Curried Lentils and Potatoes

This is one of my favorite foods and I thought I'd share the recipe. My biggest "problem" with recipes is that I cook by taste and tend to throw in whatever is looking a little limp in the fridge. So standardizing anything into a recipe someone can follow is no small task. But because you all deserve to eat this delicious dish, I'll try.This recipe freezes really well and also morphs into soup with ease so I tend to double the recipe (which is perfect as it's a whole bag of lentils) and eat all week.

The bare bones recipe is:

3.5 Cups of liquid (water, broth, coconut milk or combination)
1 Cup Lentils
1TBS Curry
2 potatoes peeled and cut in big chunks
lots and lots of pepper

Optional Items:

one onion
veggie (or chicken) broth or bouillon
garlic
light coconut milk
plain yogurt
veggie sour cream
chopped cilantro

Optional first step: Chop and fry up an onion. Once it is soft and golden, add a clove of minced garlic and cook for one more minute.

1. Wash and pick over lentils. Put in big pot (with lid) and add liquid. I usually pour a can of light coconut milk into my measuring cup and then add water/broth to it to make seven cups (remember, I double the recipe).
2. Bring to a boil and then cook on med-low for about 15 minutes, until lentils start to soften.
3. Bury potatoes under lentils. Put the lid on and simmer without disturbing for ten minutes.
4. Check to see if it's getting too dry, add liquid if needed. Stir gently and continue to cook until potatoes and lentils are tender.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper

This is a thick stew not a soup so if it's soupy take of the lid and keep cooking. Serve on top of rice with lots of pepper and a dollop of yogurt or sour cream. You can also garnish with chopped cilantro if you like.

Tomato Curried Lentil Soup with Potatoes
Pictured at the top of this post.

Now here's the part that is utterly by feel. Hopefully you can glean the general concept.

Take you leftover curried lentils and put them in a soup pot. Fish out the potatoes and reserve for later in the recipe. Add leftover rice, can of tomato paste, 4-8 cups of veggie broth (or water) and several splashes of worcestershire sauce (vegan is available). Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes (ish). Using an immersion blender, blend soup into a textured puree. Continue to simmer until it's as thick as you like. Chop up reserved potatoes into little cubes and add back to the soup. Heat through. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic and curry.

This is so delicious, healthy, warming and CHEAP! The financial breakdown:

Basic recipe (doubled):

Lentils: 1.39
Water: ~~~~
Curry Powder: 0.25
Potatoes: 1.00
Rice: 1.00
_______________
$3.64

This makes about ten servings, so about thirty-five cents a serving.

The deluxe recipe adds:

Light coconut milk: 1.69
Onion: 0.40
Garlic: 0.25
Bouillon: (I use Better than Bouillon paste and add my own water) 1.00
_____________________
$3.34 + $3.64 = $7.00

Which is still only seventy cents per serving. And this is hearty stuff, even my big eaters slow down at the bottom of the bowl.

Lentil Soup With Potatoes