Lentil Curry

A trip to little India last week resulted in my spice basket booming with ingredients just begging to be worked into a curry.

I got two different types of lentils from the spice house (yellow and black) and simmered them in salted water with a few bay leaves and star anise for about an hour. With regards to the ratio of water to lentils, I used my judgement. You want to cook the lentils until they are very soft and start to break down thus thickening the liquid. After about 40 minutes, I threw in some cauliflower florets and blended roasted tomatoes for extra veggie power.

Just as the lentils thicken up and become ready, make a tardka. This is where you fry your aromatics and spices in shallow veg oil for about five minutes then toss them into the mix to complete the curry; a big flavour punch! So, after heating up some grapeseed oil in a shallow pan I added:

• Fresh ginger and garlic
• One large shallot, sliced
• Cayenne pepper
• Paprika
• Brown mustard seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Mango powder
• Garam masala
• Chat masala
• Curry leaves and powder
• Juice of half a lime

As long as you know what kind of flavour/heat each spice adds to the dish, you can really just freestyle the quantities. I added little more than a teaspoon of cayenne but the dish ended up being pretty spciy, which was fine by me. One thing I forgot to add was fresh cilantro. I was very happy with the result, not bad for a curry virgin.