I’ve never thought of myself as a real meat-eater but every year 2 days come along that test me in meal preparation. They are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I was always brought up not to eat meat on those days and have memories of Mum & Dad eating banana butties on Good Friday – Eew! These 2 days of the year tend to be days when we eat very well in our house now – funny how when you have to give a little thought to pre-planning meals that don’t involve meat that we end up with meals fit for kings. I know the whole point of Ash Wednesday is to fast at the start of Lent but we are doing our own little bit.
This meal is gorgeous. Really good for me but a super tasty Vegetarian Chickpea Curry too. Even Dermot, a meat-eating St Helens man loved it. I’m always wary that Vegetarian options sometimes don’t fill but this really does and it is quick to make too. Leftovers in the fridge taste amazing the next day.
In our first house on the first Good Friday, I remember a day of decorating our living room in bright reds & greens followed by a tasty vegetarian curry – Yum! It was so exciting making our first home our own – We both worked long hours in our jobs at the time and were child free so really appreciated our full day of decorating.
We had this meal on Ash Wednesday just gone and it was a hit as much as ever. The girls always think that they won’t like it but secretly do (except Tara but we’ll work on her!) They enjoy dipping the poppadums in and scooping up the chickpeas. They don’t realise that they are eating healthily either – bonus!
| Serves | 4-6 |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Main Dish |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot |
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Small Onion (Finely Chopped)
- 3 Sweet Potatoes (Chopped into 1-2cm pieces)
- 100g Red Lentils (Simmered for 1/2 hour to soften)
- 1 tin Chickpeas (Small tin but really use as many as you like)
- 2 Carrots (Chopped into small chunks)
- 2 Red Peppers (Chopped into small chunks)
- 5 Small Broccoli florets
- 2 teaspoons Curry Paste or Powder (I use a medium one like a Balti)
- 1 tin Coconut Milk
- 1 handful Frozen Peas
DIRECTIONS
| 1. | |
| Saute the onions in a little vegetable oil until just soft | |
| 2. | |
| Add the sweet potatoes and carrots and a cupful of boiling water and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes until softened | |
| 3. | |
| Add the peppers, broccoli, chickpeas, lentils, curry paste/powder and coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes | |
| 4. | |
| At the last moment add the frozen peas and stir through for 2 minutes. | |
| 5. | |
| If you like your curry runny you can add more water as you go along or if you like it thicker, don’t use all the coconut milk. | |
| 6. | |
| Serve immediately with copious amounts of boiled rice and poppadums to dip in. | |
- If you don’t use the whole tin of coconut milk, you could use the leftovers for Sweet Potato Thai Soup
Colour, flavour and taste, this recipe has it all
Thank you! I am still chuffed every time I make this 🙂
Very tasty looking veggie curry, yum.
Thank you – It is definitely my ‘go to’ curry!
This looks really tasty. I love chickpeas and sweet potato so this is bound to be a hit with me. #sharefriday
This looks really nice. I try to have a few meat free days a week so I will definitely give this a try!
might have to give this a go!
Oh do, Becky. We love it – guilt free and tasty! x
This looks great Helen, and almost slimming world friendly too (I joined last week). I wonder if I could tweak it to fit the plan. I’ll let you know! I certainly fancy giving it a try. X
I’m sure you could – You might have to make a substitute for the coconut milk though! Good luck with SW – I admire anyone with the willpower. x
Not this is something I would make- looks and sounds delicious. Might cheat with some chicken though…
x x
Looks lovely and thanks for the tip about using the leftover coconut milk in the soup, by coincidence I have some in my fridge and was wondering what to do with it!
Looks delish – and veggie too. Whoop! Thanks so much for linking up with #recipeoftheweek. I’ve pinned and tweeted this post and hope to see you linking up again soon! 😀 x
This looks yummy – am always looking for recipes that are vegan (or vegan-adaptable) so will definitely have to give this a try. #Tefalgiveaway
Found this on Yummly. Had all the ingredients, so decided to give it a go. However, I made the following changes: made 1 cup of rice with 1 1/4 cups water & 3/4 cup of the coconut milk and a Tbsp of vegan butter. Cooked according to directions but added the following: 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp coriander, dash of cayenne pepper, salt & pepper to taste, juice of 1 orange and abou 1 1/2 handfuls of golden raisins. Was VERY yummy! I did omit the broccoli because I’m saving that for stir fry.
Ooh your amendments sound lovely too, Hayley. Thanks so much for popping by to let me know how you got on. You have made me want to eat this all over again tonight! Enjoy your stir-fry!