Lentil-Spinach Curry [vegan]

Hello everyone,

I hope you all are feeling great. In Germany the spring finally made an appearance and I couldn't be any happier about this. Anyway, I love veggies and really enjoy vegan food BUT fresh veggies and fruits (cabbage and apples excluded) can be quite expensive and especially in the winter (in Germany) there isn't sooo much variety (if you try to mainly buy local stuff). And as if that wouldn't be enough, than you buy fresh stuff but you're just not fast enough at eating it and schwups (another amazing German expression, which simply has no English equivalent- and good luck to all non-German human beings with pronouncing this!) the veggies are rotten. In this case you've just wasted food and money and this is something which isn't fun at all, is it? So my solution is: frozen vegetables (or fruits)! I know it's an obvious one but when I'm looking for recipes, I mainly find recipes with fresh stuff. Maybe it's only me or the student in me but I find it so hard to plan every meal of the week, because it can (and probably will) happen that the day comes and I bought food for a specific dish but I just don't want to eat it at this specific day. It might have been a long day at work, or I have cravings for something else, however I would have to probably still eat as it could be gross to eat the next day. Obviously I could buy everything right before I'll make it... Yeah nooo! I'd end up mostly buying unhealthy stuff. What I do is to plan a couple of meals in advance and I make sure, that I always have certain things in the house (e.g. frozen spinach, lentils, coconut milk & beans). When the day comes and I've nothing planed, I cook fast but healthy things and today I'll show you one of these ‘quickies‘ (actually my very favourite one). It's vegan, healthy, super fast to cook and last but sooo not least it's delicious. So let's start!

Today's piece of happiness:

All you need: (serves approx. 3-4 people)

1 coconut milk can (~400 ml) (full fat)

500 gr. spinach

350 gr. red lentils

Vinegar, salt, pepper, curry, chili sauce and sweet paprika to taste

1. Step:

Take your spinach out of the freezer, place it in a bowl and let it defrost a bit while you're cooking the lentils.

2. Step:

Cook the lentils, just follow the instructions on the package. If you don't have any: In general you put your red lentils into boiling water (1:2 -> 350 gr. lentils with 700 ml water) and let it cook for approx. 10 minutes. For this recipe they shouldn't be too 'ready' as they'll be cooked a little more later on.

3. Step:

If your spinach hasn't defrost a lot, put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes (It doesn't need to be completely defrosted but you also don't have any use for little spinach-icebergs). If you've done this place the spinach in the saucepan, which is big enough to fit in all the other ingredients in as well, and fry it a little (approx 2 minutes). Now add the lentil and fry both until most of the water (of the lentils and the spinach) is gone. Last but not least, add the coconut milk and let it simmer until everything is hot.

4. Step: (the final step.. Nananananaa..)

Nearly done and nearly ready to dig in another yummylicious piece of food!

The only thing left to do is the seasoning, from here on I really don't like to give you to many instructions. Personally, I love the heat and I prefer vinegar-sour food, so obviously I'd add quite a bit of curry, chili sauce and vinegar. Sooooo one last instruction for you: start with adding a little bit of everthing and then slowly add more and more of the spieces you like the most and always have a (little otherwise nothing will be left in the end) taste before you add more up to the point when your taste buds that it taste peferctly. To be fair, yes, it might take a little bit of experimenting in the beginning but it's totally worth it, because in the end YOU made a delicious and healthy meal. One more thing: the spieces which I listed above do fit nicely to this dish and I always use them for this recipe, however if you don't have all of them at home and don't have time or you simply don't want to buy them, that's perfectly fine as this recipe will still work and taste great without curtain spieces. Nevertheless if you don't want to use the vinegar I highly recommend to use another 'sour' ingredient (e.g. lemon juice).

I'm delighted to tell you: you have done it! Now go on and enjoy your selfmade piece of happiness ♥

Sending you happiness and a little bit of German early spring sunshine!