Pantry Diaries: Sweet Potato and Spinach Mango Curry
April has been a busy month. I worked on a theater show (We Just Moved You by Alissa Rubinstein) as a dramturg till the 25th, I flew to Zütich to celebrate my nieces 1st birthday, and Jeroen and I spent a lot of time thinking, discussing, and overthinking what we want out of the future and what steps to take to steer ourselves into the 'right' direction for that future. We have by no means come to any conclusions yet; it is an ongoing process.
Since I've bene so busy there has been little time for cooking, let alone sharing recipes. I have noticed, however, that some of my best creations are the result of creatively combining whatever is at my disposal when I have not carefully considered what to make beforehand. These are the moments when it comes in handy that I tend to get a little overexcited when grocery shopping and end up getting a random assortment of fruits and veggies simply because they appeal to me or they are on sale. Usually it's because of yummy things being on sale... Being on a budget begets creativity!
This weekend I had half a bag of spinach left over as a result of creating wrap rolls for my birthday picnic in the park. I put it on the counter and gathered everything else that was in need of eating. I ended up with a mango (on sale last week...), half a can of coconut milk (leftover from another meal), and sweet potatos (meant for another meal that didn't happen). There is always some curry paste in the fridge and lentils and rice in the pantry so it wasn't hard to turn this into a meal. Mango curry it was! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
*You can sub the broth for more coconut milk. The curry will become more creamy and thicker, and the mango flavor will become less pronounced.
**If you don't have a blender you can always smush the mango with a fork and combine all wet ingredients by whisking them together.
Serves: 3-4
Time: 30 min
Ingredients
- 1 mango
- 200ml coconutmilk
- 100ml vegetable stock
- 2 heaping teaspoons yellow curry paste
- 2 medium sweet potatos
- 300g fresh spinach
- 75g brown lentils
- 50-60g rice pp
- Optional toppings: Fried Onions, Cashews, Fried banana, bean sprouts.
Instructions
1. Boil your lentils for about 20 minutes.
2. Peel and dice sweet potato and add to the lentils for the last 10 minutes.
3. Add peeled and deseeded mango, coconut milk, broth, and curry paste into a(n immersion) blender. Pulse until smooth.
4. Add lentils, sweet potato, and mango sauce to a pan and bring to a simmer.
5. Boil rice in the pot you just used for the lentils and sweet potato. You can add some vegetable stock to the water for some extra flavour.
6. Wash spinach and add to the pan one handful at a time. Let it wilt and then stir it through the sauce.
7. Serve together with desired toppings.
