While I realize this meal seems, on the surface, very similar to the Rustic Winter Stew in my last post, I am a fan of all things Thai and decided I must try Post Punk Kitchen's Red Lentil Thai Chili. The author of the post said it was delicious and "blessedly easy", so why not?Most ingredients in the recipe are common enough; however, those of you readers without an Asian market nearby may have trouble finding the Thai red curry paste and possibly the coconut milk. I actually had Thai green curry paste and coconut cream left over from a foray into Thai cooking after my trip to Southeast Asia in 2006. I substituted the green curry paste for the red and cut the coconut cream with water to make coconut milk.
In addition to these small changes, I also cut the vegetable both in half and used 2 cups of water to reduce the dish's sodium content (you'll find this to be a habit of mine).Well, the unexpected combination of both curry and chili lived up to one of PPK's descriptions: delicious! The curry/chili is the perfect combination of both spicy and sweet--if you don't do well with spice, you might want to reduce the curry paste and/or increase the coconut milk. Pair the dish with some brown rice and a salad for a well-rounded, nutritious meal.
That said, the curry/chili was not exactly "blessedly easy". Fairly easy? Yes. However, preparation through cleanup lasted about an hour, with the vegetable chopping and dish washing as the most time-consuming. Preparing the rice and salad added another 10 to 15 minutes.
As stated on PPK's blog, this recipe prepare quite of bit of food...but I would certainly not say it's enough for 10 to 12 servings. As a main dish for hearty eaters, this dish would serve 4 at most.
Overall, I'd rate this the Red Lentil Thai Chili recipe as an 8.
Stay tuned for my next review of Hippy Gourmet's Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms.
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