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I made this last night for my 7 housemates and it was so freaking good! Even the 4 carnivorous men demanded more. It was ridiculously easy and ridiculously delicious and the recipe has gone on the fridge as a house favourite 🙂
So you love basil?
and coconut milk?
and lentils?
Um, surprise! I do! I actually love lentils!
I also love lentils’ Filipino cousin, Monggo beans. Let me say that again: I like to eat something called Monggos. Monggggos. Monggity Mongga Monggo Beans. Is it hot in here?
At the risk of always talking about how hot it is, can I tell you what’s hot in a frizzy-hair-change-your-sweaty-clothes-wipe-your-shiny-face kind of hot?
Making a recipe video in a Filipino kitchen with no AC.
But we made one anyways.
Cause I kind of like being hot. Not.
What I actually love is healthy food that gives my taste buds happy thoughts, and these coconut lentils fit the bill.
Thai Basil Coconut Lentils
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
These Thai basil coconut lentils have the most amazing flavor! Peanuts, basil, squash, lentils, and a fresh Thai seasoning paste called tom kha.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried green or brown lentils, or monggo beans
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 head green cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 large kabocha squash (about 3–4 cups cubed)
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tom kha paste
- cayenne pepper, chili powder and salt
- fresh basil and chopped peanuts for topping
Instructions
- Cook the lentils in a pot of boiling water for about 45 minutes or until soft. Drain the water and set aside.
- While lentils are cooking, saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the cabbage, season with salt, and stir fry until the cabbage begins to soften. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add a little more oil to the pan and add the squash. Season with chili powder, cayenne, and salt – or any seasonings you like. Add the coconut milk and simmer the squash for 8-10 minutes or until soft but not mushy. Add the tom kha paste and stir until mixed in with the coconut milk.
- Add the cooked cabbage and lentils to the squash and gently stir to combine. Top each bowl with fresh basil and chopped peanuts.
Notes
Tom Kha paste is a Thai seasoning that has a lemongrass, garlic, hot pepper, and ginger-y flavor. The flavors are really phenomenal. I bought it at the big grocery store here in Cebu and found it with the curry paste and other spices and pastes. If your grocery store doesn’t carry it, check at an Asian market.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Thai
Keywords: thai basil lentils, coconut lentils, tom kha paste
By the way, do you remember those Creamy Thai Sweet Potatoes and Lentils? Similarly delicious.
Happy vegetabling, friends!
Nice salad. Thx
What size crockpot did you use? The recipe looks good!
We used a 6-quart crockpot here. Enjoy, JoAnn!
We are making a concerted effort to eat more plant based meals and since I trust your taste buds, we gave this one a try despite my hesitation. 🤣
It was very good and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the squash!! Great job, as always. ❤️
Glad you enjoyed this recipe, Stephanie!
Could you use mung beans do you think? Are those like monggo beans?
agree with Marie and you explained things very well. I am gonna try this out. I really enjoyed reading this.
I made this for lunch today and oh my! It is wonderful! I found the recipe on Pinterest. I didn’t have the squash you listed but used butternut squash instead and it came out great. Very flavorful and satisfying. Thanks for introducing me to a new ingredient too. The Thom Kah paste really makes this.
Ahh yes! I love hearing that. These recipes are my favorites to get comments on because they’re a little more obscure. 🙂 so glad you liked it!
Le Puy (green) lentils boiled for “45 minutes”- you should clarify this. Red lentils boiled for 45 minutes will be complete slop. “…or until soft…”, ain’t good enough. Be clearer, explain and lose the icky chatter. Very tasty, easy recipe. The other one, the coconut green curry lentil rec was, like, totally, incredibly, like, way awesomely the good-er-est.
signed- Manly Man who doesn’t like “ootsie-cutsie chipmunk chatter”.
You don’t have to read it, manly man.
“…a frizzy-hair-change-your-sweaty-clothes-wipe-your-shiny-face kind of hot?…”.
jibber-jabber-jibber.
I am really loving the theme/design of your web site.
Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems?
A few of my blog readers have complained about my blog not
operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari.
Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
I’ve made these once and loved them. Now I would like to serve them for friends, but am unsure what to pair with them for a nice meal. Any suggestions?
What about some homemade naan or flatbread?
Yum! This looks amazing! I make my own coconut milk. I bet it would be delicious in this recipe. Never thought about using lentils in a Thai dish. Will definitely give this a try.
I made this a few weeks ago and loved it! I couldn’t find Tom Yum paste, but found some Tom Kha paste at a local asian grocery store. I read above that they are pretty similar, but I was just wondering if you know how long the paste lasts for after the bottle has been opened? I want to make this recipe again, but the writing on my bottle is in Thai so I can’t tell if its still okay to eat a few weeks after opening.
Tom Kha is what I used for this recipe so that’s perfect! I think it lasts for quite a while- maybe a month in the fridge? I keep my curry pastes for a long time.
It looks amazing!! I’m trying it this week-end!! 🙂
Does it freeze well?
Loved your video! Crazy over Filipino food and the people as well! Close connection. But, I almost passed up this recipe because of your use of the Filipino name for Mung Beans. You obviously have an international audience, it probably would not be a bad idea to use a translation. Great post!
This recipe is so beautiful and colorful- if it tastes half as good as it looks, I’m sold!
Hi, I would love to try this but didn’t know which type of lentils you would use for this recipe. I have only ever used red lentil that I put in soups.
French green lentils (that’s what they’re technically called but they look brown).
We had this for dinner tonight – I had started the lentils cooking before I realised we had no cabbage left, so I used Silverbeet instead, and kumara (sweet potato) instead of pumpkin. It was delicious and will be made often – I’d like to try it with the cabbage next time.
I went looking for the ingredients for this. All of the tom kha paste in the store was expired so I ended up bringing tom yum paste home. I know they’re not the same, but in your opinion will the recipe still taste good if I use what I have, or should I hold out and order the tom kha paste online?
Thanks a bunch.
Hi Stephanie! From what I can understand after some quick research, Tom Yum and Tom Kha are really similar. They both use galangal, lemongrass, chili paste, and kaffir lime leaves. I think it will turn out great. 🙂
Oh man, is this good. Made a couple changes based on availability at my grocery store. I couldn’t find the tom kha paste, so I used a green curry paste instead, and I used butternut squash instead of the kabocha. I also added some minced ginger in with the garlic. I also love how healthy this recipe is.
As soon as the heatwave passes here in Boston, I’m all over this recipe! I’m considering subbing in red lentils…any thoughts?
I think it would work! In my experience, red lentils cook a lot faster so that would be the main difference. 🙂