Curried Lentil Bowl
on Aug 12, 2019, Updated Sep 22, 2024
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This curried lentil bowl features steamed kale, roasted vegetables and delicious garlic and turmeric coconut curried lentils. This hearty, plant-based bowl is lovely served warm in the Fall and Winter months but can also be served cold as a healthy, filling salad.
This cozy lentil bowl is full of nutrition and easy to make with just a few plant-based ingredients. It’s just delicious as is but if you want to adjust it, I’ve included some recipe addition and substitution ideas below.
How to Make the Lentils
The lentils get cooked by bringing 2 cups of water to a boil, adding 1 cup of uncooked red lentils, covering and simmering until tender. This takes 10-15 minutes for red lentils.
Once the lentils are cooked, you’ll mix in turmeric, cumin, curry powder, garlic, sea salt and pepper.
I’ve also made this recipe with green lentils. If you’d like to use green, simply increase the cooking time by about 10 minutes.
How to Prepare the Kale
Before proceeding with the preparation methods below, give the kale a good wash, tear the leaves away from the stems and cut the kale into bite-sized pieces.
Massaged Kale
If you prefer to keep the kale raw, I would recommend massaging it with just a tiny bit of olive, avocado or flax oil. This helps to soften the kale, improve digestibility and reduce any bitterness.
For about 4 heaping cups of kale, use just 1/2 tsp of oil. Use your hands to massage the kale until it becomes soft.
Steamed Kale
To steam kale, add a couple inches of water to a saucepan, bring to a boil then reduce to a light simmer. Place a steamer basket in the pan and add the chopped kale. Cover and steam for 3-4 minutes until it reaches your desired doneness.
Sautéed Kale
This is how I usually make kale for recipes like this. It’s not really sautéed kale so much as kale lightly cooked in a splash of water. I use this method because I’m lazy and it’s easier than steaming kale with a steaming basket.
I just add the chopped kale to a skillet with a few splashes of water and cook for a few minutes until wilted. It’s quick, easy, oil-free and prevents overcooking the kale. You wanted the kale just slightly softened which only takes a couple minutes, so keep an eye on it.
You could use oil instead of water if you wanted for truly sautéed kale but I just use water in a pan for a quick and easy alternative to steaming.
How to Roast the Vegetables
To roast oil-free, I’d recommend lining your pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat but other than that, just chop and roast.
I will say oil-free roasted veggies come out on the dryer side, especially sweet potatoes and carrots. To prevent this, you can toss with a bit of vegetable broth before roasting.
If you don’t mind a bit of oil, toss all the veggies with 1/2 tsp olive oil to prevent them from drying out. That’s a negligible amount of oil once you divide the veggies into 4 servings so it’s up to you if you’d like to use some or not.
What Vegetables to Use
For this recipe, I used carrot, sweet potato, onion and zucchini but bell peppers, snap peas, cabbage, parsnips, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli and potatoes all work as well.
Roasting Times
Some vegetables, such as zucchini and bell peppers, cooked quicker than starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots. How to get around this?
I just roast everything together because I don’t really care if the zucchini is a bit overdone but if you want everything to be roasted just right, you can either stagger the cooking times or steam non-starchy veggies first so they cook as quickly as the non-starchy veggies.
Quick Cooking Time
These vegetables roast in 15-25 minutes.
- zucchini
- cabbage
- onion
- bell pepper
Longer Cooking Time
These vegetables roast in 25-45 minutes.
- sweet potato
- potato
- carrot
- brussel sprouts
Recipe Variations
- add pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds or sunflower seeds for extra fats and texture
- use any vegetables you like for roasting: sweet potato, potato, zucchini, bell peppers, onion, garlic, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, carrot mushroom etc.
More Lentil Recipes
- Roasted Vegetable Lentil Salad
- Vegan Lentil Kale Salad
- Vegan Lentil Tacos
- Vegan Lentil Taco Salad
- Lentil Marinara Bowls
Curried Lentil Bowl
Ingredients
For the Curried Lentils
- 1 cup uncooked red lentils
- 1/2 cup light coconut milk
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp coconut sugar or maple syrup
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Bowls
- 4 carrots, approx. 2 heaping cups
- 2 cups chopped zucchini
- 1 white onion, spiced, approx. 2 cups
- 1 medium-sized sweet potato, chopped, approx. 2 heaping cups
- salt and pepper
- 8 handfuls de-stemmed and chopped kale, approx. 8 cups
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Chop all the veggies and place on 2 silicone mat or parchment paper-lined baking trays in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then roast for 30-40 minutes until tender.
- While the veggies are roasting, bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Once boiling, add the red lentils, reduce heat to low, cover and lightly simmer for 12-15 minutes until the lentils are tender. Leave the pot on the element but turn the heat off. Stir in the coconut milk and spices and let sit to thicken until the veggies are done.
- Prepare the kale by tearing the leaves away from the thick stems and then chopping into bite-sized pieces. Add all the kale to a large skillet with a few splashes of water and cook for 5-6 minutes until dark green and softened.
- Divide the roasted veggies, curried lentils and kale into 4 servings. Enjoy right away or store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Sorry to be that person, but in the section on veggies you say that you roasted everything in your recipe at 425 degrees, but in the Recipe section you say 400. Which set of instructions should we use? Thanks.
400.
Hi there! This recipe looks delicious, but I notice that you don’t mention what to do with the excess water used to cook the red lentils. Even if some of it boiled off, it’ll still be soupy, especially after you add the coconut milk. Do you pour it off?
There shouldn’t really be any excess water after cooking the lentils but if there is, yes you can drain it off before adding the coconut milk. Thanks!
This looks so delicious!
I’m making this tomorrow & wanted to clarify the cooking temperature. In the blog post you said 425, but in the instructions you said 400. If you could please clarify, I would greatly appreciate it!ย
400 F works! Thanks.
Made this again today and added 1/2 a can of pumpkin to the curried lentils without anyone in the family noticing! Total win!
Haha, great idea!! Thanks for the tip!
YUM – totally comforting. Loved this bowl – EASY peasy lentils too! Family ate it up! Your recipes ALWAYS work over here!
So happy to hear it, Samantha! I appreciate the review!
Hey! I made this tonight and it was delicious. Quick question- is there meant to be a tahini dressing on this? You mention tahini in the intro but it is nowhere to be found in the actual recipe. I did improvise a little- cut the tahini with water and lemon juice and it worked out great, but Iโm curious as to your recommendation . Cheers!
Hi! Sorry, that’s a mistake oops. This recipe doesn’t include tahini but you could add it if you like. I’d probably do my miso tahini sauce and drizzle it over the roasted veggies. Glad you enjoyed it either way! I’ll correct that mistake, thanks for pointing it out!
How much zucchini would you use?
About 1/2 cup per bowl or 2 cups total, doesn’t have to be exact. Enjoy!
I made the lentil curry bowl recipe tonight and it was so easy. The meal was satisfying and hearty and my husband loved it. Plus, It made enough for lunch tomorrow!
That’s wonderful, Lisa! So happy you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for the review!
Absolutely delicious. We have made this a few times now. So easy too.
It was absolutely beautiful the next day too.
So glad you enjoyed it! The leftovers are awesome for sure.