This red lentil curry recipe is delicious and a great main along with rice or a good addition to a lineup of curries for dinner. I prefer to eat over rice but this curry is perfect with naan or flatbread. Freezer friendly and make-ahead friendly.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Healthy and filling: This recipe is high in protein and fiber along with being full of turmeric, ginger, and garlic which are wonderful when you feel like you need a health boost.
- Quick and easy: This recipe is ready in under 30 minutes, making it a great weeknight dinner or easy side dish.
- Vegan/dairy-free option: Red lentil curry is easy to make vegan either by using vegan butter or oil instead of regular butter and omitting or substituing the yogurt at the end with dairy-free. Everything else is already vegan!
- Simple ingredients: Using readily available and only a few ingredients, this recipe may not even require a trip to the grocery store.
Types of Lentils
We are using whole red lentils in this recipe but there are many types of lentils out there. When you start looking at all of the lentils, peas, and beans that are used in Indian cooking, you will find dozens of crazy varieties – all with their own unique flavours and texture.
These are some of the most common you will find in your grocery store:
Red Lentils: Sweet and earthy. Cooks swiftly within 15-20 minutes and tends to break down and become creamy as it cooks, making it perfect for dal or thickening soups.
Brown Lentils: The earthiest of the lentils, tends to take 20-40 minutes to cook depending on variety. Best used in soups and vegan recipes to replace “meat”. Tends to retain its texture when cooked making it a good choice in shephard’s pie.
Green Lentils: These tend to take the longest to cook at 45-60 minutes. These lentils will retain their shape once cooked. Green lentils tend to be more expensive than red and brown.
Ingredients Needed for Red Lentil Curry:
- Dry Whole Red Lentils: Split lentils cook faster and become mushy, so whole is best. Red lentils cook in 20 minutes or less and have a sweet, earthy flavour and become creamy once cooked.
- Fine Sea Salt: Salt is key to bringing out the delicious flavours in this dish.
- Indian Chili Powder: Indian chili powders vary in spice levels, so find a mild one you like and add more spice if needed through other chilis. Regular chili powder is okay, but typically has other ingredients added and isn’t straight chili powder.
- Ground Turmeric: Fresh turmeric is hard to come by, but ground turmeric is a common ingredient in Indian food and is most likely already in your cupboard.
- Butter: Key to making this dish even creamier and more flavourful, but can easily be substituted with non-dairy butter or oil.
- Onion: Yellow onions are the most commonly used, but red could be substituted here.
- Garlic: Fresh or 1/3 of the volume dried. Both are delicious
- Ginger: Fresh or 1/3 of the volume dried. Both are delicious
- Tomato: 1 large tomato, finely chopped, breaks down into the curry and adds much needed acidity and flavour.
- Garam Masala: a popular spice mix – feel free to omit or substitute some cumin or coriander powder if you don’t have it.
- Cream or Yogurt: Do not use milk or a light cream, heavy or full cream or yogurt. I have used greek yogurt here, but if you use too much it will affect the flavour.
- Fresh Cilantro: for serving – totally optional but adds a lovely fresh punch of flavour
- Lemons: Fresh lemon juice on any dish will instantly elevate it. Give it a try!
To Prepare Red Lentil Curry (Masoor Dal)
In a large saucepan with a lid, bring the water, lentils, salt, turmeric, and chili powder to a gentle simmer. Cover and reduce heat to lowest setting for 20 minutes. If preparing rice, start now.
Once the lentils are softened and the water has been absorbed, turn off the heat and set aside until the rest of the dish is ready.
In a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted and bubbling lightly, add the diced onion. Cook until lightly golden brown and beginning to bubble (about 7 minutes). Once the onions reach this stage, add the garlic and ginger and stir. Cook for 1 minute.
Add the chopped tomato and its juices to the onion mixture. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. The colour of the onions will begin to take on the colour of the tomato and turn orange and the butter will begin to separate and bubble again.
Once the lentils are cooked and the onion-tomato mixture is done, combine them both in the larger saucepan. Add the garam masala and yogurt, mixing well before serving with rice, naan, or roti (or all of the above!)
Looking for more Vegan Indian recipes?
- Aloo Gobi: Authentic Indian Potato and Cauliflower Curry
- The Best Homemade Vegan Garlic Naan
- Chettinad Chicken Curry
- Indian Mango “Chicken” Curry with Basmati Rice
Easy Red Lentil Curry | Masoor Dal
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry red lentils, not split
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp Indian chili powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3 cups water
- 3 tbsp butter*
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 tbsp garlic**, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger**, minced
- 1 large tomato, finely chopped
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1-2 tbsp cream or yogurt*
- fresh cilantro, for serving
- fresh lemons, sliced for serving
Directions
- In a large saucepan with a lid, bring the water, lentils, salt, turmeric, and chili powder to a gentle simmer. Cover and reduce heat to lowest setting for 20 minutes. If preparing rice, start now.
- Once the lentils are softened and the water has been absorbed, turn off the heat and set aside until the rest of the dish is ready.
- In a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted and bubbling lightly, add the diced onion. Cook until lightly golden brown and beginning to bubble (about 7 minutes). Once the onions reach this stage, add the garlic and ginger and stir. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the chopped tomato and its juices to the onion mixture. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. The colour of the onions will begin to take on the colour of the tomato and turn orange and the butter will begin to separate and bubble again.
- Once the lentils are cooked and the onion-tomato mixture is done, combine them both in the larger saucepan. Add the garam masala and yogurt, mixing well before serving.
- Serve with additional yogurt to taste and fresh cilantro over fresh basmati rice or alongside naan/flatbread.
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