This is a brilliant side dish to accompany my chicken biryani recipe. It’s nice and light with a bit of a kick. It’s so easy to make and only requires minimal ingredients along with some spices to hand.
Firstly, it’s vegan friendly – contains no egg, dairy or meat. And its suitable for those on a gluten-free diet.
Serve it with rice, quinoa or even roti (gluten-free of course.)
It works perfectly as a side dish and is so versatile. Drizzle it over some steamed vegetables or you can try it with some oven chips (french fries, if you’re not from the UK).
Prefer a milder curry? Serve it with a dollop of dairy free yoghurt and you’re good to go.
I love making a large batch of this lentil curry and then storing some in the freezer.
And if you don’t have an Instant Pot, you need to get one. Honestly! It makes cooking so much easier and quicker.
What You Need
You’ll need an Instant Pot for this recipe. Any model is fine, and I’ve included extra details on how to adjust the manual settings on your Instant Pot if needed. The model I’m using is the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus.
Ingredients
- Dried red lentils
- Water
- Tomato passata
- Tinned coconut milk
- Fresh garlic
- Curry powder (can be mild or hot)
- Turmeric powder
- Cayenne pepper (optional)
- Onion
- Whole ginger
- Black pepper
- Salt (preferably himalayan sea salt or celtic salt)
- Beef fat (tallow, can substitute for coconut oil)
Substitutions
I don’t recommend substituting the red lentils. Using other types of lentils may result in a different taste and texture.
If you don’t have a jar of tomato passata to hand, you can used tinned chopped tomatoes or plum tomatoes.
If you want to make this a vegan dish, you can use coconut oil instead of beef fat.
Instant Pot Lentil Curry
Equipment
- Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus Any Instant Pot can be used
Ingredients
- 250 g (1 cup) Dried red lentils
- 750 ml (3 cups) Water
- 400 ml (14 oz) Tomato Passata Tinned tomatoes are also fine
- 400 ml (14 oz) Tinned coconut milk (or coconut cream) Use full fat, if available
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper optional
- 1 onion diced
- 1 knob ginger minced or finely chopped
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp cooking oil or fat
Instructions
- Add your cooking oil to the instant pot and select 'sauté' and set to 'high'.
- Add the garlic, onion and ginger and cook until golden.
- Next, add the curry powder, turmeric and black pepper and stir. If it starts to get a bit dry, add some more cooking oil.
- Cook the spices in the oil or fat for approx 5 – 10 mins to release the flavours.
- Then add the remaining ingredients to the pot and press 'cancel' to stop sauté mode if still on.
- Stir all ingredients in the pot before placing lid on top. Ensure switch is set to 'seal' and select 'pressure cook'. Choose 'custom' and set to 6 minutes on 'high' pressure.
- When done, slide the switch to 'vent' to release pressure before attempting to open lid.
- Give your lentil curry another stir. Lentils should be very soft, and cooked.
- Serve with rice or quinoa. Enjoy!
