Curried Lentil and Chard Stew

Allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite home-cooked meals from the month of February (so far): curried lentil and chard stew, adapted from this recipe on Epicurious (with some tips from the comments on the site). It is perfect for winter - hearty, healthy and comforting - and full of delicious spices. I was looking for a meatless meal to add to the week's meal plan, and I'm so glad I chose this one.

Ingredients:

The ingredient list for this recipe is not short, but we had almost everything in our kitchen already. The only things I needed to pick up from the store were the chard, vegetable broth and plain yogurt. Trader Joe's was the obvious choice for me for greens like chard since they have lots of pre-washed and cut greens for a great price. The other two came from Whole Foods since Trader Joe's on a Monday was such a crowded mess that they didn't have one box of broth in the whole store and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

- Olive oil for sauteing (1-2 tbsp) ($0.20)

- 1 large onion ($0.50)

- 3 ribs of celery ($0.29)

- 2 large carrots ($0.38)

- 5 cloves of garlic ($0.10)

- 3 tsp Madras curry powder ($0.10)

- 1 tsp cumin ($0.05)

- 1 tsp garam masala ($0.05)

- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.05)

- 48 oz vegetable broth ($2.99)

- 1 10-oz package of chopped rainbow chard ($1.99)

- 1 lb red lentils ($2)

- 1 15-oz can of chickpeas ($0.75)

- 1 tbsp lemon juice ($0.10)

- Salt to taste ($0.05)

- 1 small plain yogurt ($0.99)

The total cost of the recipe was about $10.50. If this were just dinner for two, it would come in among some of our more expensive meals (especially since it's vegetarian), but it made a lot of leftovers, so it's a pretty good price.

Process:

This was a pretty straightforward recipe. It took a little over an hour, with most of that being cooking time. The recipe said 40 minutes of active time, so for once I wasn't dramatically slower than the norm.

1. Chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic.

2. Heat olive oil over medium high heat and saute garlic until fragrant.

3. Add onions, carrots and celery and saute until golden.

Just after adding vegetables to the pot

After five minutes or so

4. While vegetables are sauteing, rinse lentils and chickpeas.

5. Once the vegetables have softened, add all the spices.

6. Add vegetable broth.

7. Add chard. (The original recipe seemed to call for much more chard and I had planned to use two bags but that wouldn't all fit in this pot or in that much broth.)

8. Raise heat and bring broth to a boil.

9. Add red lentils and chickpeas and lower heat to medium.

10. Stir until all ingredients are soaked in the broth. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes (until lentils are tender), stirring every few minutes.

11. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and salt to taste, and stir everything around.

12. Separate into bowls and add yogurt.

Done!

Review:

This stew was so tasty. All of the spices - curry powder, garam masala and cumin - really came through and infused the lentils with so much flavor. I loved how thick the stew was, and its texture was perfect for a cold winter night. 

The original recipe only called for onions, chard, lentils and chickpeas, but I followed some of the commenters' advice and added in carrots and celery. It was great having the extra vegetables and I think they really rounded out the stew. I've never cooked with the kaleidoscope chard from Trader Joe's before but I really love it. In this recipe, the chard got really tender, even the ribs, but still retained texture and bite. I think I prefer this rainbow chard to the currently popular kale.

We really love this recipe and can't wait to make it again!