Hell Yeah It's Vegan!

I don’t know how the weather is where you live, but here in Watkins Glen, spring is being a real tease. I thought this year’s days of warm, comforting meals were over, but of course, Nature felt differently. It snowed this weekend, and not in the mood to fight it, I got in perfect cold-weather form and whipped up a pot of creamy curried coconut lentils.

I went vegan the year I moved into a vegan/vegetarian cooperative house. Though I was confident on the baking front, I had always been a little nervous about cooking for a crowd. We took turns cooking dinner in pairs for the house each night, so I had to learn quickly. There were definitely some botched entrees along the way, but in general I caught on pretty fast, and ended up with a handful of go-to recipes. We had shelves of cookbooks, including the heavily used How It All Vegan series. But over the years I lived there, I grew to hold the thick copy of Vegan Planet in high esteem. I’m not sure why this book isn’t more widely beloved. I certainly haven’t made a fraction of its 400 recipes, but it boasts several of my favorites, including this curried lentil dish that I made several times when we were low on fresh produce.

This was one of the first dishes I ever cooked that made me feel like I actually enjoyed cooking. It’s incredibly simple, and doesn’t require anything you aren’t likely to have on hand. The spices are present, but they aren’t overpowering, so it’s a sure crowd-pleaser, especially if you have picky eaters on hand. It’s also super easy to triple or quadruple, which is what I always did in my co-op. Eat as is or served over rice.

Creamy Curried Coconut Lentils

1 large yellow onion, cut into pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1″ fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp dry mustard
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp turmeric
3 c water
1¼ c brown lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 medium-sized carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into thin half-moons
¾ c green peas
¾ c coconut milk
½ c unsweetened shredded coconut
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a food processor, puree the onion, garlic, and ginger. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion puree, cover, and cook about five minutes to mellow the flavor, stirring a few times. Add the spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the water and lentils, cover, and and bring to a simmer. Simmer 10 minutes, then add carrots. Cook, covered, another 20-30 minutes, until lentils and carrots are tender. Add the peas, coconut milk, coconut, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer another 10 minutes to incorporate flavors. Scoop yourself a big, warm bowl of these lentils and get cozy.

Oh, by the way: it’s World Week for Animals in Laboratories. Huntingdon Life Sciences alone is responsible for the deaths of 500 puppies, kittens, monkeys, and other non-human animals every single day, performing unbelievably gruesome tortures in the name of “science.” And for what? So we can buy cosmetics and eat foods with cancer-causing additives. Please consider taking action this week in whatever way you are able.

Tags: beans, coconut

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 9:42 am and is filed under Entrees, Gluten-Free, Recipes, Vegan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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