A solution to swimming in carrots- Red Lentil and Carrot curry

I have 5 bags of carrots in the fridge at home because there seems to be a surplus at school and they were going out of date.  I've been eating carrot batons and grating it in Tuna Mayonnaise but wanted to do something cooked with the carrots.  You might ask if other people could use them too but people HAVE been taking bags, but annoyingly, the carrots started to turn black so someone dumped three bags in the bin. I fished them out because I know the black is only surface level and you peel it off in the first layer of peel (I have extensive experience of surplus school carrots in the last year)

Luckily, during my search for a 20minute lentil curry in a hurry which I heard mention of in someone's Instagram post, I found this Abel and Cole recipe https://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/red-lentil-curry-in-a-hurry which uses carrots as a main ingredient! "Great!"  I thought, "That'll get rid of a lot of carrots!!!"

It's very unusual for me to try a new recipe- I'm a throw veg in a pan, tray, kind of cook and I don't really follow recipes but this one looked easy.

Ingredients

• A few glugs of olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• A mug of finely diced carrots, butternut squash or celery (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ½ red or green chilli, finely chopped*
• 2cm chunk of fresh ginger, finely grated
• ½ mug of red lentils
• 1 tsp cumin (ground or seeds)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• A pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1 mugof water
• A good pinch of sea salt
• A few handfuls of leafy seasonal greens and/or diced or halved tomatoes
• 1 lemon or lime

Method

1.Heat a splash of oil in a hot lidded pan. Add the onion and carrot or celery, if using. Sizzle till tender.

2.Swirl in the garlic, chilli and ginger. Cook till just softened. Top up with oil as and when needed.

3.Add the lentils and spices. Toast for a minute, folding everything together.

4.Add a pinch of salt and the water. Let it sizzle up. Pop a lid on. Turn the heat down. Simmer for 10mins, or until the water is absorbed. Keep an eye on it and top up if needed.

5.Once the lentils are tender, gloss with oil, fold in your green leaves or tomatoes till softened and warmed through. Taste. Adjust seasoning as needed. Finish with lemon or lime juice and zest.

The good thing about this recipe was that I had everything in the house already and it used up a few things I had a surfeit of- carrots, obviously, tomatoes, lentils, onions, limes and some Pak choi that really needed eating.


CBC was excited I was making a new recipe and seemed to enjoy it, saying, "How many limes did you use in this?". He was surprised when I said only 1-but nodded sagely when I said I'd used the zest also.  We had left over rice and Broccoli from Monday's meal so it was a useful way to use up that also.
There's some for dinner before orchestra tomorrow so hurrah!

I suspect I may be making this a few more times in the next few weeks as I work my way through those carrots- or back to Carrot and butterbean soup!

Do let me know if you give this a try. It's completely vegan and I believe, Dairy and Gluten free!

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