Meatless Friday: Curried Lentils with Roasted Sweet Potato

Our Meatless Friday recipe today comes from Esther Gefroh, who blogs at A Catholic Mom in Hawaii.

This simple recipe is inexpensive to make and easy to prepare. Start the roasted sweet potatoes first!

Curried Lentils

1 cup uncooked brown lentils (washed, picked over and cooked)
Approximately 3 to 4 cups cooked brown rice (preferably cold and sitting in refrigerator a few days)
½ cup to one cup chopped fresh kale (or frozen kale that has been thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture)
1 large yellow onion, sliced thinly
3 large garlic cloves, minced
5 to 10 curry leaves if available or 1 tablespoon prepared powered curry
3 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
A large pinch of crushed red pepper
½ to 1 teaspoon of cumin

Heat a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the oil.  Add the garlic and onion slices.  Cook for approximately 2 minutes.  Add the curry leaves.  Fry the curry leaves until brown and aromatic (or add the curry powder at this point).  Add the crushed red pepper, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.  Add the cold rice and fry for two or three minutes.  Add the kale.  Continue frying for approximately 3 to 5 minutes or so. Add the drained, cooked lentils and cook for an additional 3 minutes.   Add the roasted sweet potatoes on top of the curried lentil rice.

You can serve four people as a main dish or more as a side dish.

Roasted Sweet Potato

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3 medium Okinawan sweet potato (or yam), washed, dried and cut into small cubes
3 garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl and place in a shallow baking pan. Roast the sweet potatoes for approximately ½ hour or until a fork goes through the sweet potato cube.  Set aside.

Copyright 2014 Esther Gefroh