Doesn’t everything in the title of this recipe make you want to run outside and tell the world that you are hip, cool, and healthy? Sometimes I think anytime I put “quinoa” in a recipe I am stamping myself as a health food consultant. Then, I remind myself that there is sausage in the fridge just waiting to jump in a pan.
This recipe comes from the bounty that I get every two weeks from Dominion Harvest. It’s a culmination of a couple of deliveries of onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Every delivery is a surprise. Some weeks I’m stuck on how to use up the ingredients before they whither away in storage. This week, I was bound and determined to stuff as many of the fresh veggies as I could into one dish. Welcome to Curryville.
I adore curry spices. I love their fragrance, their multi-layered flavors, and their beautiful colors.
When I say small dice, I mean it. You want your onion and pepper to be around the same size as your lentils.
- 1½ cup lentils
- 3¾ cups water, divided
- 2 bay leaves, divided
- ½ tsp ground coriander seeds
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp madras curry powder
- ½ tsp tumeric
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- 1 cup small diced red bell pepper
- 1 cup small diced green bell pepper
- 4 tbsp butter, divided
- 1 cup small diced onion
- 3 chopped garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp chopped ginger root
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 1 can coconut milk
- 2 cups peeled and diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- After rinsing your lentils (I used green), pop them and 2 and ½ cups of water into a pot with 1 bay leaf. Set the burner to high, bring the lentils to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. You are not fully cooking the lentils here, they will finish in the curry.
- Gather your spices: garam masala, curry powder, tumeric, and cayenne. In a large pan big enough to hold all the ingredients except the last on, toast your spices for 30 seconds until they are fragrant.
- Add 2 tbsp. of butter. When melted, add the garlic and ginger and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute careful to not let the garlic burn.
- Add the onions and peppers and saute for 5 minutes or until the onions become transparent.
- Add the curry paste and tomatoes and stir for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the fish sauce, honey, ½ salt, and 1 bay leaf.
- Drain the lentils (after 15 minutes of simmering) and add them and the coconut milk (I used lite). Stir to make everything happy.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer and let this cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
Nnncy Myers says
Looks delicious. Love curry flavor and coconut milk. Wish you lived closer Anna and we could sample.