Mild Chicken Curry with Lentils

This curry is truly mild. I chose the recipe from the Best Ever Indian Cookbook that I found at Costco. At my house I need to make dinners that aren't too spicy. My little ones haven't quite accepted spicy food just yet. But no worries, I'm still working on them. It was very mild, and the spinach paired very nicely with the lentils. My 4 year old even ate the lentils AND the green stuff. She liked it! I substituted regular old plain boring brown lentils for the red ones called for in the recipe. A small cut-up chicken was perfect in the place of the chicken thighs, which I generally don't like to eat. We ate it with naan purchased from SuperTarget. This was very yummy, and perfect for individuals who can't handle the spice of most Indian dishes.

(Do you see that fancy blue fish dish? I got it for my birthday from my sister-in-law and her family. Isn't it the most beautiful thing?)

1/2 cup red lentils
2 tablespoons mild curry powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
8 chicken thighs, skinned
8 ounces fresh spinach, shredded, or frozen chopped, spinach, thawed and well drained
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, plus extra to garnish
salt and black pepper
white or brown basmati rice and grilled poppadums, to serve

Put the lentils in a large heavy pan and add the curry powder, ground coriander, cumin seeds and vegetable stock. Bring the mixture to the boil, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the chicken and spinach. Replace the cover and simmer gently for a further 40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the chopped coriander and season to taste. Serve garnished with fresh coriander sprigs and accompanied by white or brown basmati rice and poppadums.

This recipe has been adapted from the Best Ever Indian Cookbook. I didn't have all of the things that it required, so I did my own thing. It was a hit with the family! According to the cookbook, Corn is widely grown in the Punjab area of India. If use of an ingredient is directly proportional to the location in which it's grown, I would hazard a guess that onions are also widely grown in the Punjab region of India. If you don't care for onions, this recipe isn't for you.

Indian Corn Curry

1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon crushed ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup plain yogurt

Saute corn in butter over medium-high heat until slightly browned. Remove corn and set aside leaving butter in pan. In a food processor process together, onion, garlic and ginger until very finely minced. Stir in spices and sugar. Add remaining butter and onion mixture to pan and cook for 8-10 minutes over medium-low heat. Stir in the corn, and cool mixture so that yogurt won't curdle. Stir in the yogurt and serve.