I absolutely love this recipe for Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry. It’s full of fantastic flavor. It’s easy to put together. It cooks in a slow cooker. It makes the house smell really homey. And, as an added bonus, it’s healthy. I hope you like cauliflower, it’s the base of this recipe.

I’ve been making this recipe for about two years now. It’s one of my go to recipes when I know I won’t have time to cook. I place the cooked curry in wide mouth, quart Ball jars while hot and then screw the lids on. The lids will seal. When the jars are cool enough, I place them in the refrigerator. The unopened, refrigerated jars keep for quite sometime.

Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry

Makes 12 heaping 1 cup servings. Cooks 7-8 hours in slow cooker on low or 4-5 on high. I recommend low, if you have the time.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz red lentils, rinsed
• 1 large head of cauliflower cleaned and chopped
• 1 medium sized onion, diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 to 1.5 inches of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 green pepper diced
• 1 hot pepper of your choice, diced (I used a hot banana pepper frozen from last year’s harvest)
• 3-4 medium carrots cut in rounds or half rounds
• 3-4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 8 oz pack of mushrooms cleaned and sliced
• 2 tablespoons of red curry paste of your choice
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• Salt to taste. I don’t add any, but it’s up to you.
• 1 28 oz can of crushed or pureed tomatoes
• 1 cup of water, plus more for later
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

Directions:

• Prepare your onion, garlic and ginger as stated above.
• Chop all your vegetables to the specifications above.
• Add them to your slow cooker.
• Add in the rinsed red lentils.
• Next, add your spices including the red curry paste.
• Give everything a good stir.
• Add the tomatoes and water.
• Put the lid on and set the time to the cooking time of your choosing.
• About half way through, take the lid off, stir the mixture and add more liquid if you think it needs it. The curry should not be like soup, but it it should not be too dry either. It will stick and burn if it is too dry. Put the lid back on.
• About 15 minutes before the cooking time is up take the lid off and stir in the coconut milk.

Enjoy your curry over whatever you prefer: basmati rice,  brown rice, quinoa etc.I like it over cut green beans, but that’s just me.

Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

Please make sure that all of your ingredients are gluten free. Just because ingredients are listed  does not insinuate that they are gluten free. Please make sure you choose the appropriate ingredients for your audience of tasters. Kroger has a wonderful list on their website (71 pages) of all the gluten free items in their stores.