Curried Lentil Stew

I really enjoyed how cheap, delicious and easy this recipe was, and am super excited that I now have something healthy to nom on for the rest of the week. This is one of those recipes to clean out your refrigerator with, which is what I did, which is how the tomato sauce and salsa ended up in this recipe, they worked out super well though!

Ingredients:

• 6 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch cilantro
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup lentils
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1/2 cup hot salsa
• 1/4 cup tomato basil sauce
• 3/4 cup long grain brown rice

(the quantities of the spices are approximations as I did not measure them as I was adding them...)

The oil was heated in a large pan, and the garlic and onions were added with the spices, until the onions became translucent.

Then 6 cups of water were added, along with the lentils. This was covered and let to simmer for about 20 minutes. At this point the carrots, potatoes and tomato sauce/salsa was added, the whole pot was covered and simmered for another 20 minutes, and then the rice was added and I realized I had perhaps added too much water so I simmered the rice in it uncovered for the next half hour to 40 minutes, until it was mostly evaporated or absorbed into the rice. Also as a side note, the pot in the picture above was too small, so somewhere during this cooking process I had to switch to a larger pot.

Above is what I ended up with.

It had a great curry flavor, and tasted very starchy from the lentils, potatoes, and rice. I really enjoyed this meal and cannot wait to eat it tomorrow, and again. Perhaps next time adding more vegetables, like some cauliflower or some leafy greens.

This recipe was very inexpensive, assuming that you already have the spices and olive oil in your kitchen, the total cost of the remaining ingredients were about $12. I shared this dinner with my friend, and will definitely be eating it for the next few days, I probably have about 6 servings left.