Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils and Spinach
Brown lentils slow cooked with warm curry spices and tomato, finished with coconut milk and a lot of spinach.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Lentils and a slow cooker were made for each other. They go in dry, they need liquid and time and nothing else, and seven hours later they are tender all the way through without a single thing having been stirred. Seven hours does mean starting in the morning, and what you get in return is a pot that needs nothing decided the night before: no soaking, no thawing, no browning. This is the reason I keep a bag of brown lentils in the cupboard at all times.
The spice mix here is built rather than bought. Cumin, coriander, turmeric and a quarter teaspoon each of cinnamon and cayenne cover the same ground a jar of curry powder would, but you can taste each one and you can adjust any of them. The cinnamon is the ingredient nobody guesses and the one that makes people ask what is in it. Ground spices lose their edge after about six months in a cupboard, so if the jar has been open since last winter, use a little more than the recipe says.
The coconut milk and the spinach both go in at the end, and that timing is deliberate. Coconut milk stirred in off the heat stays creamy and distinct rather than cooking down into the background, and spinach added to a hot pot wilts in about two minutes while keeping its color instead of going the dull olive it turns after an hour. Ten ounces looks absurd going in and then disappears completely, which is worth knowing before you decide it is too much.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups dry brown lentils, rinsed and picked over
- 1 can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 10 oz fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 3/4 cup canned full-fat coconut milk
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the base: Put the rinsed lentils, onion, garlic, ginger, and crushed tomatoes into a 6-quart slow cooker and stir them together. Everything solid goes in first so that the lentils end up underneath rather than floating on top of the liquid, which is where they would cook unevenly and stay chalky in the middle.
- Add the spices with the oil: Sprinkle in the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and black pepper, then drizzle the olive oil over the top and stir until the lentils look evenly yellow. The oil goes in with the spices on purpose, because much of what turmeric and cumin carry is fat-soluble, so the oil gives it something to dissolve into over seven hours. It is the slow way of doing what blooming spices in hot fat does in a minute.
- Pour in the broth: Pour in the vegetable broth and stir once from the bottom so nothing is stuck to the sides. The lentils should sit under about an inch of liquid, because dry lentils take up roughly three times their volume as they cook, and any that stay above the waterline dry out and stay hard while the rest of the pot goes soft.
- Cook on low for 7 hours: Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. The lentils are ready when they are completely soft and the pot has thickened to the point where a spoon leaves a track through it. If the track fills back in straight away, give it another half hour with the lid off.
- Wilt in the spinach a handful at a time: Stir in the chopped spinach a large handful at a time, letting each one collapse before the next goes in. It takes about 2 minutes altogether and the volume drops by roughly nine tenths, which is why ten ounces looks absurd going into the pot and then disappears completely.
- Finish off the heat with coconut milk and lime: Switch the cooker off, then stir in the coconut milk and the lime juice. Both go in with the heat off because coconut milk that goes on cooking breaks down and disappears into the background, and lime loses its brightness within minutes of hitting anything hot. Taste, add more lime or salt if it needs it, and serve with cilantro over the top.
Variations
- Instant Pot: Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes with a natural release of 15, then stir in the spinach, coconut milk and lime after the lid comes off.
- With sweet potato: Add 3 cups of cubed sweet potato at the start. It cooks in the same seven hours and makes the pot sweeter and more substantial.
- Richer: Use the full can of coconut milk instead of three quarters of a cup. The pot gets noticeably creamier and the spices soften.
- With chickpeas: Stir a drained can of chickpeas in for the last hour for more texture and a second kind of legume in the same bowl.
- More heat: Double the cayenne, or add a whole sliced serrano at the start. Long cooking mellows fresh chile considerably, so it takes more than you might think.
Storage & Leftovers
Cooled leftovers keep in the refrigerator for 5 days in a covered container. The lentils keep drinking liquid overnight, so expect it to be considerably thicker the next day and loosen it with water or broth when you reheat.
Reheat gently on the stovetop over medium-low. Coconut milk can separate over high heat, so keep it moderate and stir it back together if it looks grainy, which it will do without any harm to the flavor.
It freezes for up to 3 months. Freeze it in flat portioned bags and thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Add a fresh squeeze of lime and fresh cilantro after reheating, since both fade in the freezer.
Notes & Tips
- Rinse the lentils: Dry lentils carry dust and occasionally a small stone. A rinse in a fine strainer and a quick look through takes a minute and is worth it.
- Keep the lentils covered: They should sit under about an inch of liquid at the start. Lentils poking above the surface dry out and stay hard while everything under them softens.
- Bloom the spices in the oil: Stirring the ground spices into the oil before the broth goes in helps them spread through the pot instead of sitting on the surface.
- Add the spinach in handfuls: All at once it sits on top and steams unevenly. A handful at a time, letting each wilt first, gets it distributed in about two minutes.
- Coconut milk goes in last: Cooked for hours it thins out and disappears. Stirred in at the end it stays creamy and is the first thing you taste.
- Do not skip the lime: Two tablespoons at the end is what keeps a rich coconut pot from tasting flat. It is the difference between good and finished.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Lentils, coconut milk and spinach are three foods that could not be more different and somehow need each other here. The lentils bring earthiness and body, the coconut smooths every edge off it, and the spinach cuts back through with something faintly mineral.
- A bowl of this carries a serious amount of fiber, most of it from the lentils, and that is the main reason it stays with you for hours rather than leaving you hunting for a snack.
- Spinach is one of the better plant sources of iron there is, and the lime stirred in at the end is doing more than brightening the flavor, since vitamin C helps that iron get absorbed.
- Turmeric, cumin, coriander and cinnamon are the whole seasoning here, and the black pepper is not incidental, because it is what makes the curcumin in turmeric far more available to you.
- The coconut milk is a small amount of fat doing a lot of work, smoothing the spices and helping you take up the fat-soluble vitamins in the spinach and the tomato.
- As you eat, notice the cinnamon arriving somewhere behind the cumin, and let the warmth of the bowl slow you down a little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use red lentils?
You can, but cut the time to about 4 hours and expect a smooth dal rather than a pot with texture. Red lentils break down completely, which is lovely in its own way but a different dish.
Do I need to soak the lentils?
No. Brown lentils cook through in a slow cooker without soaking, and soaking them first tends to make them mushy over a seven hour cook.
Can I use light coconut milk?
Yes, and it will be lighter and thinner. The full-fat version is what gives the finish its creaminess, so if you go light, consider adding an extra couple of tablespoons.
What do I serve it with?
It stands on its own in a bowl, and it is also very good over rice or cauliflower rice, or scooped up with warm flatbread if that suits your plan.