Curried Lentils and Rice

If you guys have been following my blog, you know that we are trying to eat a vegetarian meal at least once a week. I made this last week, and it is one of the few meatless meals that got the "you can make this again" approval from both Jer and I, so I thought I'd share, in case you're looking for a pretty good (and cheap!) meatless meal.

Curried Lentils and Rice

Cook dried lentils first.

1 Cup dried brown lentils
2 1/2 cups water
2 bullion cubes (chicken, beef or vegetable - I used chicken because that's what I have, but probably should have used vegetable, right?) :)
1 tsp salt (I would omit this, or at least cut it back a lot, because the bullion cubes make it salty enough)

Put all above ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 min.

Then you'll need:

1/4 cup butter
1 onion (chopped) (I omitted this and just used onion powder)
4 carrots (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tsp. salt (again, I would use less salt)
2 Tbsp. curry powder
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Saute butter, onion, carrots and garlic
Add the salt and curry powder for just a moment
Add cooked lentils and lemon juice and stir all together
Cook until heated through

Serve over brown rice (or white, if you prefer)

Hamburger Curry (Kima)

This is a recipe that my mom made alot when I was growing up. She had a friend that grew up as an MK in India and taught her how to make "real" curry, but it was a little time consuming, so she came up with this recipe as an easier alternative. You can adjust the curry seasoning to your taste if you like it more or less spicy.

1 lb. ground beef (I usually just use 3/4 of a lb.)
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
8 oz. can tomato sauce + 1 can of water
1 capful Curry Powder
Dash each of Ginger, Turmeric, Cinnamon
Veggies of your choosing - I usually add frozen peas or green beans, also fresh zucchini is really good and it is almost in season around here, or any other veggies (frozen or fresh) that you like.
Pita pockets, rice and plain yogurt

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet with salt, pepper and onion powder (or diced onions, but we don't like those at our house) :)
Drain off extra fat and add the tomato sauce and water, potatoes and other veggies (not the frozen ones yet), curry powder and a dash each of ginger, turmeric and cinnamon.
Simmer until potatoes/veggies are cooked and flavors have melded together.
Add frozen peas or beans or other frozen veggies and heat through.

Serve with pita pockets or rice, or both, and plain yogurt if desired to cut the spiciness. We usually eat it by putting rice in the bottom of the pita pocket and the curry on the top and eating it like a Curry Pocket.