This easy vegan sweet potato and lentil curry (also known as dal) is filling, hearty and packs a punch in flavour.
Best of all it's made in under 30 minutes, so a perfect mid-week meal option when time is short. Delicious served with homemade naan bread and mango chutney.
I love quick and healthy vegan dinners like this. It's dal like in texture, and keeps those tummies nice and full, stopping those naughty evening fridge raids that several members of my family are guilty of (naming no names 😂)!
Have you seen my creamy courgette curry recipe? Another delicious meat-free curry to try!
Jump to:
✔️ Why should you try it?
- Quick and easy to make
- Vegan friendly
- Leftovers can be frozen or reheated the next day
🥘 Ingredients
To make this simple red lentil and sweet potato curry you will need;
- Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon is needed to fry the onion mixture.
- Red Onion - I've used red onion in this recipe but you could use a normal onion if you prefer.
- Garlic - 2 cloves, but if you like things garlicky then double the quantity.
- Ginger - a 3cm piece of ginger (finely chopped) gives a lovely warmth to the dish.
- Chilli Powder - I only use 1 teaspoon of mild chilli powder but if you like things spicy double the quantity and use a hot chilli powder.
- Turmeric - gives the curry it's lovely yellowy hue.
- Cumin - ground cumin but feel free to use cumin seeds instead.
- Garam Masala - gives the dish that authentic Indian flavour.
- Sweet Potatoes - 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes. Alternatively use white potatoes.
- Red Lentils - helps to bulk out the curry and keep tummies full.
- Vegetable Stock - I make a stock using stock pots which I find have more flavour than cubes.
- Spinach - I always keep a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer, so that is what I've used for this recipe. I like to leave the spinach out to defrost for a couple of hours before making the curry but if you forget you can quickly defrost it in the microwave. Alternatively use fresh spinach.
- Coriander - gives the curry a lovely fresh and fragrant flavour.
🔪 Instructions
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: Heat the oil in a shallow casserole and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until softened (about 3-4 minutes). Add the spices and cook for a further 1 minute.
Two: Add the peeled and cubed sweet potato, red lentils and vegetable stock, bring to a simmer then cover with a lid, turn the heat down and cook for 20 minutes.
Three: After 20 minutes the stock should be absorbed and sweet potato and lentils tender.
Four: Finally, add the defrosted spinach cubes (or use fresh spinach if you prefer) and stir through until it's wilted. Serve with chopped coriander.
🍴 Serving suggestions
I like to serve this vegan dal curry with homemade naan bread and mango chutney. If the kids are really hungry I might make some homemade pilau rice too.
📖 Variations
- Add more veggies to the curry. Chopped peppers, aubergine or courgette would all work well.
- Make it creamy by adding half a tin of coconut milk.
- Sprinkle over toasted cashew nuts at the end of cooking for extra texture.
- Make it spicier by doubling the amount of chilli powder.
- Add a can of drained chickpeas for added protein.
🥡 Storage
The lentil curry will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days in a sealed container. Reheat in the microwave until piping hot. Alternatively the curry can be frozen for up to 3 months.
❓ FAQS
Lentils (red, brown or green) are full of protein, fibre, iron and are really low in fat. Eating just one portion a day can significantly reduce 'bad' cholesterol in your body.
A curry made with a base of lentils is traditionally called dal (which is also spelt daal, dahl or dhal).
😋Related recipes
Some more curry recipes you might like to try;
- Creamy Chickpea and Spinach Curry
- Fruity Mango Chutney Chicken Curry
- Halloumi and Cauliflower Curry
- Keema Matar
- Cauliflower and Lentil Curry
- Sweet Potato and Halloumi Curry
Recipe
Sweet Potato and Lentil Curry
Equipment
- Kitchen Scales
- Chopping Board
- Knife
- Shallow Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Red Onion finely chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
- 3 cm Fresh Ginger peeled and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Chilli Powder
- 2 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1½ teaspoon Turmeric
- 1½ teaspoon Cumin
- 2 Sweet Potatoes peeled and cubed into 2cm dice
- 250 g Red Lentils
- 600 ml Vegetable Stock
- 175 g Frozen Spinach defrosted
- 2 tablespoon Coriander chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until soft (about 4 minutes or so).
- Add the spices and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the cubed sweet potato, lentils and stock and bring to a simmer. Put a lid on the pan, turn down the heat and cook for 20 minutes. Check after 10 minutes and add more boiling water from the kettle if it's looking a bit dry.
- Add the spinach and warm through. Season and serve with chopped coriander.
Notes
I'm linking this recipe up to #CookBlogShare which this week is hosted by Curly's Cooking.
Kat (The Baking Explorer)
This is one of my fave kind of meals. Filling, delicious and using store cupboard ingredients. And healthy too!
Cat | Curly's Cooking
What a lovely, healthy meal packed full of flavour. I love a veggie curry. Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare.
nate
hearty, healthy, delicious, and low-effort. makes great leftovers too
Crease
Thank you for the idea!! Used what we had on hand (baking potato, bo veggie broth, so did water+coconut milk!!) and this is now going into my rotation of meals!