Slow Cooked Lentil Stew
A slow cooked red lentil stew is a warming dish for a cold evening. It’s something you can pair with some freshly steamed rice and curl up and just enjoy.
Whilst lentils can be cooked in many different ways, having the thick and creamy consistency with a slow cook is particularly nice. It goes really well with some steamed rice, or some toasted bread or roti.
| Ingredient | Quantity |
| Red Lentils | 2 cups |
| Tomato | 1 |
| Onions | 2 |
| Dried Chilli-Whole | 5 |
| Bay Leave | 1 |
| Curry Leaves | 6-7 |
| Mustard Seeds | ¼ Tablespoon |
| Cumin Seeds | ¼ Tablespoon |
| Turmeric | ¼ Tablespoon |
| Masala | ¼ Tablespoon |
| Veggie Stock | 3 Cups |
| Coconut Milk | 1 Cup |
| Olive Oil | 3 Tablespoon |
Wash red lentils for 3 times or more till the water run clear. Washing them helps you get rid of the coating on the lentils which can later cause foaming.
I used shallots and onions here but you can just use onions. Thinly slice the onions, chop the tomatoes. In the pressure cooker, add red lentil, add 1 onions chopped, tomato and veggie stock.
Mix it with the ladle, add ½ tablespoon of salt and set it to 40 min pressure cooking. While waiting for the pressure cooker to do the job for you, lets prepare tempering spices. In a small pan, add olive oil on low heat. When it is hot, add bay leaves, curry leaves, wait for a minute and add cumin and mustard seeds. Seeds will sizzle and jump around letting you know it is ready.
Set them aside, heat up the oil again, now add chopped onions, fry them for about 5 min till it gets transparent and somewhat crispy edges. Add whole chilies here , fry for about a minute, take it off from the heat and combine all spices. This will add up in the pressure cooker later.
I like taking the pressure out naturally so the lid came out clean after the time is up. Put the cooker in Sauté setting, mix it up with coconut milk, stir with the ladle as it gets poured. Add spice and onion mix fried.
This lentil stew is a bit thicker and creamer as it is cooked in the pressure cooker which I really enjoy. You can add it up on your rice or pair it up with bread or wrap as well.
Slow cooked lentil stew with company help – Mimi’s Laphet.
