Red Curry Lentils With Sweet Potatoes and Spinach

Red Curry Lentils With Sweet Potatoes and Spinach
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(13,573)
Notes
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In this vegetarian main inspired by Indian dal, lentils are cooked with an aromatic blend of Thai spices — fresh ginger, turmeric, red curry paste and chile — then simmered in coconut milk until fall-apart tender. Browning the sweet potatoes before cooking them with the lentils brings out their sweetness, balancing the heat from the chile and curry paste, while baby spinach tossed in just before serving adds fresh flavor. Serve over steamed white or brown rice, or with toasted flatbread on the side.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 3tablespoons olive oil
  • 1pound sweet potatoes (about 2 medium sweet potatoes), peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
  • 1medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 3tablespoons Thai red curry paste
  • 3garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 1(1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 1red chile, such as Fresno or serrano, halved, seeds and ribs removed, then minced
  • 1teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1cup red lentils, rinsed
  • 4cups low-sodium vegetable stock
  • 2teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1(13-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
  • 1(4- to 5-ounce) bag baby spinach
  • ½lime, juiced
  • Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
  • Toasted unsweetened coconut flakes, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

410 calories; 23 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 44 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 12 grams protein; 764 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a Dutch oven or pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high. Add the sweet potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the browned sweet potatoes to a plate and set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pot and set the heat to medium-low. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the curry paste, garlic, ginger, chile and turmeric, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

  3. Step 3

    Add the lentils, stock, salt and browned sweet potatoes to the pot and bring to a boil over high. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are just tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Add the coconut milk and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced and the lentils are creamy and falling apart, 15 to 20 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Add the spinach and stir until just wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lime juice and season with salt to taste.

  6. Step 6

    Divide among shallow bowls and top with cilantro and coconut flakes, if using.

Ratings

5 out of 5
13,573 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

@patricia Curry powder- Indian Curry paste- Thai Totally different flavors

To those of you who are fat phobic. Why buy lite coconut milk? You are simply paying for the extra water that was added to make it "lite". Buy whole coconut milk, dilute it with water to your taste and freeze the remaining milk for another use. It does freeze beautifully.

Really great meatless meal option! Added 4 oz. baby Bella mushrooms and substituted 1 Tbsp sriracha sauce for the chili. Also, upped the lime juice to a whole lime because there’s never a happy ending for half a lime in my kitchen.

I have found cubing the sweet potatoes then roasting them helps to keep their shape. I use this method for most of recipes which call for sweet potatoes, such as chili etc.

I made this in an instant pot. Browned the sweet potatoes in the IP using the sauté function, then cooked the onions in there too. Cooked the lentils and potatoes on high pressure for 12 minutes. Came out perfect.

1 t curry powder for 1 T curry paste -- and some cayenne if desired.

I think some of the discrepancies people are finding with liquid and cooking times may be by using red SPLIT lentils (which are red-orange in color) instead of red lentils (which are more brown in color). Red lentils take much more cooking time and liquid. Red split lentils will get mushier but should still be delicious!

This recipe was absolutely LEGIT. Sweet/salty/spicy. I live in the Dominican Republic where orange flesh sweet potatoes aren’t in supermarkets very often, so I subbed in Caribbean pumpkin, and French green lentils instead of red. It was superb.

Intensity of curry paste varies enormously—3 Tbs would be right for some brands and inedibly hot for others. Careful.

I absolutely loved this dish as did my family. I only used 3 cups of stock and dropped the coconut milk--yes, I used lite!--to 6 oz to avoid anything to soupy. It was so, so good and the light coconut milk dropped the weight watchers points by more than half. Don't be afraid--I'm serious--it was spectacular. I forgot the lime juice and the cilantro, and it was still *that* good. Next time, I won't be so impatient!

You can freeze it too!

This was the most delicious and satisfying meal that I have cooked in along time. However, I think 2 tsp of salt is way too much, both for taste and health. My low-sodium vegetable broth added enough. If you are not going for vegetarian, a tablespoon of fish sauce would be good - more flavor, half the sodium. I served it over jasmine rice.

Very tasty. Red lentils cook much more quickly than most other lentils. Therefore the timing of cooking the lentils is off. It didn’t take nearly as long as dictated in the recipe.

I love this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand, except for lentils, so I subbed a can of chickpeas and it turned out great. I found I need a little hit of red pepper flakes as my chili paste wasn't hot enough. Made it last night and had leftovers for lunch today - even better today as the flavors have time to blend.

Delicious but too much stock. I actually suspected that and cut the stock by 1 cup and when I added the Coconut Milk, it seemed too liquidy to me. But still delicious.

The grocery store only had white sweet potatoes, which was a stroke of luck. Way better than orange ones. I highly recommend!

100% worthy of 5 star rating!

This is an absolute staple in our house! Everyone loves it! My 3 year old isn't a soup/stew fan, but I spoon the sauce over rice and he gobbles it up!

1 1/2 c lentils

What is the best way to make it without being too spicy ??

Easy and fantastically good!

I love this soup! Like another person mentioned, the brand of Thai chile massively changes the heat. The last two batches were way too spicy - so much so that it was hard to enjoy. I used a different brand for the first time I made this soup and it was perfect.

If curry sauce is spice already omit pepper

This is a family favorite for my vegans. The only way I have improved upon it in a significant way is to “crack” the full fat coconut milk and add the paste to it for a few minutes add ginger and garlic to the “cracked” coconut milk for the last 20-30 seconds before moving ahead. Have also added red quinoa many times and it is different but good. Sometimes I add both. Enjoy—it’s a wonderful recipe. Thank you!

Unfortunately, in the US, at least, it's not possible to "crack" most coconut milk as they usually have a stabilizer in them.

This is a delicious dish and one of my favorite recipes from NYT Cooking - I've made it several times! I used a particularly spicy Thai curry paste, so I only used one tablespoon and added another can of coconut milk because the people I was cooking it for can't handle spice. The cooking time isn't nearly as long as it states here, which is great because usually it's the opposite!

Delicious!! I did roast the sweet potatoes first and sautéed some Bella mushrooms which I added while it was simmering. Enjoyed it over some coconut Basmati rice. This will definitely be in the rotation.

Tasty, satisfying dish! As per reviews, I proceeded cautiously with salt. Since I used regular vegetable broth, I skipped the salt entirely-perfect! Some reviewers thought it too watery; I cooked mine in a cast-iron skillet leaving the broth and coconut milk the same. The skillet reduced the liquid nicely. Finally, as to the spice, I thought Mae Ploy Red Curry Paste-would be very hot at 3 Tbsp, so I used half Thai Kitchen Curry Paste and half Mae Ploy and 1 mild red chili. It was great! Thanks!

Does not need all the cooking time noted. Lentils were fully cooked within 10 minutes for me. Only added 1 can of coconut milk as well. Otherwise would have been too soupy

This was delicious! I didn't have spinach but added a yellow pepper. Otherwise made as is. I am usually suspicious of browning potatoes but I left them on for a good long while to get nice and brown and it came out great and didn't disintegrate too much. I used Aroy-D brand red curry paste and it was a enough heat but not crazy like some curry pastes. I think next time I would maybe up the ratio of lentils.

Great flavor, but the only red lentils I could find came in 2 pound bags, so I had to find other uses

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