Hamburger Lentil Potato Tomato Stew

rya's Note:

Like most stews, this dish is a little on the homely-looking side, but very tasty, filling, and easy to pull together. The ingredient amounts listed are the ones I use, but as long as there's an appropriate amount of liquid, everything's flexible, go crazy. The listed recipe makes roughly 4 cups of finished stew, which in my house is two dinner portions and one or two smaller lunch portions. Leave out the beef and substitute vegetable stock for a vegetarian dish.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• ¼ lb ground beef
• 1 large baking potatoes (approx 330g) or 2 medium potatoes (approx 330g)
• 1 large carrot (approx 100g)
• 1 -2 onion (approx 180g)
• ½ cup dry lentils
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• ½ cup diced canned tomato (or equiv fresh chopped tomatoes)
• 2 cups beef stock (or water + bouillon)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (approx 6 cloves)
• ½ teaspoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 -2 bay leaf

Directions:

1. Chop onions and carrots.
2. Brown beef, then add onions and garlic; saute for a few minutes.
3. Add carrots, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, stock, dry lentils, paprika, curry powder, pepper, bay leaves.
4. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, peel and dice potato into 1/2 inch chunks.
6. Add potatoes. Add water if necessary to prevent burning, but not so much it won't boil off. Aim for stew, not soup!
7. Simmer 45 minutes more or until liquid is absorbed and vegetables are tender.