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Sri Lankan Red Lentil Curry. Creamy Dal curry Spiced with fenugreek seeds, cinnamon & black peppercorns. Coconut milk adds cooling creaminess. Easy Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. No garlic recipe. Jump to Recipe
Its getting cooler out here. I am loving warming soups and stews. Lentil soups/Dals are a staple in the house whether winter or summer. During summer, the lentil soups are made less spicy and served with kachumbar salad (chopped cucumber onion tomato cilantro tossed in salt, black pepper and lemon juice), raita (non dairy yogurt lightly spiced with cumin, salt, cayenne with onion, cucumber, tomato or shredded summer squash mixed in) and or other cooling sides. Cooler months call for warm spices, black pepper, quick cooking lentils.
This creamy spiced Dal curry is delicious and easy. It is spiced with whole cinnamon and fenugreek seeds. Fenugreek Seeds 
More lentil soups from the blog
- Dal Fry – Spiced Indian Lentil Soup Restaurant style Recipe
- Moroccan Lentil Soup
- Oil-free Spicy Garlic Dal
- Black eyed pea Lentil Soup
The current issue of Thrive Magazine showcases various vegan chefs including a 2 page spread on yours truly…Excerpt here!
Make this Sri lankan inspired Red Lentil Curry. Creamy, spicy, easy and so good! Inspired from some recipes from the web and Vegan Eats World
Sri Lankan Red Lentil Curry
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup red lentils, masoor dal - these are split lentils (red/pink)
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/3 tsp black peppercorns
- 1/3 tsp cayenne or to taste , or 1-2 dried red chilies. California red for mild, cayenne or bird eye red chilies for hot
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 6 to 8 curry leaves, fresh or frozen or dried
- 1/2 small red onion, chopped
- 2 inch cinamon stick
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 cup or more coconut milk , or other non dairy milk
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- 1/2 to 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp shredded coconut
Instructions
- Wash and soak the red lentils.
- Grind the fenugreek, black pepper, cayenne/red chilies, turmeric into a powder and keep aside.
- In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds and let them start to pop. Add curry leaves carefully and mix in. Add the fenugreek seed powder, stir and cook for 5 to 10 seconds.
- Add onions, cinnamon stick and a pinch of salt. Mix to coat with spices. Cook for about 3 minutes.
- Drain and add the lentils to the saucepan. Add water, salt and coconut milk. Mix in. Partially cover and cook for 12 to 14 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes, lemon juice, taste and adjust salt and spice. Lower the heat to low. Cover and cook for 12 to 15 minutes. Stir once in between.
- Garnish with shredded coconut and pepper flakes (optional). Serve as a soup with crackers or as dal with rice or flatbread.
Notes
Variations: Add more coconut milk instead of water for creamier soup.
Add in chopped veggies. Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker: Follow steps 1 to 4 (IP on saute, deglaze the onion with a tbsp of water or broth at step 4 if needed as the IP gets hot). Add the lentils, milk, water,salt, half of the tomato and lemon juice, mix. Close the lid, pressure cook for 3 mins. Then quick release after 5 mins. Fold in the rest of the tomato and lemon. Taste and adjust. Add some shredded coconut and serve. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
To substitute for curry leaves (can’t find them) should I use Indian or Italian bay leaves? Thanks!
Indian
Delicious soup! Will gon on my favourites list. Had no fenugreek seeds so left these out. Added some extra santen (solid block coconut cream) to add some creaminess.
YUM
Absolutely delicious! Next time I will reduce the amount of water added as we prefer a curry to a soup and the flavour changed slightly when reducing it.
thank you
amazing recipe – so easy and so very delicious
loved it
thank you
Awesome go to recipe! I’ve made this every couple of weeks for over a year. Really FABULOUS!!!!
wow consistency pays off. thank you!
This is my 3yo’s favourite dal. It is delicious and easy to make. Thanks.
awwww so cute,
If using a white onion, should I adjust any spicing? Thank you!
I made this for dinner tonight. Good recipe – It’s very authentic Sri Lankan style parripu!
Love this! My biggest problem is getting the temperature right so that the mustard seeds pop without burning 🙂 I’ve made it many times and it always gets a thumbs up from the family. Thank you, Richa.
Yes there is a fine balance there. Heat the oil over medium heat. Sometimes in a hurry, we can tend toheat over higher heat and the oil gets to a more hotter state where it will pop the seeds really hard and quickly burn them. Over medium, oil takes longer to heat up, but the heat inthe oil is more distributed and pops the seeds lightly and doesnt burn them.
Thanks for the advice. I will try to be more patient!
This is a keeper! Tonight I needed something healthy and fast and wow did this recipe deliver. I used the instant pot version which resulted in a wonderfully creamy consistency with great flavour. I will make this one again and double or triple it to have leftovers.
Thank you Richa for another great recipe. I have your second cookbook and love it.
awesome!