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One-pan lentil coconut curry with sweet potatoes is rich, creamy, and satisfying, no tomato needed! It’s packed with amazing flavors and lots of veggies. Glutenfree soy-free Nutfree
Table of Contents
Weekday meal plans need to be easy, short and delicious! This is a quick, 30 minute, one-pan lentil coconut curry, hits all those. It needs just a few ingredients but packs a ton of flavor!
You can change the spices to preference: use different curry powders of choice, like regular curry powder, Japanese curry powder, or Jamaican curry powder. You can even use Italian herbs or smoked paprika, if you don’t like the curry flavor. This lentil stew is very versatile and super quick. It is also allergy friendly! It is gluten-free Nutfree and Soyfree. For coconut free, use oat milk.
Serve it over rice, flatbread, cooked grains, or quinoa.
Why You’ll Love Lentil Coconut Curry
- flavor-packed, one-pot meal
- ready in 30 minutes
- lots of veggies!
- gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free
More Indian Curries
- Malabar Curry
- Edamame in Tangy South Indian Curry
- Baked Eggplant Curry Casserole
- Malai Tofu Curry
- Chana Saag
Lentil Coconut Curry
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 cup chopped red onion, or white onion
- 2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste, or 1/2” of ginger, minced and four cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garam masala, (or 1.5-2 teaspoons curry powder, Berbere, Cajun blend or Jamaican curry powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves, (kasuri methi), optional
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper flakes, optional, or use black pepper
- 1 cup peeled and chopped sweet potato, or frozen sweet potato or butternut squash
- 15- ounce can full fat coconut milk, or lite coconut milk
- 15- ounce can cooked lentils, or 1.5 cups cooked lentils
- 1/2 cup frozen spinach, or 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- lemon juice and cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion is starting to turn translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and mix in. Mix in the spices and salt, then mix in the coconut milk and the sweet potatoes or butternut squash.
- Cover with the lid and cook until the sweet potato is cooked through. This will take anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes, depending on your stove, pan, and the size of the cubed vegetables.
- Then, mix in the cooked lentils and spinach and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. Bring to a good boil, then taste and adjust the flavor. Add 1/2 cup or more broth, if you want the lentils to be saucier, because this will thicken as it cools. Once it is boiling consistently for 2 minutes, switch off the heat.
- Garnish with cilantro or other herbs of choice and some lemon juice and pepper flakes, if you like, and serve with some sourdough or rice, flatbread, or other cooked grains.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- onion – You can use red or white onion in this recipe.
- ginger-garlic paste – Adds so much amazing flavor! You can use minced, fresh ginger and garlic instead, if you prefer.
- spices – Turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek leaves, and pepper flakes are your seasonings.
- coconut milk – Full fat or lite coconut milk both work in this recipe. You can also use 1/4 cup cashews blended with 1 cup water instead. If you do this, cook the sweet potato in a cup of broth initially.
- cooked lentils – You can use canned or home cooked.
- spinach – Adds more veggies and color to this lentil coconut curry!
- garnishes – Lemon juice and cilantro add bright, vibrant flavors.
Tips
- This coconut curry sauce does thicken as it cools, so keep that in mind as it’s cooking. You may want to thin it out a bit with some broth during cooking.
- If you’re making cooked grains to serve with this curry, start them cooking before you start making the curry, so everything will be done around the same time.
How to Make Lentil Coconut Curry
Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion is starting to turn translucent, four to five minutes.
Then add the ginger-garlic paste, salt, and spices, and mix in.
Mix in the coconut milk and the sweet potatoes or butternut squash.
Cover with the lid and cook until the sweet potato is cooked through. This will take anywhere from eight to 12 minutes, depending on your stove, pan, and the size of the cubed vegetables.
Then, mix in the cooked lentils and spinach and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. Bring to a good boil, then taste and adjust the flavor.
Add some broth, if you want the lentils to be saucier, because this will thicken as it cools. Once it is boiling consistently for two minutes, switch off the heat.
Garnish with cilantro or other herbs of choice and some lemon juice and pepper flakes, if you like, and serve with sourdough, rice, flatbread, or other cooked grains.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can also make this with chickpeas or white beans. Use chickpeas instead of canned lentils, or you can make it with both. You can add a can of chickpeas and lentils, and add up to 1 cup more of coconut milk or other nondairy milk. Increase the spices also to adjust to preference.
For a coconut milk substitute, you can cook the sweet potatoes in 1 cup of broth initially, and then add in some cashew cream or cashew milk with the lentils. You can use 1/4 heaping cup of cashews blended with one cup of water to make the cashew cream.
This recipe is naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free.
Stuck to the basic recipe, but very versatile to go along with whatever you have. Super tasty!
So happy you enjoyed it!
Fabulous recipes
Thank you!!
Great x
This is spectacularly tasty and fast for a weeknight. It’s also perfect for a single person because it has leftovers that are delicious the next day.
So good to hear!
I was looking for a lentil recipe without tomatoes and came across Richa’s recipe. I made the lentil curry without butternut squash and spinach and it was absolutely delicious. This recipe is for keeps. Thank you Richa for the wonderful recipe.
Yay! So glad you liked it.
Everyone loved this recipe, even the teens. I doubled the fresh spinach, served with rice, and it was outstanding.
Awesome! It’s great when the kids love it too.
Made this tonight, I didn’t have fresh ginger so I used ground ginger, and frozen broccoli since I didn’t have spinach. I cooked this in my instant pot for 1 minute with quick release and then added my lentils and broccoli and cooked a couple of more minutes.
This was amazing, next time I’ll double it would be great for leftovers. Thank you so much for this excellent recipe!
So glad you liked it!
I had to cook for 18 people and chose two of your recipes, this one and tofu makhani. It was easy to prepare and people liked it a lot. Thank you!
Thank you for commenting!!
Love this recipe!
I posted a photo of the dish how I presented it to the family on my flickr photostream. It looks so good, it attracted 5,840 views so far, and 87 faves 🙂
Of course, I added the link to your website! I hope this will help promoting your vegan recipes. All are just perfect!
We also love your ‘Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen’ (recently purchased for my daugher). Every recipe I made turned out well and is yummy to look at too.
glad you enjoyed!
As always, your dishes not only taste good, they also look good on the table!
A pleasure to serve to my family!
I allow myself to add the link to my photo of the Lentil Coconut Curry, on my flickr photostream:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30079014@N03/53256656238/
In my ‘Food’ album, there are a few other of you recipes I cooked and photogrphed when time allows and the family is not already sitting at the table.
Love the ‘Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen’ too!
yay! thank you!
Am slowly switching to veg dishes. Great stuff to make on a cold raw day. Just enough heat. And the flavors seem to meld as the dish sits for a while. Thanks for posting.
So happy to hear!