Tomato and Lentil Curry
This is a hearty, bold, veggie-packed curry stew with lentils. It's vegan and good for you, too!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
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Do you ever feel like you need to do nothing for a while before you can muster up the strength to do anything? Sometimes I need to take relaxing to a whole new level—let the dishes pile up in the kitchen, forget about that recipe concept, and just laze around on my bed with the windows open. A pile of books on one side and Cookie on the other.
That’s what I did this weekend; I chose to stay in rather than go out and read cookbooks instead of cook. My only notable accomplishments included ruffling through all 600 beautiful pages of Nigel Slater’s Tender (Nigel, dear fellow, why so much cream?!), getting my money’s worth out of my Netflix account and baking up some of my famous dark chocolate-dipped macaroons to ship to a friend. It was just what I needed.
On Sunday, I was busy doing a whole lot of nothing and feeling totally unmotivated to cook this week’s Food Matters Project recipe. I blame the title: curried tomato soup with hard boiled eggs. I find hard-boiled eggs to be truly noxious and I wasn’t feeling soup. After reading through Mark Bittman’s write-up and recipe list, I wondered why he called it soup when it sounded more like a stew. Intrigued, I googled “makhani,” the Indian dish it’s based upon, and recognized it as one of the many vegetarian options I’ve enjoyed at Indian buffets (I generally despise buffets but Indian buffets are a major exception).
Through my research, I learned that makhani is often served with black lentils (dal makhani), so I decided to add lentils for substance and give the recipe name a makeover: Tomato and Lentil Curry. While it’s certainly an improvement, I’m not sure any name could represent this bold and spicy, hearty dish in its full glory. Please give this dish a try and get back to me with your naming suggestions.
Other than adding black lentils (also called urad dal or beluga lentils) and some extra coconut milk, I stuck to the recipe, which you can find in its original form at Eats Well With Others. I just added one cup of rinsed black lentils to the pot once the liquids came to a boil, and extra coconut milk at the end. I served the curry over a bed of brown jasmine rice with a big slice of lime to squeeze on top. It’s definitely my most successful attempt at Indian cooking so far and I dare say it’s almost as good as the authentic dal makhani served at my beloved Indian buffets.
Ingredients of note include an amazing kashmiri curry blend provided by Native Roots Market. Locals, if you haven’t, you really must check out their spice bar! They have custom spice blends for sale and will hand mix any blend your heart desires.
I also used Pomi brand tomatoes because Pomi is the only brand I’ve found that uses BPA-free packaging.
Tomato and Lentil Curry
This is a hearty, bold, veggie-packed curry stew with lentils. It’s vegan and good for you, too! Recipe yields 4 to 6 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow or white onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 jalapeño pepper, minced
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Pinch of sugar
- 2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 cup black beluga lentils or regular green/brown lentils, picked over for debris and rinsed
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup light coconut milk, plus more for garnish
- 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 1 small cauliflower, cored and roughly chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Cooked brown jasmine or long-grain rice, for serving (optional)
- Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Warm the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeño. Cook until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the curry powder, cumin, and sugar. Cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the potatoes and carrot and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring for a minute or two. Add the lentils, broth, coconut milk and tomatoes with their liquid. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat so the mixture bubbles gently. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and carrots are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Add the cauliflower and adjust the heat so that the mixture bubbles gently. Cook until all of the vegetables are tender, about 15 more minutes. Serve in bowls with an extra drizzle of coconut milk, chopped cilantro, and a wedge of lime.
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was DELICIOUS! Loved the cauliflower addition. Will definitely make again soon.
Thank you for sharing, Julia!
This dish is absolutely amazing! We recently switched over to a more plant based diet and I pinned this recipe a few weeks ago, not even realizing it was yours. I bought your cookbook in the meantime (love!!!) & had to smile when I opened up my pinterest tonight to make this recipe and saw it was yours. :)
We all loved this recipe! So filling & so delicious. I added some garam masala seasoning too. This will be on rotation and so versatile!! Thank you!
I hope you enjoy my book, too! Thanks so much for your review, Cydnee.
Hi Kate, I bought a package of pre-cooked steamed lentils from Trader Joe’s and thought I’d make this recipe with them. But since the lentils are already cooked do you recommend that I cut down on the broth? Thanks!
Yes I could cut down the broth. You might only want 1-2 cups broth depending on your desired thickness.
This recipe was delicious! Since my lentils were pre-cooked I did cut down on the broth as suggested. I was about to cut out the cauliflower thinking there was too much going but was so happy that I didn’t. The cauliflower really drove up the flavor. It was so good that I plan to make it again this week.
I just made this lentil curry dish! I served it with quinoa. Thank you so much for this great recepie. It is healthy and really delicious!
You’re welcome, Andrea!
I made this recipe last night and it was delicious. The whole house is still smelling good this morning! The only change I made was substituting sweet potato for the Yukon gold potatoes (I don’t think we get those in Australia.) Amazing to get such great flavours from such simple, healthy ingredients.
Thank you, Amy! I’m glad you loved it.
I love this recipe. I made it two weeks ago and again today. Please do more Indian recipes!
Marvelous, Sherri! Thanks for sharing.
Great! Your recipes keep popping up for me, and so far all good.
(RIFFLING not “ruffling”! )
I made this for the first time today and it’s fabulous
I love trying your recipes and like all the others this turned out perfectly
I’m a vegetarian but my meat eating friends are loving your recipes too
Another one to go on the favourite meals
I’m going to try chickpeas instead of lentils next time for something different
Just delicious
Another fab recipe! Amazing flavours and we didn’t miss meat in the least! Thanks again for your wonderful website!
Any recommendations for veggies that work with this recipe other than cauliflower? There’s an allergy to cauliflower and broccoli in my family, but this recipe looks very delicious.
You could increase the other vegetables and omit, or replace with broccoli potentially?
Thanks! I added more carrots and potatoes and added a handful of button mushrooms at the end. The mushrooms worked very well with the recipe!
Well, i don’t have a better name for it, but it was delish!!
(I substituted sweet potato and fresh tomatoes).
Thanks for this recipe (and others!)
Anthony, from Australia.
Thank you for your review!
Yum, yum, yum! Lots of lime juice really makes this dish sing. Thanks, Kate (and Cookie)!
Loved this! Kate, you are helping me appreciate lentils! Between this, and your lentil soup recipe, I am hooked!
I’m happy to hear that, Joel! Thank you for your review.
We’ve made this recipe twice now. It’s a keeper! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Hi Kate. I am whole-food-plant-based, and I find your recipes quite fantastic. Now that this has hit, and restaurants have closed, I am doing more of my own food preparation at home. So far I have prepared your vegetarian chili and the hearty vegan lentil soup (both so delicious). I now want to try the tomato and lentil curry, but I am wondering if I can use water instead of the vegetable broth? In some of your other recipes vegetable broth and water are interchangeable.
Bob
So tasty! Added a bit of chilli powder for more of a kick.
Had to make some ingredient modifications due to available pantry supplies. Omitted jalapeños, cauliflower, and coconut milk. Tried to make up for it with a few extra carrots and potatoes. This recipe was still ABSOLUTELY delicious!!!! Satisfied all of my pregnancy Indian food cravings. Thank you Kate!! I have learned that I always need to make a double batch of whatever I cook from your blog because we love it and always want more the next day.
Made my own variation of this. Fresh cherry tomatoes, substituted chestnuts for potato & individual components of a curry powder. served with roti breads. very tasty
I really liked this! First I made it without coconut milk, because I was in the mood for something lighter, and aloo gobi is one of my favorite Indian dishes. It was good, especially with some store-bought naan. I think the lentils really add something to the cauliflower-potato mix. For leftovers I added some coconut milk and mixed it in before nuking. It was great this way too!
Will definitely make again. I will probably add an extra jalapeno or some cayenne next time, though.
Do you have to boil the lentils first before throwing them in the main pot?
Hi! No need to boil prior to adding them in step 2. I hope this helps!
So delicious! The cilantro and lime on top really make it. Thank you!
can I leave out the coconut milk? I have an aversion but the recipe sounds delish!
Hi! I would add a creamy milk if you can otherwise you will be missing something. This is really the best with coconut.
Totally delicious!
It’s made it to my list of favourite recipes.
I couldn’t find jalapeño the first time so I used a fresh red chili instead and it worked just fine.
I went with organic beluga lentils, which I soaked for a few hours prior to preparing the dish. They are perfect for this recipe :)
This is an excellent dish! However I don’t think the cooking time is correct. It took me 1 hour to have the carrots, potatoes and cauliflower tender!
This had a wonderful flavor and smelled amazing!
We are going to try to add cornstarch when we reheat leftovers.
Hi Kate,
I have your cookbook- I love it and primarily cook between your blog and book. I love all your recipes. Most of the reviews are from people who haven’t tried the recipe it appears …there is a lot of extra liquid left after cooking it’s more like a soup. I’ve never had an issue with any of your recipes but I’m stumped. I didn’t get a curry texture?? I make lots of curries and almost cook 90 percent from your recipes except when we eat fish. Any thoughts?
Hi Nicole, I’m sorry you didn’t have a great experience. I tested this several times and got the result showing in the pictures. Lentils can vary sometimes depending on their freshness and how they cook up.
Can the green /brown lentils be replaced with red ones as they are more easily digested?
Thank you
Hi, red ones tend to need less time and liquid. You can try it. I recommend following my How to Cook Lentils for reference. Let me know how it turns out for you!
First time making this recipe, it must be an older one! Maybe refurbish it and gain some new fans!
We had a few minor adjustments based on what we had in the pantry and ended up roasting cauliflower with salt and curry seasoning and adding to the finished bowl. Our pot wasn’t big enough for the doubled recipe! Subbed sweet potatoes for white and used some curry paste + powder. Loved it so much, very happy to have leftovers!
Another excellent dish, Kate! I adapted for Instant Pot, in case anyone else is interested: Followed steps 1, 2 and 3, just to saute and soften veggies – took about 5 minutes tops. Then after adding cauliflower, set to pressure 10 minutes and did quick release (it would have been fine at 8 I think). I then added some greens. Other changes according to what I had available were sweet potatoes not white, and added some red pepper. Used brown lentils and regular coconut milk. Hard to stop eating. Thank you!
I’m glad you loved it, Ellen! I appreciate your review.
I made this tonight and oh wow, it was sooooo good. The black lentils and the brown basmati rice I served it over really added some fabulous texture. I never had black lentils before. I really like them. Thank you for the great recipe!
I wasn’t overly impressed with this recipe. It lacked depth of flavor and wasn’t a hit with my family.
Hi Maggie, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love this recipe. I appreciate you sharing your feedback.
Amazing recipe!
I did it several times :-)
But 40 minutes’ cooking time is not sufficient. I had to leave it cook longer so that the cauliflower would be cooked enough.
Made this 3 times now. Quickly becoming a family favourite.
That’s great to hear, Marianne!
I don’t know how I have never come across this recipe on your site…what a treat! Hearty, healthy and absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much Kate!