This vegan lentil curry is absolutely amazing. It's simple, exotic, spicy, tasty, creamy and has an intense coconut flavor. I like to serve it with rice.
I'm in love with this vegan lentil curry, it's my favorite lentil recipe, I eat it almost every week. Besides, it's a super easy and flavorful dish. If you love Indian cuisine as mush as I do, you need to try this awesome lentil curry.
I usually eat lentils with rice, it's a satisfying and nutritious meal, and also a great combination, so delicious! This recipe is diet-friendly, especially if you don't add any oil.
I love coconut milk, it has fat, but if you include it in moderation in a healthy, balanced diet, it's not a problem and you can make it at home, it's so easy, you only need water and coconut (fresh or shredded). Anyway, if you don't like coconut milk or if you prefer a lighter version use water or any other plant milk. The rest of the ingredients are pretty light and nutritious. It's a flavorful recipe because we added so many spices (feel free to add other spices or remove any).
Garam masala is a mixture of spices very popular in Indian cuisine. If you can't find it, just make it at home or use the spices you have on hand. The composition of garam masala differs regionally. The components of the mix are toasted, then ground together. A typical Indian version of garam masala contains: turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds and cardamom pods, but you can also add other spices such as garlic powder, ginger, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, coriander, nutmeg, fennel or cayenne powder.
I eat legumes at least 3 or 4 times a week and I'm always trying new legume recipes. This vegan lentil curry is a staple for me, it's a pretty simple recipe, but it takes time, although it's totally worth it. If you like curry, lentils and coconut, you need to try it.
If you like this vegan lentil curry, check out these lentil recipes: low-fat vegan Shepherd's pie, lentil salad, easy lentil curry and vegan sloppy joes.
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment below, share it, rate it or tag a picture @simpleveganblog on Instagram and hashtag it #simpleveganblog. We’d love to see what you cook!
Vegan Lentil Curry
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked lentils
- 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ½ onion
- 16 ounces tomato sauce
- ⅔ cup full-fat coconut milk
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Instructions
- Cook lentils according to package directions (we cooked them for 40 minutes over medium-high heat). Drain and set aside.
- Cook basmati rice according to package directions. We cooked them for 12 minutes over medium-high heat. Drain and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and the onion (finely chopped) and cook them over medium-high heat until golden brown.
- Add the tomato sauce, coconut milk and spices and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add cooked lentils, stir and cook for at least 15 or 20 minutes.
- Serve the lentils over the basmati rice. You can add some chopped cilantro on top.
- Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- I like brown lentils, but any type of lentils will do.
- Use your favorite type of rice or even other grains like quinoa or buckwheat.
- If you want to make this recipe oil-free, just sauté the veggies in some water or oil-free broth.
- Chopped tomatoes can be used instead of the tomato sauce.
- If you don't like coconut, add water or any plant milk instead of the coconut milk.
- Use your favorite veggies and spices.
Chance says
By tomato sauce do you mean tomato paste? Or like a simple marinara?
Iosune says
Hi Chance! You can use both 🙂
kelvin says
Aaaammmmaaaaazzzzziiiinnnnggggg ,
Iosune says
Thanks a lot Kelvin!!!
Holly says
This was absolutely amazing & so very easy!! I want a third serving (lol) but I'm using all my willpower to resist 🙂
Iosune says
Hahaha thanks a lot Holly! 😉
Jess says
So delicious! Made this tonight for my boyfriend and I and he couldn't stop going back to the kitchen for more. Thank you guys for all of your amazing recipes!
Iosune says
Great! I'm so happy for you 🙂 Thanks a lot for your comment!
Dana says
Absolutely delish! I'll definitely be adding this to my rotation. I can't believe how simple it was to make and that I had all the ingredients already on hand.
Iosune says
Hi Dana! I love simple recipes, and this curry is soooo delicious 🙂
Lianne says
Hi, would really love to try this ( every recipe I have tried so far has been amazing <3 ), but, I'm not a massive coconut fan, can you recommend anything I could substitute for all the coconut? Thanks
Iosune says
Hi Lianne! You can use another plant milk or even you can remove it 🙂
Lianne says
That's excellent thank you, I will try it with soya milk so it hopefully retains the same consistency 😀
Iosune says
Great 🙂
Jeanne says
I made this curry yesterday for my family and they loved it 🙂 thanks <3
Iosune says
Great!!! Thank you Jeanne 🙂
emily says
Hi! Pinned this recipe on Pinterest about a year ago -- finally made it tonight... delicious!
Iosune says
I'm so happy to read that!! Thanks Emily!
KellyP says
Wow, made this tonight and it was fantastic. This is going into heavy rotation for sure!
Iosune says
Great! Thanks for your comment Kelly 🙂
Sarah says
I made it for dinner tonight. I, for some reason, can never seem to get that delicious Indian food flavor that I'm after. I found the spices in this to be very light, somehow ephemeral. I added several shakes of more of everything. With all the various tweaking it ended up tasting like taco meat with a slight Indian influence. -sigh- At least it's edible though. That's more than I can say for my past attempts to find that delicious old quick and easy Indian dish.
Iosune says
I'm sorry Sarah!!! You can add more curry the next time 🙂
Cheyenne says
This looks and sounds amazing! I'm planning to make it for dinner tonight. 🙂
Question, though: Did you mean 16 ounces of tomato sauce? Just want to clarify. Thanks!
Iosune says
Hi Cheyenne! Yes, 16 ounces, not 160!!!! Sorry for the mistake 🙂
Kirk Mitchell says
When you say 16 ounces of tomato sauce do you mean ketchup? This works out at over 25 tablespoons. Sounds a lot.
Iosune says
Hi Kirk! I don't mean ketchuo. You can make your own tomato sauce (http://simpleveganblog.com/homemade-tomato-sauce/), although you can also use canned tomatoes if you want 🙂
Chris says
I didn't use full-fat coconut milk so it doesn't taste as 'creamy'. I think it woul be better with cream or yogurt but then it wouldn't be vegan so I'll just zip it.
Iosune says
Hi Chris! You could use full-fat coconut milk, plant-based yogurt or blend some cashews with milk (it's a good cream substitute) 🙂
CakePants says
This looks fantastic! I can't believe it only takes 5 minutes of prep time - what a great, satisfying meal for those days you don't really feel like making anything elaborate and involved!
Iosune says
Thanks! This recipe is perfect, it's sooo easy and it tastes amazing!!! 🙂
Stephan says
This recipe turned out lip-smacking delicious but I did make the following changes : I "sautéed" in vegetable broth to reduce the fat. Also, I wanted to keep the juices from the cooking of the lentils so I added the dried lentils to the sautéed veggies with three cups of vegetable broth, with the crushed tomatoes and all the spices and cooked on medium low heat until the lentils were tender. i also added 2 tbsp of curry paste and I doubled the ginger, curry and garam masala. Finally I added two tbsp of maple syrup to round out the taste and reduce acidity. I made brown rice to serve with the curry. Very tasty and just hot enough. Thanks!
Iosune says
Hi Stephan! Thanks a lot for your valuable comment 🙂 Have a nice day!