Lola’s Kitchen: Lentils and Veggies in Peanut Sauce Recipe

Lola’s Kitchen is a feature on Lola’s Reviews where I talk about all things related to food, cooking and baking. These posts can be recipe posts, tens list posts about food or recipes or more discussion type posts about food. I love cooking and spend some time in the kitchen almost every day, so I wanted to give it a place on my blog as well. The banner for this feature is designed by Michelle from Limabean Designs.

I found this recipe on one of the indian food blogs I follow. I love lentils and peanut sauce and I liked the idea of making the peanut sauce with coconut milk instead of water and to use peanut butter as basis for the sauce. So I gave this a try with a few tweaks and it turned into this recipe. It’s a rich thick sauce that is a bit salty, with a strong peanut butter flavour. It is filled with different veggies and meat or in my case vega meat substitution.
This recipe is based on Vegan Richa her Veggies and Lentils in Peanut Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• Red Bell pepper – 1
• Green beans – 500 gram/ 4 cups chopped
• Onion – 1
• Peanut Butter – 4 tablespoons
• Coconut Milk – 500ml/ 1 can/ 2 cups
• Garlic – 4 cloves
• Lentils – 250 gram/ 1 can or 1 1/2 cup
• Chicken or vega meat substitution – 250 gram
• Soy Sauce – 1 tablespoon
• Low salt bouillon cube – 1
• Sugar – 1 tablespoon
• Ginger Powder – 2 teaspoons
• Coriander Powder – 2 teaspoons
• Citric Acid – 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
• Cayenne Powder – 1/4 teaspoon

Normally I use green beans, but I forgot to buy them this time, so I used two red bell peppers instead. I use lentils from a can, but you can also buy fresh lentils and cook them first. This recipe feeds around 4 people. I usually serve it with mie, noodles or pasta. You can also serve with bread or rice.

Method

1. Slice and dice the onion, garlic, red bell pepper and green beans in small pieces.
2. In a wok or pan bake the onion and garlic till the onion is translucent. Then add the red bell pepper and green beans and bake for a few minutes. If using chicken add that as well now.
3. In a smal bowl combine the bouillon cube, sugar, ginger, coriander, citric acid and cayenne powder.
4. Now start making the sauce. Add the peanut butter, soy sauce and coconut milk to the pan and mix well. Then add the combined spices and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
5. If using vega meat substitution add it now. Also add the lentils and cook for another 5-10 minutes. In the meantime prepare the noodles or mie if serving with that.
6. Enjoy your lentils and veggies in peanut sauce!

Pictures

Variation Tips

• Vary with veggies. Instead of the veggies I used you can also use carrots, other beans, chickpeas, mushrooms, zuchini or any other veggie you like.
• Lentils and Veggies in Salty Peanut Sauce. For a more salty flavour add another tablespoon or two soy sauce.
• Lentils and Veggies in Hot Peanut Sauce. Add a teaspoon sambal and some more cayenne pepper to make the sauce more hot.
• Lentils and Veggies in Sweet Peanut Sauce. Add another teaspoon or two sugar to the sauce for a more sweet flavour.
• Vegan Richa sauce. Because I didn’t have some ingredients I tweaked the sauce a bit, Vegan Richa her Veggies and Lentils in Peanut Sauce Recipe contains another 2 to 3 teaspoons sriracha or asian chili sauce, and 1/4 teaspoons tamarind concentrate.

Have you ever tried a peanut sauce for a dinner dish?