Green Curry with French Lentils

Hi Everyone! My name is Christine and I'm the oldest of the three sisters. I have been a pescatarian for about 5 years so you will find all of my dishes meat-free. I love buying local and head to the farmers market weekly for almost all of my produce during the season. I do eat eggs and cheese but try to use only egg whites whenever possible. I only purchase cheese that is animal rennet-free so will list the cheese as microbial-rennet (MR) or vegetarian-rennet (VR) as much as possible. Another note about me...I LOVE GARLIC...and use it whenever possible!! From roasting it and adding to dipping oil, chopping it up and adding to omelets or quiche, sauteing it into pasta sauces, crushing it with spices and using as a rub when grilling fish, the list goes on.

I also love spicy, foods and like to eat Thai and Indian often. A goal for 2012 is to buy these spices and cook more in-house, rather than using the pre-made curries and dishes you would find at the grocery store or eating out.

Below is an easy, healthy dinner that can be taken and altered many different ways (adding meat, shellfish, different vegetables). This serves two!

-Add 1/2 cup of French lentils in 1 cup of water. Bring water to boil, add lentils cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

- Cook Jasmine rice like lentils and set aside.

- In a large pot or saute pan (I need a wok!) pour two cans of coconut milk and green curry paste (use as much as you would like) and mix together, tasting to determine about of curry paste you would like. I used 1/2 of the jar tonight and it still wasn't spicy enough for me (why I would like to buy from another source).

- Add vegetables of your choice. Tonight I used brocolli, portabello mushroom and yellow bell pepper.

- Drain lentils and add to the curry for 5-10 minutes

Serve vegetable/lentil curry over Jasmine rice and enjoy :)