Split Pea Curry

It started in an IM conversation. I was confessing to a friend that on the rare occasion that both children are out of the house, we tend to make a curry run. Since we're the only ones who like to dine on Curry in a Hurry, it's the sensible time to indulge. Plus curry is good for preventing dementia in your later years, and has, uhm, other health benefits, so it's really in our best interests, anyway.

So then I had to google "health benefits of curry" to remind myself of the other benefits. Like warding off cancers! And reducing painful swelling for arthritics. I might not be arthritic, but I do have painful swelling from that encounter with the uneven pavement earlier this week.

Suddenly, I wanted curry. While I can walk from work to a lively business district, there is no curry, except that curry soup at Noodles & Co. I decided that it was too cold to warrant a walk to Noodles, and went to the cafeteria. Look! Curry soup! I finally managed to find a worker who was able to tell me that no, the soup was not vegetarian. Drat! I had a sandwich instead.

So when I got home from work, it was obvious that I needed to make some curry. I started combing through the cookbooks, looking for something that called for ingredients I actually had. I found my answer in Vegan with a Vengeance. Well, it called for a pound of split peas, and I only had three-quarters of a pound, but I rounded it out with red lentils. (I love my scale!) I also had to skip the quarter teaspoon of coriander. I decided that the want of coriander would not keep me from split-pea curry. I even made cumin-fried rice to go with it.

I've been reading food blogs lately, and now I'm supposed to post a very appetising photo of the successful, delicious, flavour-packed curry. I'm afraid it made for much better eating than it did photographing. The lentils weren't even noticed, and while I'm sure it would have been better with the coriander, it was still everything I'd dreamed of.