Pakistani lentil curry
This cheap and very easy Pakistani meal is usually eaten with basmati rice, tossed salad and hot pickles. It is relatively quick to make, and tastes even better the second day.
Ingredients
Serves: 2
- 150g dried brown lentils
- 4 tbsp dried red lentils
- 1L water
- 5 whole garlic cloves
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 tablespoons clarified butter (ghee)
- 1/4 onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tbsp milk (optional)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh coriander
Method
Prep:15min ›
Cook:40min ›
Ready in:55min
- Soak brown and red lentils in ample cool water for 1 hour to overnight. Drain and rinse.
- Place drained lentils into a large saucepan or casserole. Pour in the water, then add garlic, salt, coriander, cayenne and turmeric. Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
- While the lentils cook, melt the clarified butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir in the onions, and cook, stirring often, until they turn golden brown. Stir in the cumin, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir the onions and milk into the lentils; cook for another 6 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh coriander to serve.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(57)
Reviews in English (45)
The taste was fine, but there was way too much water left after the simmering time was complete; too much liquid to even be considered soup! I had to take the lid off and boil the extra water off, which took quite some time. - 28 Jun 2011
Altered ingredient amounts. Used less cayenne pepper - 28 Jun 2011
In constant search of cheap meal ideas, I decided to give this a try. As written, I would have to rate this a 2 because lentils don't need to be soaked before cooking and the recipe calls for too much water-the general ratio is 2 parts water to one part lentils. If I had followed the directions of the recipe, this would have been REALLY watery/liquidy and I think pretty gross. Here is what I did . . . I rinsed 2 cups of brown lentils and simmered them with 4 cups of water, adding more water as needed until they were cooked to the right texture (was doubling the recipe). I added 5 cloves of chopped garlic and doubled the rest of the spices, except the cayenne (too spicy for my 3 yr old). As it simmered, it smelled good but looked boring so I sauteed some shredded carrots, yellow bell pepper, and zucchini in a separate pan while I caramelized the onion (a whole one). When the lentils were done, I added the sauteed veggies and the caramelized onions to the pot and stirred it up. I served it over Basmati Rice, topped it with cilantro and it still needed something. Paneer would have been great but I didn't have it so used some white crumbly Mexican cheese on the top (feta would have been great too). The end result was amazingly delicious! I will definitely make it again-in the future, I will add more veggies, caramelize 2 onions, cut down the lentils and use veggie broth to simmer the lentils in, plus add paneer to the top. Thanks for the idea and great spice combinati - 13 Jun 2007 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)