What's For Dinner? Yellow Lentil Curry

Sometimes a good home cooked meal is what you need to wash away city life. I have been enjoying dal or lentil curry dishes at Indian restaurants and wondered if I could make the same thing at home. After finding a recipe online I figured why not give it a try.

The above ingredients are a mix of ones I have found in Korea and those I have brought with me from a recent trip back home (turmeric, curry powder and cumin). The lentils were purchased online from nicedeli.com.

The cilantro, or coriandar, however took quite a feat to find here. I thought my local Homeplus would have some, but no. Then I ventured to the fancy-pants Lotte department store grocery section, but no. Then while at COEX recently, I figured why not give the Hyundai department store a try. Thankfully they had a bushel full packed into a plastic box for just 2,100 Won.

List of ingredients needed:

• 250 g (1 cup) red or yellow lentils
• 1 tbsp olive oil for cooking
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1x3 cm piece fresh ginger peeled & finely grated (for this I used packaged chopped up ginger...about a tiny teaspoon)
• 2 tsp ground corainder
• 1 cup coriander roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3 1/2 cups veggie stock (I didn't have this...so I used chicken stock instead..still looking for the veggie stock)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• S & P to choice

How it was made:

1. I first chopped up all the veggies and got out the necessary spices and such.
2. The directions called for me to rinse the red lentils till the water ran clear, but I skipped this as I was hungry and lazy.
3. I sauteed the onions on med. heat with the garlic for about 7 minutes or till things turned clear and soft.
4. Afterwards, I added ginger, coriander (fine particles), cumin, turmeric & chili powder.
5. Stirred for a minute and then poured in the lentils and stock. Cover and bring to a simmer.
6. After simmering uncover and leave simmering for 20-25 minutes. Wait till the lentils are soft and thicken.
7. Season with the S & P, along with the remaining coriander and lemon juice.

The results were quite good with a nice zing of the lemon and a good feel in the spices. Although, I need to figure out the right setting to let it simmer longer as the lentils weren't soft all the way.

Overall, a good meal to throw into the usual mix of things and something I am happy I put together.