Easy Lentil Curry Recipe (with canned lentils)
This creamy and easy Lentil Curry is made with pantry staple ingredients such as canned lentils, canned pumpkin, and canned coconut milk. Quick and filling, this plant-based lentil curry is an easy and tasty meal option for a hectic schedule.
“Excellent recipe and very easy to change it up. I ended up using a whole can of coconut milk, added thinly diced carrot, diced zucchini, frozen peas and extra spinach. I also added a bit more spice. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!! My husband just couldn’t say enough about the flavour. Thank you for posting such a great recipe“
Cindy
If you are home-bound these days and managed to stock up on canned lentils or canned chickpeas, canned pumpkin and some coconut milk, you can easily whip up this lentil curry.
When it comes to canned coconut milk, not all cans of coconut milk are equal. My favorite is Chaokoh (this is not a sponsored post for it ~ I just love Chaokoh coconut milk products)
What’s on your agenda for dinner tonight?
On our dinner menu is this Easy Lentil Curry with a side of Love Island Season 6 (and nope, that’s not a spice mix)
My Insta has been blowing up with people raving about the TV show “Love Is Blind”. So, of course, I had to check out what all the fuss was about. But, ten minutes into it, I realized that show was just not for me when I got distracted thinking about food – specifically – what was I making for dinner!
However, after dinner, my daughter persuaded me to watch an episode of Love Island, and gosh darn it, I couldn’t turn my eyes away!
In the episode I watched, the girls were so sassy, and the boys were totally whipped. Watching those boys try to impress the girls was just pure entertainment. I ended up watching the rest of season 6 of Love Island with my daughter over the course of several dinners – including this lusciously creamy Lentil Curry ~ made with canned lentils!
How to make Easy Lentil Curry:
I started this curry off with what my mom calls the holy trinity of Sri Lankan recipes: onion, garlic and ginger.
I simply love the flavor a slightly caramelized onion infuses into a curry. So, I usually like to spend a few minutes making sure the onion I am using is sautéed tenderly until it begins to caramelize. Then I add in the ginger and garlic.
Very often, starting a curry with this base of a slightly caramelized onion sautéed with fresh ginger and garlic means I don’t have to use a whole lot of spices for me to get my curry fix.
The longest part of making this curry was sautéing the onion. After that, this curry can be made rather quickly.
I simply added in half a can of coconut milk, half a can of pure pumpkin puree, some water, some frozen spinach, coriander, smoked paprika, turmeric, and a can of lentils.
I usually prefer using dried lentils (like I’ve done in these lentil vada, lentil patties, and these lentil pancakes). But, as I had some cans of lentils in the back of my pantry, I figured this would be a good time to use them up.
By the way, don’t discard the other half of the canned coconut milk and pumpkin as you can use it to make this Cauliflower curry.
I used pumpkin in this curry in place of the tomato paste I often use because I was out of it and I didn’t feel like braving the crowds at stores this weekend.
This lusciously creamy, vegan, easy lentil curry is not only delicious and filling, but it is quite versatile too.
This curry is so versatile!
If you didn’t snag any canned lentils when you braved the stores but have chickpeas or any other canned or frozen bean on hand, use that.
If you don’t have pumpkin puree but have tomato paste, then sub that in.
If you don’t like spinach, leave it out or use frozen kale or collards instead.
If coconut milk isn’t your jam and you are not vegan, then go ahead and use cream or milk.
If you are looking for a lentil curry with pumpkin added in – then check this 10-ingredient, Pumpkin Lentil Curry out.
What to eat with this curry:
My daughter made some Sri Lankan Roti (using this recipe) to accompany this lentil curry. You can get your kids involved in making some roti or you can make this easy lentil curry tonight and serve it with some naan, turmeric quinoa, or rice pilaf. Either way, I sure hope you enjoy this lentil curry so much it has you licking your plate!
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 red onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1- inch piece of ginger
- 1/2 of a 13.5 oz can of coconut milk I used Chaokoh brand – so approximately 6.75 oz
- 1/2 of a 15 oz can 100% pure pumpkin puree I used Libby’s brand, so approximately 7.5 oz
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 15 oz can of lentils I used the simple truth brand for this recipe
- 4 tsp coriander
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 cup frozen spinach not thawed
- salt and pepper to taste
- cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Peel and chop red onion, garlic and ginger.
- Add oil to a pan over medium heat and add the chopped onion to it. Saute onion until it begins to slightly caramelize (about 15 minutes or so), stir often so onion doesn’t burn.
- Add in garlic and ginger and saute a couple more minutes.
- Then add in the pumpkin puree, coconut milk, water, coriander, smoked paprika, and turmeric and stir well.
- When all ingredients are well incorporated, add in the spinach and stir well.
- Then add in the lentils and stir well – letting curry cook about a minute or two more.
- Remove from the stove and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- When serving, garnish with chopped cilantro and enjoy with Sri Lankan roti, naan, turmeric quinoa, or rice pilaf.
Looks so comforting and tasty!
The timing on this one is perfect, Sashi! We’re all about recipes starting with canned beans/veggies/etc these days. The grocery stores up here are wiped out of everything else! (And mostly wiped out of canned stuff, too.) It’s crazy. This looks delicious, though! I’d love this for dinner while watching McMillion$. <–watch that next!
Hi
could you tell me the size of the cans for the coconut milk and pumpkin puree in this recipe? Thanks! Looking forward to trying it.
Hi Tricia, Thanks for stopping by my blog – the answer is 13.5 fl oz for the coconut milk ( Chaokoh brand ) and 15 oz for the 100% pure pumpkin puree – I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have.
In this recipe you mention using the leftover coconut milk and pumpkin puree in a recipe next week. Can you tell me what recipe that is. I just made this one last night and would love to try the next one.
thank you,
JoAnn
Hi JoAnn, thanks so much for reaching out. I am so glad to hear you liked this curry – it’s a favorite in our home. The recipe I referred to is this Cauiflower curry https://savoryspin.com/pumpkin-cauliflower-curry/ – I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
I made it with tomato puree and i didn’t use spinach or water. It turned out well 🙂 thanks for the recipe!
Love lentils! And they’re so good in curries. Great flavors in this one — thanks.
Thankyou for this recipe. It’s easy and yummy. I had it with home made low carb naan bread for breakfasts mainly. It’s a keeper!
I just made this and it’s AMAZING! Thank you so much!
I enjoyed this a lot! I added the spices I had: turmeric, curry, garam masala, ground coriander, black pepper. I didn’t have pumpkin, but did have some cauliflower rice that I had in the freezer….through it in with the rest. Delicious!
Love this recipe. Been making it for lunch for months, since covid forced me to work from home permanently. Tested several other lentil recipes and this is my favorite by far. Bake a piece of frozen Trader Joe’s garlic nan to enjoy along. Thanks a million for sharing!!
Hi I’m wondering how much tomato paste to sub instead of pumpkin purée. Thank you.
Excellent recipe and very easy to change it up. I ended up using a whole can of coconut milk, added thinly diced carrot, diced zucchini, frozen peas and extra spinach. I also added a bit more spice. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!! My husband just couldn’t say enough about the flavour. Thank you for posting such a great recipe
I just want to thank you for your incredibly kind words. Simply made my day, my whole week! Thanks so much! I am beyond thrilled you enjoyed this recipe! Hope ya have a delicious weekend!
I subbed some diced canned tomatoes and a couple tablespoons of tomato paste for the pumpkin because I didn’t have any. I used the juice from the tomatoes instead of water. I didn’t have frozen spinach but had frozen cauliflower in the freezer so threw that in. It was amazing. I was impressed with the flavour.
This recipe is amazing!! I subbed butternut squash for the pumpkin, and added garam masala and green beans and tomato paste. It was so filling, I could not finish my bowl. Love this! Going to buy lentils more often I think.