Lumberjack Cafe’s lentil curry
Ingredients
100g Du Puy lentil (French lentil)
1 white onion
3 garlic gloves
1 bay leaf, dry
cauliflower
pumpkin
savoy cabbage
canola oil
1 can coconut milk (440ml)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 cinnamon quill
1 can chickpeas
salt
lemon
Method
Crispy chickpeas
Heat the oven to 220degC.
Spread the chickpeas on a clean kitchen towel, and rub gently until dry.
Spread the chickpeas on oven tray with baking paper . Drizzle with oil and salt and mix well. Bake for 10 minutes, then give the baking tray quick shake. Bake for 10 minutes more. Taste the chickpeas (carefully). If they are golden, but need to be crispier, bake for 3 minutes more.
Lentils
Boil the lentils in salted water together with the bay leaf and two garlic gloves. Not too soft, al dente like pasta. Strain and pick out bay leaf and garlic, set aside.
Curry sauce
Chop the onion and garlic, sweat together with the curry powder on medium heat till the onions are soft. Add coconut milk, turmeric, garam masala, cinnamon, a squeeze lemon juice.
Simmer on low heat for about half an hour. Add salt to taste.
Roast vegetables
Cut cauliflower, cabbage and pumpkin into chunky pieces. Oil the vegetables and season with salt.
Add turmeric powder to the cauliflower and garam masala to the pumpkin
Roast the vegetables separately in the oven at 170degC until they have bit of colour and are soft.
For serving
Warm up the lentils in the curry sauce, put in bowl and decorate with the roast vegetables and chickpeas.
Recipe requested by Janette Craigie, of Palmerston North. Recipe provided by Lumberjack Cafe in Owaka.
If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, Dunedin, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
