Potato-Crusted Lentil Hotpot

VegeMight's Note:

This is a fave in our household. Very hearty and warming on a frosty winter night. Affectionately known as 'hippy hotpot'. I chop the veges finely to ensure even cooking.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ¾ cup red lentil
• 5 medium potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 medium onions , chopped
• 2 medium carrots , chopped
• 3 stalks celery , chopped
• 3 garlic cloves , crushed
• 1 teaspoon hot curry powder
• 5 medium ripe tomatoes , peeled and chopped
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 large vegetable stock cube , crumbled
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 15 g butter , melted
• ¼ teaspoon paprika

Directions:

1. Add lentils to a large saucepan of boiling water; bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
2. Drain well.
3. Boil or steam potatoes in their skins until tender. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in large saucepan; add onions, carrots, celery and garlic.
5. Stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent.
6. Stir in curry powder; cook for 1 minute.
7. Add tomatoes, crumbled stock cube, water and tomato paste.
8. Bring to the boil; reduce heat and cover.
9. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, or until veges are just tender.
10. Stir in the parsley and lentils.
11. Spoon into large ovenproof dish |(about 8 cup capacity).
12. Slice potatoes and arrange over lentil mixture.
13. Brush potatoes with butter, sprinkle with paprika and bake in moderate oven (190C) for about 50 minutes.

Reviews

[Sandy in California]

This was good. Easy to put together and pretty tasty. I did increase the curry as others had mentioned, and used tinned tomatoes. I like the basics of the recipe, but for my own tastes I think I will modify the seasonings a bit.

[dimensionally transcendental]

Easy and tasty. It looked like vomit while it was being made and hubby and I were both suprised by just how yummy it was. Well worth it. I used twice the amount of curry powder (Garam Masala) and used tinned toms instead of fresh. The only thing stopping it being a five is that it wasn't really satisfying enough for a dinner - next time we will have it for lunch or serve it with some garlic bread and good quality meat sausage (obviously we aren't vegetarians).

[Sarah_Jayne]

We just finished eating this and my husband enjoyed it enough to have two massive helpings. I also cut corners and did the rinsed lentils in the same pot as the veggies and that worked fine and saved me a dish. To save some fat I used a cooking spray to soften the vegetables instead of oil and again on top of the potatoes instead of butter. Like others, I used a can of tomatoes because I am lazy and it is actually cheaper. We actually thought that once everything was dished out it almost tasted a bit like a slightly spicy vegetarian 'corn beef' hash. Made for Healthy tag.