Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry: Recipe of the Week
by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 03.24.06
We have recently been enjoying cooking from :Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley so we are going to offer up another recipe from that book this week. This is the perfect recipe for this TreeHugger. Start cooking at 11:30 am while listening to our favourite half hour long radio show and sit down at noon to a delicious hot lunch. This recipe fits all the required criteria for a terrific meal – it is fast, easy, tastes good and is even better the next day. For a quick dinner, just add a green vegetable or a salad. Berley suggests serving it over rice or with lavash rather than pita if you prefer. We thought it would also be terrific diluted with vegetable broth or water and made into a curried lentil soup on the second day.
Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry with Warm Pita Bread
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp curry powder
1 bay leaf
1 ½ cups red lentils
Pita bread
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. In a saucepan or kettle, bring 3 ½ cups of water to a boil.
2. In a large saucepan over high heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, and 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add the sweet potato, ginger, garlic, curry powder and bay leaf and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in the boiling water and stir in the lentils. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the lentils break down and the sweet potatoes are tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Season with salt.
4. While the potatoes and lentils are cooking, wrap a stack of pita breads in a slightly damp cotton towel, and place in oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Serves 4
Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley ::Amazon
Sounds good. Why not make some chapatis to go with this?
I notice that you link to books on Amazon.com. While Amazon has a huge selection, I've decided to stop buying through them as they are a "red" company, meaning they give the majority of their political contributions to exactly the sort of people who wouldn't be caught dead reading Treehugger. buyblue.org
Brian, I just went to Opensecrets.org and did a donor lookup using "Amazon" in the employer field for 2002, 2004, and 2006. Not sure where BuyBlue gets its data, but it doesn't mesh with the data I saw at Opensecrets.
I don't know about red/blue, but I always like to link to books at Powell's Bookstore, an indie: http://www.powells.com/
Another great Berley recipe... might have to bring it back into the rotation this weekend. In regards to the blueness of Amazon (speaking as a former Amazonian), the company always seemed pretty outwardly non-political. And the staff was also a good mix of both sides of the aisle (though, it sometimes tilted to one side depending on what department you were in--in editorial where I was, it was definitely lefty/libertarian). Looking at Open Secrets as Mr. Willemssen, it seems like Amazon (from a corporate PAC standpoint) has found a bit more equalibrium than in some past giving years.