a recipe that sounded great from One Green Planet and decided to try it, with changes to up the curry flavor and add a Thai twist. My changes were in adding and adjusting the spice.