Chicken and Lentils in a Pumpkin Curry Sauce

Zach loves curry. I can live without it. Though when he said that he wanted me to try another pumpkin dinner food before October ended, I had to think of something. I got the inspiration for this meal from a pumpkin curry…which was curried pumpkin, and not a pumpkin sauce. I wanted something more sustaining in my curry, so I chose to use meat and make the sauce out of pumpkin. Also, I couldn’t find any of the ingredients for that original pumpkin curry. The one I made is quite simple and very easy to make.

What you’ll need:

• 1 lb chicken tenderloins
• 2-3 tbsps coconut oil (substitutes: butter, margarine, or olive oil)
• 1/2 cup dry lentils
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 1/4 cup half & half
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsps curry powder (divided)
• 2 tsps garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsps parsley
• 1/2 cup dried brown rice

Step 01: In separate pots, boil the lentils and brown rice until tender. At the same time, heat the coconut oil in a 3-quart saucepan  (again, separate from the lentils and rice) until melted. Add the chicken tenderloins. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (I also added some Ghost Pepper, but that’s optional If you want it a little spicy, though, add your favorite spicy pepper seasoning). After the chicken is cooked through, either cut it into cubes or pull it. Add the onion powder and 1 tbsp of curry powder to the chicken, stir to coat. Put the chicken in a bowl and set aside. Do not clean out the pot and leave any remaining oil in it.

Step 02: Heat half & half, pumpkin puree, chicken broth, flour, curry powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper, and parsley to the saucepan that you used to cook the chicken. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cooked lentils to the sauce. Stir to coat.

Step 03: Serve the curry over a bed of brown rice. Enjoy!

Note: The curry mixture will feed 4-5 people, but the rice will only feed about 2. For every extra person you want to feed, add another 1/4 cup of dry rice.

Making this vegetarian is simple. Just replace the meat with produce (like squash or zucchini) and replace the chicken broth with vegetable stock.

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