I have a culinary confession to make – I never had curry until my late 20s. How is that possible? I guess I’ll chalk that up to living in small Midwestern towns.
In Chicago, my husband and I had a couple of friends who were from Malaysia originally and basically grew up on curry. During the weekends, we would take turns cooking. When it was their turn, it was always curry. I had to admit that it smelled heavenly. But then I would watch the guys start sweating as they ate more and more – and I mean pouring sweat down their faces and necks, noses running, eyes tearing and red – and I couldn’t understand how they found so much pleasure in something that looked like it caused so much pain.
Finally, Raj decided it was time to introduce me to curry. He started by making me a separate batch from the guys’ with a small amount of curry. Every weekend he would slowly increase the amount of curry until eventually I could take as much heat as the guys – maybe even more!
This recipe is not one of those melt-your-face-off curries, but much more like what I started out with. It’s very mild and on the sweet side. And serving it over rice perfumed with the slightest hint of cilantro and lime makes this something special you’ll want to serve your guests. The prep time on this is minimal and it’s ready to serve in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients (serves 6 – 8)
2 cups masoor dal (split red lentils)
3 cups water
1 medium sweet onion – diced
½ c. diced carrot
½ c. frozen sweet peas
½ c. diced tomato
1 tbsp. finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp. curry powder
fresh lime juice
fresh chopped cilantro
salt to taste
basmati or jasmine rice (prepared per package instructions)
Directions
- Saute onion and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.
- Add lentils, water, carrots, tomato and curry powder. Bring to a full boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 25 minutes.
- Prepare rice per package instructions.
- Add peas to lentils and simmer another 5 minutes. Salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon assuming curry powder is unsalted).
- When rice is finished cooking, squeeze in the juice of one lime and a handful of chopped cilantro.
- To serve, place a bed of rice in a serving dish and create a crater in the center. Spoon lentil mixture over rice and serve hot immediately.
cheri says
This looks really good Amy, we love curry around here. Will be making this soon. Just pinned.
Amy says
Thanks for the pin, Cheri!