October has arrived and with it, the notion that cold weather is in our midst. While I do find it sad that Summer has passed, cold weather = yummy cold weather comfort food. One thing I find extremely comforting to eat is a big bowl of CURRY! Warm, spicy and flavorful yumminess is just the thing I need on a chilly fall evening (and maybe a big mug of chai tea with vanilla soymilk, too!).
Curries are super easy to make and you can put just about anything in them. There are a gazillion different curry spice blends out there, but for this recipe I am just going to utilize simple, medium yellow curry powder. We'll get to the green, red, tandoori, garam masala, phanaeng, and madras varieties another time :) I find curry tastes even better the next day and it freezes beautifully, so make lots!
Sweet Potato Lentil Curry
Ingredients:
-2 tbsp veg oil
-1 large onion, diced
-1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
-3 stalks of celery, chopped
-6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
-1/2 a large head of cauliflower, chopped into bite sized florets
-1 tsp ground cinnmon
-1 - 2 tbsp curry powder (depending on how strong you like it)
-2 tomatoes, diced
-1 cup brown lentils
-S&P
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high-ish heat. Add the onion, sweet potato, celery, garlic and cauliflower to the pot and sprinkle with cinnamon and curry powder and a bit of S&P.
Cover with a lid and cook for about ten minutes, stirring often.
Add the tomatoes and lentils and cover with approx three cups of water, juuuuuust enough to barely cover the veg.
Bring the curry to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Let the curry simmer until the lentils and sweet potatoes are very soft. I like to reduce the heat to medium low once the lentils are just cooked, and then simmer the curry for an hour so the flavours become bff's.
Serve over brown basmati rice. Maybe with some peach chutney or sliced banana or toasted almonds as a garnish :)
XOXO
V.V.
