Welcome to WCW! Do check out WCW’s home at Tales of the Fairy Blogmother. Do you remember how, in my quest to eat more winter vegetables, I wanted to make this lovely recipe for Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes with Chard from the NYT, and got totally foiled because, of all things, Whole Foods was out of most types of lentils?
Ok, you likely don’t seeing as you are not traumatized like I am about WF letting me down, but I did make the Curried Lentils the following weekend and it is SO good, chockful of vegetables and lentils and flavor, and, added bonus, freezes and reheats beautifully. So, it’s absolutely perfect in my book – I froze a couple of containers and on weeks where it was Thursday and I needed a quick healthy meal but was out of produce since I hadn’t been to the store since Sunday, this became a go-to frozen meal!
One last note, I used red chard, and actually chopped the stems and added them in about 10 minutes before adding the chopped chard leaves – I figured, extra vitamins and veggies – it tastes great but the red stems are really red – you can see them clearly in the pictures below. Next time I think I will use green chard instead. I highly encourage you to do that with stems of chard after you devein and destem the leaves – they’re deliciously crunchy and just need a little more cooking time than the leaves.
Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes with Chard, from New York Times
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded if desired, then minced
4 to 5 cups vegetable broth as needed
2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into
1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups dried lentils
1 bay leaf
1 pound Swiss chard, center ribs removed, leaves thinly sliced (see note above regarding cooking stems)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/3 cup finely chopped tamari almonds, for garnish (optional), available in health food stores
1/4 cup chopped scallions, for garnish.
1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, garam masala, curry powder and jalapeño. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
2. Stir in 4 cups broth, sweet potatoes, lentils and bay leaf. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. (If lentils seem dry, add up to 1 cup stock, as needed. – Note, no need – if anything stir in 3.5 cups of broth and add the remaining half cup if the stew is a bit dry. Also I added the stems in at the twenty minute mark) Stir in chard and salt and pepper, and continue cooking until lentils are tender and chard is cooked, about 30 to 45 minutes total.
3. Just before serving, stir in cilantro, lime zest and juice. Spoon into a large, shallow serving dish. Garnish with almonds if desired and scallions.
Yield: 8 to 10 side-dish servings; 6 main-course servings. Note, I think this is more like 8 to 10 main-course servings. Picture by City Girl.
General Disclosures & Disclaimers
