Mild Red Lentils

(If you want to use a 400ml can of cooked tomato instead of fresh tomatoes,

omit tomato paste from the ingredients,See the step3-4)

(This recipe has been updated in 2025)

Lentils are healthy, nourishing and delicious!

You can use red or yellow lentils for this recipe but I personally buy this product.

Optional preparation

Rinse lentils with cold water and soak them in water for 30mins.

(👉You don't have to soak lentils for this recipe but soaking helps digestion )

Step1

Boil lentils with the following ingredients in a big pot for about 20 minutes to start out. Water amount is always 4times of the lentils.

Dried red lentils 1cup (=250ml cup) Water 1L Salt 15g or less ( in the workshop I used iodized salt) 1 tsp turmeric powder 1 tbsp olive

Step2

Skim the dark foam off the top time to time.

Ingredients list for masala

You need to use a frying pan.

☆10-20ml olive oil ☆2tsp Indian cumin seeds(whole) ☆1 tsp garlic ☆1 tsp turmeric powder ☆1 cup chopped onion ☆1,5 tbsp Garam Masala ( or Rajmah masala spices works too ↓）

If you add curry powder instead of these MDH masalas ,watch out the salt level.

Many European curry powder contains a lot of salt and make this dish too salty.

Step３

Heat up some oil in a frying pan.

Roast onion and garlic first ,then add spices and 70g tomato paste.

(You can add some more oil here if it's too dry )

👉If you use a 400ml canned tomato instead of fresh tomatoes in the next steps

,omit tomato paste.

Step 4

Chop 400g fresh tomatoes and add into the pan.

Step 5

Keep roasting the spices on a medium heat until it looks like thick tomato sauce.

It takes about 10mins.

Step 6

When the tomatoes looks like this picture below ,add this in the pot of lentils.

Step 7

At this point the lentil has been boiled for 30mins.

Stir it well over medium heat. Let it simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

Step 9

When the curry looks golden and shiny it’s done.

Sprinkle some black pepper to taste.

If you are not gluten free,

You could also add 1tbsp of brewer's yeast at the step 8.

Brewer's yeast is rich in B vitamins.

So it's great especially when you serve curry with white rice.

Enjoy your lentil curry with some basmati rice ,chopped cilantro, chili oil or

coconut milk decoration.

At one of my session, we also made some quick naan to serve with.

Check out the recipes if you would like.

How to freeze this lentil curry

If you freeze one serving at a time in a ziplock, it is easier to defrost.

（I take the frozen curry out of the freezer and leave it in the refrigerator overnight and it tastes just fine the following day)

If you don’t freeze it, you can keep this lentil curry up to 3-4days in the fridge.