This nourishing meal warms up your body and soul. Its a super easy and quick meal, which is ready under 30 minutes.
Eating Healthy On a Budget
My current series “Eating Healthy On a Budget” is about sharing meals that you can make with ingredients costing under 2€. This series is especially designed for students and busy people who do not want to spend too much money or time to make meals, but still want to eat healthy. I have tried, tested, calculated and have come up with four recipes that I will be sharing on Fridays. All the recipes from the series use only ingredients from discount grocery stores (I got mine from Aldi) except chicken (because I use halal from Turkish store). This is is final recipe of the series. You will find all the previous recipes on the blog.
About Today’s Recipe
I find dishes with lentils very comforting. Yet they’re wholesome and nutritious. Among all the lentils, red lentils are my go to for quick and easy weekday meals. They take only a few minutes to cook, and the meal is ready under no time. In today’s recipe, I made use of some extra veggies and basic spices available at any local grocery store. I serve this stew with wholegrain sourdough bread which makes the meal complete. You can serve it with brown rice or regular rice as well.
Can This Recipe Be Made Ahead of Time?
Yes, you can make it ahead of time. It stores well in the fridge for up to 3 day and in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. You may need to add some water while reheating it as it tends to absorb moisture overtime.
Can You Use Any Other Vegetables For This Recipe?
To save time and effort, I have used pre-cut frozen pack of veggies for this recipe. However, you could use fresh veggies as well. You can of course add any vegetables that you like. The cooking time may vary based on the kind of vegetables you are using.
Can You Make This Recipe Using Any Other Sort Of Lentils?
Red lentils are the quickest to cook. And my focus for this series was to keep it easy and weekday friendly meals. If you are using any other kind of lentils, you will have to cook them longer. In that case, add the veggies later so they do not get too overcooked and mushy.
Ingredients With Cost Breakdown
Watch the video instructions below to easily follow the recipe
Lentil-Veggie Stew
Ingredients
- 3 cloves (10 grams) garlic
- 1 medium (100 grams) onion
- 2 medium (200 grams) tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
- 2 tsp (5 gm) curry powder
- 1 tsp (2.5 gm) spicy paprika powder
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups (350 grams) mixed frozen veggies (or fresh)
- ½ cup (125 gm) red lentils
- 2 cups (400 ml) water
Instructions
- Finely chop the garlic. Dice the onion and tomatoes.
- Put a pot on medium heat. Add the olive oil and let it heat up.
- Add the diced onion and sauté for a minute.
- Add the chopped garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, along with curry powder, paprika powder and salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn.
- Once the tomatoes are mushy and you see oil appearing on the surface, add the veggies. Sauté for about a minute to bring them to room temperature.
- Add the washed red lentils, along with the water. Give everything a good mix and bring to a boil.
- Simmer and cover with a lid. Let it cook for about 15 minutes, or until your lentils are completely tender.
- Serve with wholegrain sourdough bread, or with rice.