Chicken and Lentil Curry With Cucumber Yogurt

EagleRocker's Note:

I found this is the back of Working Mother magazine. It was taken from Tonia George's, "One-Bowl Meals", its was adapted by Kelly Staikpooulos. It was so easy to make and had incredible flavor. My husband thought it was better than some restaurants we've been to!

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon curry powder, we love Penzey's Hot Curry Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks
• sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/4 cups tomato sauce
• 2/3 cup lentils
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cucumber, thinly sliced
• lemon juice
• mango chutney (optional)
• fresh cilantro (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until sizzling. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 10 to 15 minutes. Uncover and cook until liquid is almost absorbed, about 8 minutes.
2. Add garlic, curry powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. Cook until onion starts to turn golden brown and spices are fragrant.
3. Add broth, tomato sauce, lentils, and bay leaves.
4. Add chicken breasts.
5. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, combine yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt in a small bowl. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
7. Remove and discard bay leaves from curry. Transfer to serving bowls. Serve with a dollop of cucumber yogurt and mango chutney (if using). Garnish with cilantro leaves (if using).

Reviews

[calisto]

This was delicious, thank you! I doubled the amount of chicken, have very exciting leftovers :))

[kelly in TO]

We really enjoyed this! The yogurt sauce was delicious and the curry was mild and nice. We served this curry over brown basmati rice and skipped the chutney and the cilantro. Perhaps the taste was to mild for my preference. We liked this a lot, thanks.

[Clarely]

My husband made this the other night and it was awesome. He was worried because he's made another curry dish which I found to be too spicy, but he used a regular (not 'hot') curry and this recipe was spicy-"flavorful" not spicy-"so hot my nose is running." He was also nervous about using so many onions, but it was perfect. Great mix of flavors, and good for you too. We found at the last minute we only had a pound of ground turkey, and it worked great- we're thinking of making it that way next time, actually. We didn't have a cucumber, but put yougert on the dish and served it over rice. Thanks for a very yummy curry dish with a great mix of flavors that uses ingredients we have around all the time.