Indian Red Curry

Although this post is about curry, I wanted to first mention that having the right cookware - nothing new or expensive, just a few basic pots and pans - will make preparing many of these meals easier, and/or less time consuming.

Pots and pans I recommend having:

1 small saucepan
(good for "meals for one", melting butter, sauces, poached eggs)
1 medium saucepan, with tight fitting lid
(good for cooking rice, quinoa, popcorn, sauces, "meals for two", hard boiled eggs)
1 large skillet, with handle
(excellent for curries, stir frys, omelets, scrambles, risotto and browning proteins)
1 large stock or soup pot, with holes in lid for draining
(super for stews, soups, pasta)
Crock pot
(awesome for soups, stews, beans, curries)

For the Indian Red Curry, I used the skillet.

This is what I had on hand:

a few TB of coconut oil
1 cup of red lentils
(red lentils cook differently - and faster - than other lentils, so it's important to choose this particular kind)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed, minced or chopped
(your preference, really, tho I prefer mine crushed as to not waste any of the precious oil)
3/4 of a medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced and then quartered
2 small red potatoes, chopped the same size as the carrot
1 cup cauliflower florets
(I had a bit of a head leftover, so I just chopped up what I had to match the size of the other veggies... more or less won't matter with any of these ingredients)
2-4 cups of water
several TB of red curry paste
(I buy this at specialty international/Asian/Indian grocery stores in bulk and keep refrigerated. This lasts a long time and makes preparing these dishes simple)
1 cup Brown Basmati rice, cooked

This is what I did:

Sautee garlic in oil for a minute or two, then add onion and stir for a few more minutes.
Add remainder of veggies, stir.
Add 2 of the 4 cups water, stir.
Add lentils, stir.
Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low, stirring occasionally with a rubber or silicone spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the skillet as you go.
As mixture thickens, add the remaining 2 cups of water, a little at a time, and continue to stir occasionally.
After simmering for about 1/2 hour, add curry paste a little at a time, seasoning to taste.
Continue simmering and stirring until the water has been absorbed and both lentils and veggies are soft.
Serve over rice.

If you prefer,
stirring in a bit of sour cream, plain Greek yogurt or any vegan alternative, gives this dish a creamy kick!

For more information on the health benefits of lentils, click on this link:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52