Name: Clarissa’s Indian yellow curry
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 250g dried yellow split peas, rinsed; 3 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 5cm piece ginger, thinly sliced; 2 carrots, peeled, cut into chunks; 1/4 cup coconut cream (optional; Sea-salt flakes, to season; 100g baby spinach leaves; Steamed basmati rice, coriander leaves and pappadums, to serve; TADKA; 3 Tbsp ghee; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 1/2 Tbsp black mustard seeds; 3 dried chillies (optional); 10 curry leaves; 1 large brown onion, thinly sliced; 2 cloves garlic, sliced

Clarissa’s Indian yellow curry

Simmer your way to a fragrant meat-free winner.

Loading the player...

Serves 4

Prep

25M

Cook

40M

Total

1H 5M

Skip to Recipe

The weather’s cooling down, so it’s a good time to stay indoors, curl up on the couch with a good book or your favourite tv show and hibernate a little. But you’ll need some food, and a great comfort food is an Indian curry. A curry wouldn’t be a curry without spices, so making the tadka to flavour the whole dish is key. With so many vegetables, cumin, seeds, mustard seeds, chillies, curry leaves and so much more, this dish is packed full of vitamins to keep you healthy and won’t fail to tickle your tastebuds.

Ingredients

250g dried yellow split peas, rinsed

3 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock

1 tsp ground turmeric

5cm piece ginger, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled, cut into chunks

1/4 cup coconut cream (optional

Sea-salt flakes, to season

100g baby spinach leaves

Steamed basmati rice, coriander leaves and pappadums, to serve

TADKA

3 Tbsp ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 1/2 Tbsp black mustard seeds

3 dried chillies (optional)

10 curry leaves

1 large brown onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

Method

In a large pot, combine split peas, water or stock, turmeric, ginger and carrot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until soft and creamy. Stir in coconut cream (if using) and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Season with salt.

To make Tadka, in frying pan on medium heat, heat ghee until hot. Add cumin, mustard seeds and chilli (if using). Cook for 20 seconds until fragrant.

Add curry leaves, taking care as they will splutter. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring for about 3-5 minutes, or until caramelised. Remove from heat. Stir into dahl with spinach.

Serve with rice, coriander and pappadums.

Clarissa Feildel Chef

As an accomplished cook, author and television presenter Clarissa Feildel has always had food at the heart of everything she does. Clarissa’s Nyonya/Chinese and Sri Lankan background has given her a melting pot of dishes in her repertoire, which she uses every day when feeding her family.

Ingredients

Method

Related

Related stories