Vegetarian coconut curry – fed 8 for under $10

*I didn't follow an actual recipe and my white self doesn't claim any authenticity but I'll share how I made it anyway*. My actual prices included.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cooking oil of choice (5¢)

1 onion, diced (free from a food box)

1" ginger knob peeled, and grated (free from a food box)

1 head garlic, minced (10¢)

1/2 kabocha squash, cubed ($2.50)

Small cauliflower, bite size florets ($2)

2 Bell peppers, large chopped (60¢)

Green beans (about 1/3 of a $3 bag so $1)

2 cans of coconut cream ($2)

1 cup red lentils (free from food pantry last year almost to the bottom of a 8lb bag)

3 cups white rice ($1.15)

Seasonings: Turmeric, curry powder, (about a tbsp each) coriander (a tsp or two), salt (maybe 1/2 tsp) – I didn't calculate or measure but negligible cost.

Garnish: fresh cilantro/coriander (free as I calculated the whole cost last time I made tacos, but about $1 if I'd purchased it just for this)

Method:

Heat oil in frying pan, sautee onion. Add garlic, ginger and dried spices, stir for 30 seconds or so until fragrant.

Add coconut cream, cauliflower and pumpkin. Stir occasionally so all pieces have a chance to cook. After 15 minutes or so add the peppers and green beans. Let it all gently simmer while the rice and lentils finish cooking.

Meanwhile:

– cook rice

– cook lentils. The lentils could probably have been added dry to the rest of the curry but I wanted it really saucy so cooked them separately and added them afterwards so they'd absorb water instead of all my sauce.

Add garnish and serve. I didn't have naan and as you can see my little RV stove doesn't have room to make some while cooking so we did without.

We don't like heat but we like flavour so this suits our tastes nicely. If you like heat, go ahead and add spice just don't judge me for making not-spicy curry. Lol