Vegan Thai Flavors Lentil and Vegetable Stew in an Instant Pot

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Without the chicken, of course.

Made something this morning that turned out awesome (and was fast and easy!).

I'm going to share my recipe with you, but please keep in mind that I'm all for alterations.  Use whatever veggies you've got.  And although mine is vegan, feel free to meat it up if that's your pleasure.


Vegan Thai Flavors Lentil and Vegetable Stew
  • 1 large onion cut up a bit
  • 2 T broth (or oil if you're not going oil free)
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 2½ cups vegetable stock (or whatever you would normally use)
  • 1 cup uncooked French lentils (use whatever lentils you have)
  • 2 carrots cut up a bit
  • ½ cauliflower cut up a bit
  • 1 large zucchini cut up a bit
  • Salt
  • Red pepper flakes
  • 1 can full fat coconut milk (use low fat if you like)
  • 1 jar Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste (4 oz jar.. see below for list of ingredients)
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 can green beans, drained
  • 1 can peas, drained
You may notice there's a processed food item in there (the Thai paste).  While I eat whole foods most of the time, on occasion I treat myself to something that someone else made so I don't have to go to the bother... and I try to make sure it's not filled with preservatives, sugar, corn, etc.  The ingredients of this paste is: chili, lemon grass, garlic, galangal, salt, onion, pepper, rhizome, lime and peanut oil.
  1. So I put the Instant Pot on saute and while that was heating up, I quickly cut up the onion (rough cut... I don't make tiny pieces), added it to the IP with the 2 T broth, and gave it a quick stir.
  2. Then I quickly grated the garlic, turned off the saute feature (don't like burnt garlic), added the garlic, and stirred again.  Still plenty of heat to flavorize the garlic.
  3. Then I measured out 1 cup of lentils into a mesh sieve.  
  4. After using the measuring cup for the lentils, I was free to use it for the veggie stock so I then added 2½ cups of veggie stock to the IP and stirred the bottom to make sure nothing was sticking.
  5. I rinsed the lentils then added them to the IP.
  6. Quickly cut up the carrots, cauliflower, and zucchini and added them to the IP.
  7. Added the entire 4oz jar of Thai curry paste, a bit of salt, and the can of coconut milk.
  8. The last thing was I squeezed a lime and added the juice then added a healthy sprinkling of red pepper flakes to the pot (now having tasted it, I could have added an even healthier sprinkling... oh well, next time).
  9. Sealed up the IP and set it to manual for 12 minutes.
  10. Then I opened the two cans of veggies (I like canned green beans and peas, what can I say), drained them and let them sit there and wait.
  11. After the 12 minutes, I let the IP NPR for 10 minutes, then I released what was left of the steam (there was a lot left).
  12. Opened the lid, threw in the green beans and peas, gave the whole thing a stir and.... MMMMMmmmm
Super fast.  Super easy.  Makes a ton so I'll get to freeze some.

As usual, I put some miso (but not too much) into my bowl before serving myself.

BTW, here's what the jar of paste looks like... almost all grocery stores have it.  It's a small jar, like 2 or 3 inches tall.


If you try any of these recipes, I'd love to hear from you.

Here's a link to my index of recipes and other musings.


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