food adventure: vegetarian curry

So many of you liked my veg chilli recipe that I thought I would post a few more veg recipes - cue my surprised face, I once made a coffee cake that could be used as a frisbee and I regularly almost burn the house down making POPCORN. My previous failures aside, there are definitely a sad lack of yummy and nutritious vegetarian recipes. I think a lot of people don't understand the need for a solid protein in a vegetarian meal, I'm afraid vegetables alone don't cut it.

I got this recipe from Woolies' Taste Magazine: 

Ingredients:
1 butternut
2 cloves crushed garlic
3 chopped shallots (or one red onion, we all know my penchant for red onion)
1 tbsp butter
Olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder
4 fresh curry leaves
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup vegetable stock
1 cup red lentils

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Then peel and cut the butternut into bite-sized cubes (this will be a mission but trust me, WORTH IT!). Or if you are feeling lazy, buy a bag of pre-cut butternut cubes.
2. Toss with olive oil and crushed garlic - I crushed mine in my beloved granite pestle and mortar - the best investment if you plan on becoming a better cook.
3. Roast for 40 minutes, or less if your oven is a Smeg. I wish.
4. Drizzle some olive oil and a tiny bit of butter in a pan and chuck in the chopped shallots/red onion. Soften for 5 mins, then stir in the curry powder and fresh curry leaves. The original recipe says cook for a further 2 mins, but mine caught a bit (even in the epic Le Creuset pot) so keep a beady eye on it.
5. Add the coconut milk (here I put in a whole tin, because what am I to do with the half cup of coconut milk that is left wonderful people of Taste magazine?), vege stock and red lentils and gently simmer for 10-15 mins, or until the lentils are cooked.
6. Put a few cubes of roasted, garlicky butternut (which is delicious on it's own by the way) on a plate and spoon over the lentil curry mixture.

This is the first time I've cooked with fresh curry leaves, and they have a wonderfully deep spicy flavour without all the heat you often get when just using curry powder. I am also usually far too lazy to buy dried lentils, but these cooked quickly and are much cheaper than buying the tinned kind.

Happy (healthy) cooking!