It’s getting to be that time of year: when nothing is sounding particularly delicious, when I’m over roasting root vegetables, when I’m not craving anything, when I find myself staring at the pantry, then inevitably reaching for the lentils and spices and coconut milk.
I’m not even sure why I made this recipe — I have two other curried lentil recipes that I love — but as I reflected (as one does after eating lentils?), I realized there were several influences:
- The promising title: 10 Minutes to the Richest Indian Soup.
- The accompanying enticing photo of a brilliant yellow broth laced with wilting greens.
- The realization that this new curry essentially combined the favorite elements of both lentil recipes I love — the ginger and coconut milk from one, the amped-up spices from the other — with the added bonus of a heap of spinach, making it a one-bowl wonder.
If you’ve made curried lentils, you’ve likely made something like this before, starting with sautéed onions, garlic and ginger, building with spices (any combination of turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel, crushed red pepper flakes, and mustard seeds), adding lentils, water and maybe coconut milk, finishing with some sort of garnish. It’s a dish that can be tailored to your liking by adding more or less of any of the spices, and it’s forgiving, too — if you don’t have a spice or two, it will likely turn out well anyway.
This version comes from Milk Street, and I’ve made a few small changes, which I’ve noted below. The most significant difference is the use of French green lentils, which hold their shape, in addition to red, which break down. The combination of textures is nice.
Incidentally, remember those Lightning Fast Sichuan Noodles I wrote about a few weeks back? This recipe comes from that same free PDF I downloaded upon subscribing to Milk Street’s newsletter. Milk Street is a subscription site, but you can get these two recipes and 10 others for free by subscribing. (I promise I don’t work for them.)
Here’s the play by play: Gather your ingredients.
These are the two types of lentils I use:
A microplane is great for finely grating ginger.
Sweat the minced onion and smashed whole garlic cloves in coconut (or other) oil.
Add the spices.
Add the lentils, water, and coconut milk and simmer for about 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop up some kale or other greens.
Stir them in.
Serve!
Curried Lentils with Kale and Coconut Milk (Masoor Dal)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4-6
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Adapted from Milk Street‘s recipe for Goan lentil curry (masoor dal). If you subscribe to their newsletter, you’ll get this recipe along with this one (Lightning Fast Sichuan Noodles with Chilies and Scallions) and 10 other enticing ones for free.
If you like video guidance, I made this in Instagram Stories.
I’ve made a few small changes:
- In place of fennel, I’ve used cumin. The two spices are not similar, but I like cumin, and I like cumin in curries. You could certainly use both.
- I like to toast the cumin and coriander seeds and grind them in a mortar and pestle, but using pre-ground spices is fine.
- I like to use two kinds of lentils: French green lentils, which hold their shape, and red lentils, which break down. You certainly could use all red, which is what the recipe calls for.
- I’ve use kale in place of spinach.
- I omit the coconut and tomato garnish.
Don’t be afraid to make this ahead of time — it’s even tastier on day two. Recipe doubles well, too.
If you like even more spice, check out Cal Peternell’s Dal recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or peanut oil (or olive oil)
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped, to yield 1-1.5 cups
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons yellow or brown mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin or fennel
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 31⁄2 cups water
- 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 1/2 cup French green lentils
- 6 ounces kale (or baby spinach), about 6 cups, leaves removed from stems, roughly chopped
- fresh lime, for serving, optional
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium-high, combine the oil, onion, garlic and 1 teaspoon salt. When you hear a sizzle, cover the pot, turn heat to low, and cook, stirring every so often, until the onion has softened and is just beginning to color, 7 to 9 minutes. Stir in the ginger, the mustard seeds, turmeric, coriander, fennel and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the water, coconut milk, lentils, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, then bring to a boil. Reduce to low, cover and simmer, stirring once or twice, until the lentils have broken down, 40 to 50 minutes.
- Stir in the kale and return to a simmer. Taste and season with salt if desired. Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate for a future day — it’s good cold straight from the fridge.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
Keywords: lentils, curry, coconut milk, Indian, vegan, vegetarian, kale, masoor dal, Goan
Sally says
You know I want to make this right now! If I used cumin and coriander seeds, would you use 1T? THANKS!
alexandra says
Yay! And yes: I would use about a tablespoon total cumin and coriander (though you certainly could use more — the old Cal Peternell dal recipe that I love calls for a tablespoon each of cumin and coriander).
xo
Andrea says
I made your other version of these a couple weeks ago and we LOVED them. Served with jasmine rice and some homemade pita (via Smitten Kitchen). Heaven. So filling and warm.
I’m with you on being uninspired this time of year. I seem to be making a lot more warm but vegetarian meals. Heavy meat focused food just isn’t doing it for me these days. Although I did love the Sesame Turkey Meatballs from the first Smitten Kitchen cookbook. Served with a smashed chickpea salad. OMG. So delicious and fresh, not heavy at all!
★★★★★
alexandra says
So happy to hear this, Andrea! I’ll have to check out Smitten Kitchen’s pita bread recipe — high on my to-make list recently has been naan and pita. Thanks for the rec! And I’ve made and loved those meatballs, too…. soooooo good 🙂
Susan says
I made this last night for myself and my daughter. It was so delicious. We both loved it. I could not imagine it would be good right from the refrigerator…of course it is!!! Having it for lunch today. Thanks for lovely photos and super recipes. The back drop of the spices and the subtle coconut is just divine. This is a keeper for us.
★★★★★
alexandra says
So happy to hear this Susan! My husband has been gone this week, and I have been living on this … cold from the fridge mostly. So happy you and your daughter approved 🙂
Julie says
I made this last night for lunches throughout the week… OMG HEAVEN! Instead of all the spices, I used a curry mix I bought at the Indian grocery store. I couldn’t get enough of it- amazing recipe! Thank you:)
Sabrina says
what a great recipe, fun to make too, love the pictorial walk through! Much more flavor than my bland lentil soup, thank you
★★★★★
alexandra says
🙂 🙂 🙂
Julie says
I made a 1/2 recipe and it’s been great as leftovers. I didn’t include the coriander (I was out) and did 1/2 cumin and 1/2 fennel seeds for the cumin listed and I thought it needed more spice for me, but I kindof like heat. I added Trader Joe’s Amba Mango Sauce (savory fermented mango sauce) to last night’s leftovers over rice and it was fabulous!
★★★★
Katie says
Hello! I was wondering if you soaked your lentils beforehand? I’ve forgotten to do that before in other recipes and ended up with a crunchy lentil soup! Thanks, looks delish!
alexandra says
I do not soak my lentils! I’ve never had an issue, but if you have, you definitely can soak.
Gabby says
made with frozen bagged kale from whole foods and added leftover roast lamb – totally delicious!
★★★★★
alexandra says
Wow! Great to hear this works with frozen greens. Thanks for writing!
Liat says
I made this exactly as the recipe stated and it was okay, but I’ll change a few things if I make it again. I think the spices should have been doubled, the flavors were very very weak with these quantities. I will either add curry powder or paste next time. Instead of water, vegetable stock may have been better. Instead of red pepper flakes, I think cayenne pepper would have worked better with the vibe of the dish. I think adding potatoes, bell peppers, and/or other vegetables would have given this more substance. Personal preference will lead me to leave out the kale next time. With leaving out the kale, I’d go back to a 1:3 ratio of lentil to liquid. I had this with garlic naan. Overall, good base recipe to have on hand.
★★★