Vegan Chickpea and Red Lentil Curry

MMM Curry!! This was a quick curry that I ate as a soup/stew. Warm Naan (I heated my naan in a cast iron pan with a bit of veg oil) for dunking. Serving it with rice is always a good idea. When I was making it I wanted to add more coconut milk and less veg stock, but I only had the one can. Next time I am going to try leaving out the apple and swapping some stock for the coconut milk. 

This curry comes together with mostly pantry items Red lentils, canned tomatoes, curry powder, cumin & a bit of maple. (I add the maple towards the end. I like to add it to taste because I'm just trying to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and apple, not trying to make it a sweet curry. Anyhow, I used 1/4 cup of maple syrup in the end.) 

Garnish the curry with vegan sour cream or yogurt & fresh cilantro...or whatever you want...
Toasted cashews?? Yum.  

The sour cream brand I use and love is Tofutti. It's super thick and creamy, and nothing at all like dairy sour cream...but honestly I mean that in a good way because I love it. A rich neutral base to mix other things into. For example, I make a chipotle crema for my nacho salad with it and honestly, in my humble opinion, it's delicious.  

Warm naan bread for scooping and dunking is my favourite way to eat this curry . (I found vegan naan at Sobeys the last time I was there, it was just in the regular bread section of the store. Loved it.)

The apple in the recipe I threw in to use it up. I think it adds a bit of tartness. If you don't want to use it, the soup might need a squeeze of lime juice or something to add a bit of acidity to compensate. Just give it a taste!  

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup veg oil
• 20 g garlic,   finely chopped (3 Tbsp)
• 20 g ginger,  finely chopped (4 tsp)
• 200 g yellow onion,  small dice (1.5 cups)
• 65 g celery,  small dice (1/2 cup)
• 65 g carrot,   small dice (1/2 cup)
• 200 g red lentils (1 cup)
• 796 ml can diced plum tomatoes 
• 540 ml can of chickpeas
• 3 Tbsp curry powder 
• 2 tsp cumin
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (this is just what I put in but I would do it to taste)
• 400 ml can full fat coconut milk
• 150 g  apple, small dice (I used granny smith)
• S&P to taste

​
Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over med heat.

2. Saute onion, celery, carrot, garlic and ginger until softened. season with S+P

3. Add curry powder and cumin and stir into mixture for a couple minutes.

4. Add canned tomatoes, veg stock & coconut milk - bring to a simmer

5. Add lentils and diced apple. I season with more salt and pepper at this point, and add more s+p at the end to taste. Simmer until lentils are fully cooked.

6. Add  chickpeas, heat a bit then add maple syrup to taste at the end.  

I let my soup gently simmer/hangout for 45 min or so to let flavours meld and reduce a bit to thicken if needed. 

Then I always taste and adjust s+p or maple. Sometimes extra cumin if I want more earthiness. Lime juice if i want to add some brightness. With soup you definitely want to taste and adjust, and always make it the day before you plan to eat it. The flavour always improves/changes next day! 

Garnish with vegan sour cream or yogurt & fresh cilantro.