Thai red vegetable and lentil curry in a peanut coconut sauce
Vegetarian mains
Thai red vegetable and lentil curry in a peanut coconut sauce
A healthy, veg-packed curry with Thai style spicing. Protein comes in the form of lentils and peanuts.
Cook's notes
Season lentil dishes at the end of cooking; adding salt at the start toughens them so they take longer to cook. We've accompanied this dish with sticky jasmine rice. Make sure your lid fits on tightly, so the rice continues to steam after you take it off the heat.
Ingredients
- 1 medium-large or 2 small onions
- oil for frying e.g. sunflower or light olive
- 2 carrots
- 1 red pepper
- piece fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 chilli
- 100g red lentils
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 pack Thai red curry paste
- 200ml coconut milk
- 150g jasmine rice
- 200g baby spinach
- 200g purple sprouting broccoli
- 30g fresh coriander
- 1 lime
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 25g roasted salted peanuts
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Peel and finely dice the onion(s). Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan. Add the onion and fry on a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then. Add a splash of water if it looks like it might catch at any point.
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Step 2
While the onion fries, peel and chop the carrots into bite-sized chunks. Halve, deseed and chop the pepper into bite-sized pieces. Peel and grate enough ginger so you have 1 good tablespoon worth. Peel and finely chop or crush 2 garlic cloves. Halve, deseed and finely slice the chilli.
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Step 3
After 10 minutes, add the pepper and carrots to the onion. Fry for a further 5 minutes, stirring now and then. Give the lentils a rinse in a sieve in the meantime. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, cumin and ground coriander. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the thai red curry paste and tin of coconut milk.
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Step 4
The coconut milk might need a little stir before adding as it can separate. Refill the tin twice with water and add that. Stir in the lentils, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, put a pan of water on to boil for the broccoli.
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Step 5
Once the lentils start to cook, put the jasmine rice in another small pan, one with a lid. Add a good pinch or 2 of salt and 500ml water. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to stand until the curry is ready. Prepare the rest of the veg. Wash the spinach.
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Step 6
Wash the fresh coriander and shake dry. Roughly chop the leaves. Juice the lime. Trim the purple sprouting broccoli. Split larger pieces so they're roughly the same size (use the stalk, florets and leaves). Add the broccoli to the pan of water, once boiling.
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Step 7
Cook for about 3 minutes until tender. Drain and refresh under cold water. Once the lentils have cooked for 20 minutes, add the spinach and peanut butter. Stir gently until the spinach wilts. Stir in the purple sprouting broccoli. Season and add lime juice to taste.
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Step 8
Stir the fresh coriander into the curry. Serve with the sticky jasmine rice. Top the curry with the roasted salted peanuts. You can roughly chop them first or leave them whole, whichever you prefer.
