[dave]'s vegetarian curry

ingredients

• 1 cup of red lentils
• 4 medium-large potatoes
• 1 pepper
• 1 large onion
  
• 3 large carrots
• three cloves of garlic
  
• a handful of baby spinach
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 1/4 cup of raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup of toasted sesame seeds
• 1 can coconut milk
• cumin, paprika, basil, cilantro to taste

I know we'll have another vegetarian curry up here soon, so I thought I'd throw up (um, ew) my version from a few weeks ago first. Nothing like a bit of competition, right? So first dice the onion fine and throw that and the garlic into oil in a decently large saucepan. When the garlic is nice and permeated and you get that smell all up in your kitchen, throw in the potatoes (which should be cut into smallish chunks and may be boiled beforehand to reduce cooking time). Next put on the lentils and two cups of water, then turn the heat on high so that the water boils down and cooks the lentils while you do more prep work. I cut the pepper into strips rather than dicing it so that there'd be something of a different size to break up the dish visually (left to my own devices I dice and chop everything if not careful). The carrots get peeled and then chopped. The kidney beans get drained and washed.

When the water has boiled down a bit, turn down the heat and throw in those three things along with the spinach and modest amounts of the spices. Sometimes I like to do my seasoning in two stages, reserving judgement for when the dish is nearly done rather than over currying or over chili-ing and not being able to do anything about it. When the whole mess begins to look more like a curry and less like a stirfry, which is typically when the lentils puff up a bit and stop being little red discs, I pour in the coconut milk and add all my seeds. The seeds add a smattering of protein and a whole lot of texture, with the intention of this being a crunchy vegetarian curry. Add the finishing seasonings, simmer for anthother ten minutes or so and serve.