Lentil and Chickpea Coconut Milk Curry

Lentil and Chick Pea Curry with Coconut Milk adapted from source

• 3 tbsp oil (I used olive)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced or grated
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1 thai chili, minced with seeds intact
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• lots of ground cumin
• lots of ground coriander
• lots of garam masala
• dash of salt
• 1 796mL can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 400mL can of coconut milk *
• 2 cups whole green lentils, rinsed and picked through
• 1 540mL can of cooked chickpeas, rinsed 
• a bunch of chopped cauliflower
• 1 floret of broccoli, chopped
• some fresh green beans, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• plain yogurt (optional)

1. In a frying pan, heat oil over medium high heat.  
2. Add the onion and cook until soft, a minute or two.  Add the garlic and ginger, carrots, chili, spices and salt.  Stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.  
3. Transfer to slow cooker and stir in the crushed tomatoes, coconut milk, lentils, chickpeas.  Set on high.
4. Cook for about two hours, thereabouts, wandering into the kitchen periodically to stir things up a bit.
5. Add broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and green beans.  Stir some more.  
6. If curry is too thick, thin it with some water (I had to).
7. Scoop into bowls and top with plain yogurt (optional).  
8. Can be served with rice, or roti, or naan.  I choose to eat mine with mashed sweet potato and a tablespoon of yogurt, only because I was denied this opportunity in India, as they like their yogurt full-fat, and that's got too much lactose in it for my poor, lactose-intolerant stomach.  My liberal tablespoon of yogurt is 90% lactose free!

*Note: I was dumb when I was reading the original recipe, and I added TWO cans of coconut milk.  The original recipe does indeed call for that, but I think perhaps the poster was referring to two small cans of coconut milk.  She recommends 2 cans (540mL) of coconut milk.  I added 800mL of coconut milk, and that's waaaay too coconutty.  To compensate, I added a can of tomato paste, and reseasoned it with a veritable ton of garam masala and coriander.  It helped.  The original recipe also calls for indian curry paste (the Patak's stuff), but it contains sugar as one of its ingredients, so I couldn't use it.  I relied instead on the skills I learned cooking in India.  Instead of curry paste, I added a thai chili, more ginger, garam masala, and just upped the quantities of the other spices.  It seems to have worked.  

Lesson learned: don't be as dumb as me.  It's still tasty.  I just would have done it differently (ie: the recipe I've posted for you) a second time around.