Hello there lovely people – I hope you’re all doing really well!

If you’re on the look out for an easy one pot meal, that is hearty, healthy, warming, easy to make and doesn’t break the bank, then look no further!

I’m always looking for ways to make healthy eating more interesting and more approachable. Most people I speak to are under the impression that healthy eating is really complicated and expensive – understandably so! The minute you enter a health shop or go to the health section in a super market, the prices seem to sky rocket and some of the ingredients even I haven’t heard of.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with spending your hard earned cash on taking care of yourself and your loved ones through the food you consume, having some dishes in your repertoire that are easy to make and don’t cost an arm and a leg is really important. This way, a healthier way of eating is far more sustainable and approachable in my opinion.

One of the cheapest healthy ingredients you can get your hand on are lentils – they’re incredibly nutritious and they cost close to nothing! Replacing you typical animal protein – like chicken – with say lentils will cut down the cost of your grocery bill and arguable increase your nutrient intake.

Lentils are LOADED with fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals that our bodies absolutely love, but, if I’m being totally honest, until recently, I’d only ever had then in nanna’s soup! After much experimentation, my favourite was to use lentils in my cooking is to make curry’s.

I’ve shared my fave curry recipes before both here and on my facebook and instagram pages. I’ll link some older recipes here : https://holisticnutritionninja.com/2019/03/13/five-healthy-budget-friendly-dinner-ideas/ and https://holisticnutritionninja.com/2019/04/05/shrimp-coconut-curry/

The curry I’m about to share with you here is definitely a new fave – my meat loving boyfriend also LOVES this vegan recipe 😉 he’s definitely my worst critic!

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 tablespoon powdered ginger

1 tablespoon turmeric

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 – 2 teaspoons chili flakes

400g crushed tomatoes

1 cup rinsed brown lentils (no need to soak or cook before)

2 cups water

2 x Alpro coconut cuisine

Fresh baby spinach – approx. 4 cups

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: Chili flakes, sliced avocado and cherry tomatoes.

• 

• 

Method:

Start by heating your coconut oil in a large pot and to it, add mustard seeds, turmeric, ginger and chili flakes and cook together for a minute or two. This will allow the spices to bloom and release beautiful flavour to the dish.

Now, simply add your minced garlic, the rinsed lentils, crushed canned tomatoes and water, mix everything together and cover your pot. Allow to cook over medium to low heat for around 40 minutes. Just check on it every now and again to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom. If the curry starts looking a little dry, add another 1/2 cup of water to the pot and mix well.

Check that your lentils are cooked, if they are not yet tender, allow to cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Once tender, add your coconut milk and mix well. Take off the heat and mix your spinach into the curry. The four cups of baby spinach will almost disappear here! Now, serve over rice or quinoa with some sliced avocado and cherry tomatoes – both the avocado and tomatoes help tone down the heat in this dish.

I really do hope you try this recipe – it’s not super quick but it really is very very easy to make and even easier to devour. Plus, this keeps really well in the fridge for about 4-5 days and you can even make a big batch and freeze which can come in really handy on those really busy days.

That’s it from me for today! Please do let me know if you try this and tell me if you like it 🙂

If you like this, don’t forget to ‘like’ it – it helps let me know what you guys want to see more of!

If you have any questions or requests for future blog posts, please leave them in the comment section below. Don’t forget to click on the ‘follow’ button below to stay updated on all the content I share here. Also, I do share a TON of recipes over on my facebook and instagram pages – @holisticnutritionninja

As always, if you do try them out, please let me know 🙂

Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this ❤

Until my next post, be well xXx