This is a vegetarian dish that I keep in the fridge at all times. It’s a great recipe to prepare on a Sunday (when things are hopefully calmer in your house) to have on hand all week for lunches and dinners. We all love it in my house, even baby Chloe. I feed her individual lentils one after the other and she can’t seem to get enough of them. As for Kenya, as soon as he found out that the type of kale I use in the recipe is called “dinosaur kale”, he was downing it by the spoonful!
I buy nearly all of the ingredients for this recipe — the lentils and the vegetables — at the farmers market where they’re certified organic, in season, and cost the same price or less than I would find them for at the grocery. When you can make a healthy, high protein, tasty and exotic recipe like this one that everyone in the family loves, it makes for a very happy mommy!
Indian Lentils
Ingredients
- 1 Tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 Garlic Clove, grated
- 1 1/2 Tsp ground cumin
- 2 Tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 Tsp turmeric
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Medium Shallot, minced
- 3 tablespoon Tomato Paste (mixed with 3 Tbsp Water)
- 1 1/4 Cups Green Lentils
- 1 Cup green beans, chopped
- 1 Cup Carrots, cut into coins
- 1 1/2 Cups Kale, shredded (I used Dinosaur Kale)
- 1 Tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 Cup cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl with 1/4 cup of water to make a paste.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the shallots over medium heat for 1 minute.
- Add the spice mixture and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste mixture and cook an additional 1-2 minutes or until the liquid is almost evaporated.
- Add the lentils and 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and cook for 25 minutes.
- Add the vegetables, salt and cilantro and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until vegetables and lentils are tender.
- Serve.
- *Allow to cool and place in appropriate tupperware or ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 4 months. When ready, defrost in a pot over low-medium heat or in the fridge for 24-48 hours.
My 16 month old son loves these! He eats them from a spoon, drinks them from a cup; however he can get em’ in the quickest! I have made them 3x already and double the recipe. He frequently asks for “lentils” even when I am fresh out. I have been making them with red lentils, but still have not mastered not over-cooking them….
Thanks for all your great recipes (green treats are also a huge hit for the whole family).
[…] There were a wide array of delectable Indian dishes including potato curry, mango lassi, rice, lentils, (Masoor dal) tandoori, samosas and several different chutneys which kids and parents alike […]
You can use any type of lentils you prefer, but red lentils cook quicker so I would reduce the cooking time in step 5 to just 10 minutes and then proceed as normal for the rest of the recipe. Just keep an eye on them to make sure you aren’t over-cooking them! Let me know how it turns out with the red lentils!
can’t wait to try this!
can you substitute red lentils for green ones?
逛街…
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AMAZING! i doubled this and added way too much spice tumeric and curry. I let it simmer for a LONG time and it was lick your fingers good. Served it over quinoa and with plain yogurt on the side.
My 15 month old loved these! I will be making these quite often. Thank you!
This is fantastic lentil recipe! I skipped the tomato paste and the dish didn’t suffer. This is eaten often in our house.
I am making my way through a ton of your recipes, because they all look great! So excited. Have to say, though, that I tried this last week, and was very dissappointed. I had to add a ton of salt and more turmeric to give it any real flavour — it was quite bland. Not sure if I missed something. But…we’re moving on and trying something new tonight. Thanks for putting so much effort into all this.
Awesome! Our whole family really enjoyed this!
Looks delish!
I used brown but you can use Jasmine too 🙂
I can’t wait to try this recipe! What type of rice did you serve it over? Jasmine? Brown?