recipe – curried chickpea lentils (vegan)

I’ll never go out of my way to make vegan food for Stephen and myself. Mostly because, you know, we love meat and dairy and the likes. But occasionally I’ll unintentionally make something and be like what… lemme see that ingredient list again. And therein lies a vegan recipe I accidentally produced.

Lentils and chickpeas are my favorite way to incorporate protein and fiber in my diet. I really don’t buy meat as much as it seems from my social media. We actually eat more vegetarian at home because of the costs of meat recently.

This is quite a spice-filled lentil recipe, so just beware of your upcoming bowel movements, especially with these lentils. YEAH I said it!

After sauteing the onions, then garlic, the lentils were added just for a quick toast in the pan.

The tomato sauce helps mellow everything out and juice up the lentils. Also seasoning the lentils before they plump up allows them to soak in all the tastiness. Don’t want to miss any flavor adding opportunities.

In only about a half an hour do we get this beautiful plate of fiber and flavor. Obviously I don’t tell Stephen, because then he’ll look into the dish more than he has to. But it’s a solid vegan recipe where you don’t miss any meat, but get all the fullness you need. Just be careful about bathroom visits if you eat too much of this stuff.

Wait, it looks like this recipe is even gluten-free too! Please let me know is this is not the case.

 

—ingredients—

• 1 lb dry lentils
• 28 oz crushed tomatoes
• 1 15oz can chickpeas, drained
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 4oz can green chiles, fire roasted and peeled
• 1 tb cumin
• 1 tb paprika
• 1 tb garlic powder
• 1 tb cracked pepper
• Dash of cayenne pepper (to taste)
• Salt to taste

 
—directions—

1. Saute onions for about 5 minutes on medium heat with vegetable oil, then add garlic. Stir quickly for a minute or so.
2. Add the 1 lb of dry lentils to toast in the same pan on high heat.
3. Add the tomato sauce then the seasonings: cumin, paprika, garlic powder, cracked pepper, cayenne (if you want), salt (to taste). Also add the drained chickpeas and the entire can of green chiles.
4. Bring to a slight boil, then reduce and put the lid on simmer. Let pot simmer for about 30 minutes.
5. Open the pot about half way through, so around 15 minutes, to stir around the lentils. If the sauce looks dry, add about 1 cup of water, stir, and close lid again. Check in 5 minute intervals to see if more water is needed.
6. I’ve done the same recipe a few times and the water soaks up at different speeds. Don’t be afraid to make it more liquidy than you thought. Better than burnt lentils.
   Once plumped up, taste the lentils to see if anything was missing. Mine needed more salt and garlic, but that’s a personal preference.
7. Serve as is, or move some lentils to a freezer bag which is perfect for defrosting in the Instant Pot.