Chickpea and Lentil Curry

Chickpea and Lentil Curry - Vegan

A rich and vibrant chickpea and lentil vegan curry. Ready in around 30 minutes this is perfect for a tasty weeknight dinner.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Indian

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Servings

Calories 368kcal

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion (210g) (1 ⅓ cups) finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely minced or put through a garlic press
1 thumb size piece of ginger, (½ tbsp) finely grated
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon red pepper chilli flakes or one green chilli pepper finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper (capsicum) pith and seeds removed then roughly chopped
1 400g can of chopped tomatoes (2 cups)
1 400g can of cooked chickpeas (1 ½ cups drained)
120 g red lentils (⅝ of a cup)
200 ml vegetable stock ( ¾ cups) I made my stock with 1½ teaspoons of vegetable bouillon and 200 ml of boiling water.
The juice of half a medium lemon (2 or 3 tbsp)
½ teaspoon sea salt divided into two parts
¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
75 g spinach (2 cups)
A small handful of fresh coriander (cilantro)

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add the onion along with a small pinch of sea salt and cook for about 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic, chilli pepper flakes and ginger, stir well and cook for a minute.
Next add the spices, again stir well and cook for just a minute. Be careful not to burn the spices, as soon smell the spices they are done.
Now add the green bell pepper, and stir into the spices.
Next, pour in the chopped tomatoes, the vegetable stock, lemon juice, add the chickpeas and lentils. Add the salt and pepper then stir well.
Bring the pan to the boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer then cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid.
Cook for about 15 minutes stirring often. Check the seasoning halfway through cooking.
If the sauce is looking too dry add some water to it and continue simmering.
Once the lentils are cooked and the sauce has thickened add the spinach to the pan, put the lid back on for about two minutes. Take the lid off, then stir in the wilted spinach.
Serve immediately with rice, naan, some coriander (cilantro) leaves.

Heat - If you are serving this to younger children you may want to reduce the heat slightly, I would omit the chilli pepper completely for young kids. If you want to increase the heat then you could add more chilli pepper.
Batch Cooking - if you would like to batch cook this then there is a slider tool in the recipe card where you can increase the number of servings. This curry is really great for batch cooking.
Nutritional Information - all nutritional information shared is an estimate based on third-party calculations. If calorie count and/or nutritional values are important to you, we recommend putting the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary depending on which brands were used. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
Weights and measurements - For US readers, I use Cuisipro measuring cups and spoons, and a Pyrex measuring jug for liquids. These are the industry standard. Cup/spoon volumes can differ from brand to brand, for accuracy, I recommend weighing all ingredients if possible for the best results.