(Vegan) Lentil Keema

Ingredients

-100g red lentils

-2 white onions chopped

-1 sweet potato chopped into cubes

-1 can of chopped tomatoes

-400ml water

-1 tsp fennel seeds (ground) or ground fennel

-1sp ground coriander

-1/2 tsp ground cumin.

-half a tablespoon chopped sage

-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

-1 tsp ground black pepper

-1 tsp rice flour (ground rice)

-3 garlic cloves crushed

-1 tsp fine salt

-50g creamed coconut

-1 tbsp ground almond powder

Method

-Put the red lentils and sweet potato in a saucepan submerged in 400ml of boiling water. Leave to simmer for around 15-20minutes. Check the pan every so often and top up with more water if needed.

-In the meanwhile, if you don’t have ground spices to hand (for example you have fennel seeds but not ground fennel) take the whole spices and grind in a pestle and mortar to a fine powder

-In a larger saucepan over a low heat, add a splash of olive oil. Then add the spices(ground pepper, ground fennel, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, ground coriander) to the pan to toast - this will release the spices aromas and pungent flavours into the oil and sauce. Make sure not to have the heat too high as it may burn your spices and then they taste very bitter.

-Add to the spices 1tsp rice flour, chopped sage, garlic and chopped onion. Stir and coat the onion evenly in the spice mix.

-Pour in a can of chopped tomatoes, creamed coconut and the contents of the pan of lentils and sweet potato including the water they were bathed in.

-Add 1 tsp fine salt and ground almond powder, stir and leave covered over the heat for 10-15 until the sauce has thickened.

-Serve and enjoy with rice and we suggest our Spicy Cheddar Parathas (recipe link for the Parathas: https://www.crowthercooks.com/blog/easy-spicy-cheddar-parathas ) which pair perfectly with this curry.