Swede And Lentil Jungle Curry
This fresh and healthy curry turns any swede into a delicious dinner. This recipe is simple to make and is bursting full of flavour.
Jungle curry or Kaeng pa is a variety of Thai curry that contains no coconut milk. This swede recipe isn’t a strictly traditional Jungle curry recipe, but it packs all the flavour of one.
No coconut milk means that this curry is much lighter and healthier than most. The curry thickness and smoothness comes from the swede and lentil mix. The lentils help suck up moisture make the broth much thicker. Then after the curry has cooked, we blend half of the mixture and return it back to the pan. Blended curried swede gives a lovely luscious texture to the curry. Swede and lentils are a match made in heaven, who needs coconut milk!
This jungle curry is an excellent way to use up one of the most perplexing root veggies – swede. I love swede but it get’s a bad rap for being bland and only good for mash or watery soups. In fact it’s versatile and delicious. I’ve got lots of amazing swede recipes on the site, check out a list of my favourite swede recipes including my recipe for Spicy Swede And Lentil Soup and Creamy Swede Vegan Mac And Cheese. Why not give them a try and Make Swede Great Again!!
When To Eat
Swede is in season throughout autumn and winter in the UK. To enjoy this dish to the fullest, cook from October to February. Outside of these months you can switch out the swede for summer squash.
Swede And Lentil Jungle Curry
This meal is around 93% less polluting than the average UK meal.
Eating this recipe will save around 2.74 KG CO2e per person.
That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 22.67 KM in a modern car.
How do I calculate this?Ingredients
- 1 Litre Vegetable Stock
- 200 g Red Lentils
- 1 Large (800g) Swede (peeled and roughly chopped into 1 inch pieces )
- 2 Large Carrots (peeled and roughly chopped into 1 inch pieces)
Curry Paste
- 50 g Ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 2 Medium Onions (peeled and halved)
- 1 Medium Red Chilli (stem removed)
- 30 g Fresh Coriander
- 6 Cloves Garlic (peeled)
- 2 Medium Limes (juiced)
- 2 Teaspoons Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric
- 2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- Place all of the paste ingredients into a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth.
- Heat a large deep pan over a medium to high heat. Pour in your curry paste and fry for 2-4 minutes until most of the moisture is removed and the it has begun to take a little colour.
- Now tip in the rest of the curry ingredients – the chopped carrot and swede, the red lentils and finally the litre of vegetable stock. Stir the pan to combine the curry paste with the stock.
- Bring the pan to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer (lid off) for 20 minutes.
- Once simmered your veggies and lentils should be nice and soft. Now pour about 1/3 of the mixture back into your food processor or blender and blitz until smooth. (You can also use a hand blender to perform this step if you have one).
- Return the blended mixture back to the pan with the rest of the curry. Stir to combine and heat through for a few minutes more.
- Remove the pan from the heat and serve the curry immediately with your carbohydrate of choice. I find it works well with jasmine rice, but I also like to enjoy it with cauliflower rice or just on it's own as a thick soup.
8 Comments
Philippa Stannard
February 13, 2021 at 7:56 am
I cooked this up with jasmine rice last night. The sauce is sensational and so I only used a little stock flavour as I didn’t want to sully the taste of the sauce! The swede took ages to cook and so I needed to add a little more liquid: next time I’ll choose the pieces smaller. As I needed a more liquid, toward the end o used half a can of light coconut milk which added good flavour. Thanks for sharing this.
hugo
February 13, 2021 at 8:09 am
Thanks for the feedback Philippa. Glad to hear you enjoyed the sauce – I love it too! Sorry that you ran into difficulties with the cooking time of the swede – it’s probably my bad with the measurements. I’ll be sure to test it out again this coming week and update the stock quantities and cooking times! Much appreciated.
jules kingshott
April 26, 2022 at 8:51 am
This was super delicious. Beyond gorgeous, I shall make this again and again and again. Thanks :-)
hugo
April 27, 2022 at 9:11 pm
Amazing Jules, glad you enjoyed it
Gill
January 2, 2023 at 6:34 pm
Made this for tea tonight and it was fantastic!
I stuck a piece of lemongrass in the paste mix but that’s the only thing I did differently. Husband is raving about it. Got 5 takeaway tubs of it to keep for lunches left too, win win!
Super tasty, super nutritious, super – definitely a keeper!
Thanks so much for sharing 😊
hugo
February 2, 2023 at 2:24 pm
Great to hear Gill! Glad you have lots spare as well!
Prash
March 11, 2023 at 2:35 pm
So trying to get more veg into the family weekly diet.. not a fan myself of swede but thought gotta give it a go.. you know what this recipe is great. Nice winter warmer.. gonna serve it with rice.. even as I was cooking it the kids were like that smells amazing (more important not put off by the no meat).. nice.. might try one of the other swede recipes here and see how I get on.. cheers
Sally
December 18, 2023 at 7:19 am
Cooked this and thought it was really good. Great use of swede! I cooked veg first for at least 20 mins with lid on until soft enough to pierce with a knife. Carrots definitely need this. Added lentils and cooked with lid on. Still needed loosening with a bit of liquid. Will make again. My vegan daughter approved.