
Here's a wonderful recipe for a hearty meal perfect for the wintertime when it’s cold outside. You will need a slow cooker (which is an awesome thing to have if you’re the busy type that isn’t too fond of cooking).
What I like about this recipe is it contains some basic ingredients in the Healthy Indian Diet: lentils which pack fiber with a decent amount of protein and a variety of vegetables which are full of nutrients. We modified Amee’s recipe a little by adding our own spices, not using celery, and using extra virgin olive oil. (That's my beautiful wife's hand mixing the dal in the photo to your left.)
That’s part of the beauty of this recipe: it’s versatile, you can do it how you like, and there’s no way to mess it up. It’s also filling and smells and tastes great!
Ingredients and directions for Amee's Lentil Vegetable Stew recipe are reprinted below just as written on the original place she first posted her recipe. Enjoy!
Slow Cooker Lentil Vegetable Stew
Ingredients:
1 cup brown lentils
4 cups water
2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 cup finely diced celery (with leaves if you can!)
1 cup finely diced onion (yellow or white)
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/2 cup finely diced sweet potato
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon Better than Bouillion
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
2 packed cups of chopped kale
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Directions:
1. Plug in slow cooker and set to 4-6 hrs of cooking time. (At the four hour mark, the lentils should be tender to the bite, but the acidity from the tomatoes impedes cooking time of the lentils…you shouldn’t need more than 6 hrs). Add the water and the lentils to the crockpot [slow cooker].
2. Heat oil in a sautee pan on medium high heat, and saute the onions, celery, carrots, sweet potatoes, and bay leaves. Cook for about 4 minutes and remove from heat. Add the sauteed vegetables, the tomatoes, and the bouillon to the slow cooker. Cover.
3. After 4- 6 hours, wilt in the kale and parsley, and serve with crusty french bread or crackers.