This recipe uses sprouted lentils to make a quick curried lentil dish that is highly nutritious and delicious. While the lentils are cooking, you can whip up the Ginger and Garlic Cilantro Sauce in your food processor. This fresh (raw) sauce is not only a beautiful addition to brown lentils, but so flavorful. Lentils may be humble, but with proper preparation they can be both nutritious and flavorful. Another wonderful addition would be cucumber yogurt sauce, spooned over the top. Yum!
Sprouting your lentils only takes a few moments time (spread throughout a couple of days), and then you can throw together this dish in no time (it works for me!) For a complete protein you can also use sprouted wheat. They give a wonderful contrast to the lentils, as the lentils are soft, while the wheat remains tender but chewy. We enjoy it both ways. (And, they take about the same amount of time to sprout). At this point, I’ve only tried sprouted soft wheat, but you could certainly try other varieties.
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Curried Sprouted Lentils with a Ginger and Garlic Cilantro Sauce- About 4-6 Servings
The cilantro sauce is just enough for everyone’s serving. We like it so much, next time I will probably double the sauce recipe so there is plenty to go around. 6 cups of sprouted lentils came from about 2 cups of dry lentils.
About 3 cups of sprouted lentils and 3 cups of sprouted wheat, or another 3 cups of sprouted lentils (this is measured loosely, i.e. I didn’t press the sprouts down at all).
2 tablespoons of coconut oil or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups of water1-In a large saucepan with a lid, heat oil over medium high heat until hot, but not smoking. Add onions and cook while stirring for about 4 minutes, until the onion is starting to soften. Then add the garlic, curry powder and cloves and cook for about 30 seconds longer and add the water.
2-Then add the lentils (and optional wheat, if using). Bring to a simmer with the lid on, then lower heat. Steam for 15-20 minutes until soft. If just using lentils, you can steam for even a little less.
Meanwhile, make your cilantro sauce.
1 bunch of cilantro, stemmed and washed
Either half of a large Aneheim pepper or one small one, seeded and cut into chunks
A heaping teaspoon of grated fresh ginger (I peel the fresh ginger with a small knife, then grate on my smallest grater)
3 small garlic cloves, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 lemon juiced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons saltPlace all ingredients in food processor and pulse until everything is well combined and it’s at the consistency you want.
Serve the curried with lentils with a big spoonful of your cilantro sauce on top and enjoy.
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Hi John,
Thanks for letting me know. I had realized it was the wrong page, but didn’t have the chance to fix it before I posted last night. 🙂 Let me know if it works!
Oh, this looks great! I love everything with cilantro in it. Thanks for sharing!
That sounds great! In fact, the cilantro sauce alone is making me excited as I have a large amount of curried veggies leftover that I need to freshen up. Thanks for the great ideas.
This looks delicious!I sprout alot- but I have never done brown lentils- one of my favorite foods- I will have to try this! Do you always peel your ginger? I never peel mine- I just scrub and grate. Is there a reason I should peel?
The peel can be a bit chewy, can’t it? Do you actually eat the peel?
Yup, the link works now.
Thanks! I can’t wait to try this . . . but I will have to wait until the lentils sprout. 🙂
This looks very good. Okay, I’m working up my nerve and may just have to try sprouting some brown lentils this week so I can make this:)
Thanks for another great, nourishing recipe, Kimi. I am always looking for ways to add raw cilantro to our diets since it such a wonderful chelator of heavy metal toxicity for our bodies. Maximizing the nutrients for us by sprouting is so beneficial; I appreciate you giving us the recipes to try so we can consistently do the best things in our homes!
Well, I made this to go with dinner tonight, and considering that my family is very anti-meatless meals, it was a big hit! The sauce/relish was especially good and really transformed the lentils. My curry powder seems to be on the weak side and without the relish the lentils probably would have been bland. I’m considering using more curry next time I make this.
Quick question, does curry powder lose it’s flavor as it gets older? My curry powder should be very flavorful as it is authentic Indian curry brought to America by Yesupadam when he came to our church about 6 years ago, but it seems kind of bland now. Do you think it may have lost some flavor?
Alison,
I am so pleased that your family liked this recipe! I agree that the sauce really makes it. 🙂 As far as your curry powder, I am afraid that it’s age would definitely make it weak. 🙁 Spices stay fresh for about 6 months, though I keep them up to a year sometimes. Though it might not be as nice as your authentic curry, I would invest in some new curry powder. 🙂
OK, I’m in. I’ve been sprouting a lot of grains lately, but not legumes… so here I go! However, my DH isn’t real hot on leftovers so I am going to cut it in half! I’ll let you know…
This sounded sooo good I gambled big-time and made a double batch to take to church pot-luck this past weekend. (It was my first try at sprouting lentils, and I just did it in a bowl, no problem.) The dish was a big hit—they gobbled it up!! I will definately make more of the Cilantro sauce next time. Even though I doubled the recipe, they would have eaten much more! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe! Blessings…
OK, Kimi – the official word is: this recipe ROCKS! I sprouted about half the recipe, but man those suckers expand! I still ended up with a FULL quart size jar of wheat & lentils (from abut 3/4 cup of each dry). It was so easy & soooo yummy. I somehow thought the Tzatziki recipe went with this dish too, so I served mine with both that AND the Cilantro Sauce & it was de-lish! DH & I each had a small bowl last night & then I took a large portion of leftovers to work & shared with 2 colleagues who both enjoyed it immensely! Thanks for another winner!
Ok, I JUST now noticed that I completely didn’t see (or have) the ginger or the anaheim chili! 😉 I planned to use a Jalapeno instead, but forgot – my sauce was more like a loose pesto consistency, but still pretty good considering I left out 2 whole ingredients! I bet it’ll be even better next time!;)
I can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend when my sister visits.
I have plenty of lentils and plenty of wheat berries. I’m going to start my sprouts as soon as I get off line.
The sauces sound wonderful. I’ll also make them both.
Thanks for the recipes, Kimi.
I make this all the time, it’s one of our go-to meals. I also make it a lot to give away to friends who have new babies or whatever – so easy, nutritious and delicious! I have been serving it with a cucumber yogurt sauce in the summer – YUM!
Thanks for the recipe! I was wondering what to do with all my sprouted lentils.
This was very easy and delicious recipe. One thing I will do next time is use less salt in the cilantro sauce as it tasted too salty for me.
My thoughts exactly, it was too salty for me. I used more garlic and oil, it was still salty so I added some sour cream, which helped.
I also added alfalfa sprouts instead of wheat and didn’t steam as long as directed. Just long enough to take the bitterness away.
I just started to sprout and love it.
I’d like to see a cookie recipe with sprouts=)
Thanks for the recipe!
I made this recipe tonight (also as an answer to the ‘what do I do with all these sprouted lentils’ question), and it was delicious! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Definitely going to be a favorite in my household :).
This sounds great and I’m planning to make some next week. I’m wondering if the idea is to use both the cilantro sauce AND the cucumber sauce at the same time, or if you use just one depending on the flavor you want that night.
I think that using both at the same time would be great. 😉
This looks absolutely delicious!
Question: How would this taste if I used powdered ginger? Not the fresh kind. How much of it would I have to use if so?
I just bought a big bunch of cilantro from my farmer’s market and then found this recipe! How perfect! I’m going to start some lentils sprouting today! Thanks for all the great recipes!!
I LOVE this recipe!! The sprouts and the sauce both taste good separately, but combine the two and magic happens – they are really wonderful. I like to saute the onion in only 1 T of the coconut oil and then stir the other tablespoon in just before serving. It adds that unctious, delicious taste of coconut and really bumps it up in flavor.
The sauce was amazing, but I too agree that I will add more curry powder next time and double or triple the sauce amount.
I couldn’t believe how quickly my lentils sprouted. They only took one night! I am planning to make another sprouted lentil dish of yours this week.
Really, really hate cilantro. What about basil? Parsley? Anything BUT cilantro?
I’m not stalking you, I swear! I just found your blog today, and I am exploring…and I have a question: have you ever tried this recipe using “un-sprouted” lentils? What is the difference health wise? Also, if I use Bulger, will I still be eating a “complete” meal? (I think my “healthy newbie” cape is showing…I made it myself!)
This recipe is amazing! We’ve definitely added this to our regular menu!
Hi Kimi,
I am just commenting to let you know that I have put a link to your blog on mine…as you have become one of my favorite resources for healthy recipes. I feel a little silly since I will now be the last three comments on this post, but I didn’t feel right linking to your blog without telling you! Thanks again for sharing such awesome recipes.
I know you posted this quite a while ago, but I just made this for lunch today and OH! MY! GOSH! WOW! Fabulous! Thank you for sharing!!
The cilantro and curry recipe is good. I just suggest that you do not put in as much salt that is specified. But it’s not too bad.
The sprouted lentils in this are awesome! Love the curry and cloves, but the 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt in the cilantro sauce must be a typo? I used 1/2 teaspoon and it was still way too salty for me. I noticed there wasn’t any salt in the lentils in the recipe so maybe it was supposed to compensate for that? I think it would be better to use 1/4 teaspoon in both the lentils and the cilantro, to even it out a little. Just my suggestions 🙂 maybe you guys like salt better than I do. But all in all, I will be making this again! Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes!
This is my first time sprouting lentils. I let them sprout for a couple of days so the tails were1-2 inches long. I made this for lunch today. I didn’t have a fresh lemon so I used 1/4 cup bottled juice. Next time I’ll take it down to 3 T. I used the coconut oil instead of the olive oil in the lentil mixture but couldn’t really taste it. The salt seemed a bit much, but I put in the whole 1 1/2 t. anyway….yeah….it was too much, but saltiness is such an individual thing and can change from day to day with any given individual. My youngest son will love it as he over salts everything. Thanks for the recipe.
Question: Do you strain off the excess liquid before mixing in the sauce and serving? I strained it off to keep it from being soupy and it was good, but I wonder about what to do with all of that liquid…seems a waste.
My husband doesn’t like cilantro at all, so do you think this would work with a flat-leaf parsley?
Hi,,,would someone let me know what Cilantro is…it’s not something we have in England?
Ta…
In England you would call it fresh coriander 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have made it for so many occasions, and it is always received with joy! And every time I have made it for a group, I pass the recipe on to a couple of people, because its so good!
Thank you Kimi for your work- your website is so beautiful, informative and helpful! And this recipe is a favorite in our family that we will keep around for years to come!
I didn’t have cilantro or lemon at the time but fresh dill and lime was amazing with the dish! thank you!!
Funny story. The first time my dad and I made this, we didn’t know what an Anaheim pepper was so we up and used a sweet red pepper. Later when Mom corrected us, we did make the original recipe, but we liked it with the sweet pepper better 🙂
Thanks for this delicious recipe! I just made a big batch of French lentil sprouts and tried this for breakfast….it is sooo yummy! I will be making this many times!